Re: [bug-recutils] [help-recutils] :cmdline option in ob-rec usage

[Jose E. Marchesi]

    >      > | Name            | Address                 | Address_2   | City |
    >      > 
|-----------------+-------------------------+-------------+---------|
    >      > | This is Person1 | 123 Some Street         |             | 
Anytown |
    >      > | This is Person2 | 456 Another Lane        |             | 
Anytown |
    >      > | This is Person3 | 789 Whatever Blvd       | Apartment A | 
Anytown |
    >      > | This is Person4 | 001 AndStillAnother Ave |             | 
Anytown |
    >      >
    >      > Am I using the :cmdline option correctly?
    >
    > :cmdline actually does nothing.  You must use :fields instead, like in:
    >
    > #+begin_src rec :data Testrec1.rec :type Contact :fields 
Name,Address[0-1],City
    >   #+end_src
    >
    >
    Slowly something is penetrating my skull - essentially in ob-rec.el
    :fields is used as conditional and if true concat the print function
    for each field called- correct?

No.  :fields accepts a FEX (fields descriptor) exactly like the -p
command line option.
    
    However, the resulting column order depends upon when the fields are
    first encountered as ob-rec.el works its way through each record in
    the rec:type, i.e. if "This is Person3" is the first record, I get the
    desired result; otherwise the original example the table column order
    is as follows
    
        | Name            | Address                 | City    | Address_2       
|
        |-----------------+-------------------------+---------+-------------|
        | This is Person1 | 123 Some Street         | Anytown |         |
        | This is Person2 | 456 Another Lane        | Anytown |                 
|
        | This is Person3 | 789 Whatever Blvd       | Anytown | Apartment A     
|
        | This is Person4 | 001 AndStillAnother Ave | Anytown |                 
|
        
    
    Is there a way of sorting the output so that the table columns are in
    the order given in :fields?
    
Hmmm, that is a consequence of how rec2csv works internally.  You see,
ob-rec.el uses rec2csv underneath.  Let me take a look to that...