Configuring org-mode within spacemacs

Question

I'm a bit confused because the I'm trying to configure org within spacemacs as advised in the official layer documentation for spacemacs), I should use (with-eval-after-load 'org ( ... :

(defun dotspacemacs/user-config ()
  "Configuration function.
 This function is called at the very end of Spacemacs initialization after
layers configuration."
  ;; My keys
  (global-set-key [f2] 'deft)
  ;; My Notes
  (setq deft-directory "c:/Users/ZsBotykai/Dropbox/Notes/"
        deft-extensions '("org" "md" "txt")
        deft-use-filename-as-title t
        deft-text-mode 'org-mode)

  ;; ORG settings
  (with-eval-after-load 'org (
                              (setq org-agenda-files
                                    "c:/Users/USERNAME/Dropbox/Notes/"))
;; Further lines snipped...

I'm getting the following error:

(Spacemacs) Error in dotspacemacs/user-config: Invalid function: (setq org-agenda-files "c:/Users/USERNAME/Dropbox/Notes/")

I did try to use

(with-eval-after-load 'org (
                            (setq org-agenda-files
                                  '("c:/Users/USERNAME/Dropbox/Notes/")))

Without any success. Could you point me into the right direction?

Answer 1

As pointed in the spacemacs Gitter channel, you should do just:

(with-eval-after-load 'org (setq org-agenda-files
                              '("c:/Users/USERNAME/Dropbox/Notes/")))

The reason is that when the lisp reader tries to evaluate that code you put, it interprets that (setq org-agenda-files '("c:/Users/USERNAME/Dropbox/Notes/")) is a whole function, which is wrong.

The macro with-eval-after-load just expects a form to execute.

Hope it helps. (credits to honkhonkhonk, gitter channel)

Answer 2

An alternative way. I have been using the following form in my init.el:

(spacemacs|use-package-add-hook org-mode
  :post-config
  (progn
      (setq org-agenda-files '("c:/Users/USERNAME/Dropbox/Notes/")
    ))

I use this form for almost all the layers that I need to customize. It helps to separate my customizations instead of stuffing them all in dotspacemacs/user-config. Perhaps with-eval-after-load has some advantages, but I do not know.