Re: [Orgmode] [ANN] List improvement v.2

[Eric Schulte]

Hi Nicolas,

This looks really great, I have applied it to my setup and will be
stress testing it over the next couple of days.

A couple of quick points:

1) The url to use for cloning should be
   http://github.com/ngz/org-mode-lists.git

2) This is very minor, but could you rebase your branch against master?
   That would make switching back and forth slightly easier.

3) Since I can't help but relate things to Babel... What do you think
   about having list types recognized by Babel (as arrays).  This could
   add nice flexibility to passing data back and forth between Babel and
   the buffer, it could make it possible to do some fancy list stuff,
   and if we add Hash-Maps or Dictionaries to Babel as first class
   objects (which seems like a reasonable move at some point in the
   nearish future) then they could integrate well with description
   lists.

Thanks for the new functionality, I look forward to playing with it.

Best -- Eric

Nicolas Goaziou <address@hidden> writes:

> Hello,
>
> Here is a new, and probably final feature-wise, suggestion of list
> improvement in Org Mode.
>
> Table of Contents
> =================
> 1 What is it about again ? 
> 2 Is that all ? 
>     2.1 Preserving blank lines 
>     2.2 Timer lists 
>     2.3 Automatic rules 
>     2.4 `org-apply-on-list' 
> 3 Where can it be tried ? 
>
>
> 1 What is it about again ? 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>   I redefined lists in Org Mode. Lists start, as before, at a bullet
>   (whose true regexp is at `org-item-beginning-re'), and end at either
>   `org-list-end-regexp', a new headline, or, obviously, end of buffer.
>
>   `org-list-end-regexp' is customizable and defaults to 2 blank lines,
>   but `org-empty-line-terminates-plain-lists' has precedence over it.
>   Moreover, any `org-list-end-regexp' found in special blocks does not
>   end list. Here are two examples of valid lists:
>
>   Case 1: `org-list-end-regexp' is at default value
>
>
>   - First item
>                   
>     - Sub item
>                     
>       #+BEGIN_EXAMPLE
>       Two blank lines below
>   
>   
>       Two blank lines above
>       #+END_SRC
>   
>     - Last sub item
>   
>   
>   List has ended at the beginning of this line.
>
>   Case 2: `org-list-end-regexp' is "^[ \t]*___[ \t]*\n"
>
>
>   - item 1
>   - item 2
>     - sub-item
>     - sub-item 2
>   - item 3
>   __
>   List has ended at the beginning of this line.
>
>   Now, Org Mode knows when a list has ended and how to indent line
>   accordingly. In other words, you can `org-return-indent' three times
>   to exit a list and be at the right column to go on with the text.
>
>   This new definition is also understood by exporters (LaTeX, DocBook,
>   HTML or ASCII) and `org-list-end-regexp' will appear in source as a
>   blank line, whatever its value is (as long as it starts with a caret
>   and ends with a newline character, as specified in doc-string).
>
>   Another advantage is that you can have two lists of different types
>   in a row like in the example below:
>
>
>   - item
>   - item
>   
>   
>   1. item
>   2. item
>
>   In this example, you can move (or cycle, or indent) items in the
>   second list without worrying about changing the first one.
>
> 2 Is that all ? 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>   Yes and no. I tried as much as possible to keep compatibility with
>   previous implementation. But, as I was at it, I made a number of
>   minor improvements I am now going to describe.
>
> 2.1 Preserving blank lines 
> ===========================
>
>    `org-move-item-up' and `org-move-item-down' will not eat blank
>    lines anymore. You can move an item up and down and stay assured
>    list will keep its integrity.
>
>    The same is true for `org-sort-list' that would previously collapse
>    the list being sorted. Sorting is now safe.
>
>    `org-insert-item', when 'plain-list-item is set to 'auto in
>    `org-blank-before-new-entry' (the default, I think), will work hard
>    to guess the appropriate number of blank lines to insert before the
>    item to come. The function is also much more predictable (in
>    previous version, trying to insert an item with point on a blank
>    line between 2 items would create a new headline).
>
> 2.2 Timer lists 
> ================
>
>    There are three improvements in timer lists (C-c C-x -).
>
>    1. When a new item is created, it should be properly indented and
>       not sticked to column 0 anymore,
>
>    2. When an item is inserted in a pre-existing timer list, it will
>       take profit of what has been done to `org-insert-item',
>
>    3. `org-sort-list' can now sort timer lists with the t and T
>       commands.
>
>    /Note/: in order to preserve lists integrity, Org Mode will send an
>    error if you try to insert a timer list inside a list of another
>    type.
>
> 2.3 Automatic rules 
> ====================
>
>    I've added sets of rules (applied by default) that can improve
>    lists experience. You can deactivate them individually by
>    customizing `org-list-automatic-rules'.
>
>    Bullet rule: Some may have noticed that you couldn't obtain *
>                     as a bullet when cycling a list at column 0 or Org
>                     would have taken them for headings.
>
>                     I extended the idea. Now, * bullet will be changed
>                     to - if you outdent it to column 0. This and the
>                     fact that LaTeX exporter now recognizes such lists
>                     as valid make *-lists very usable.
>
>                     In the same register, cycling items of a
>                     description list will not offer 1. or 1), as
>                     ordered and description lists are incompatible.
>
>    Checkbox rule: It replaces `org-provide-checkbox-statistics'
>                       which has become obsolete.
>
>    Indent rule: This set prevents user from breaking his list by
>                     inadvertence, when indenting or outdenting items
>                     and sub-trees. Only moves that keep list integrity
>                     are allowed.
>
>                     The main advantage of it is when you insert a new
>                     item and immediately press one or more TAB,
>                     positions offered will all be meaningful. Quick
>                     and efficient.
>
>                     As a special case, moving the top item of the list
>                     will move the whole list with it.
>
>    Insert rule: As a consequence of the new definition of lists,
>                     items cannot be inserted inside a special block in
>                     the middle of a list. With this rule activated,
>                     item will be insert right before that special
>                     block. If not, Org will only throw an error.
>
>    Renumber rule: It replaces `org-auto-renumber-ordered-lists'
>                       which has become obsolete.
>
>    I think those rules make a sane default behavior (except for the
>    indent rule, perhaps). And they are easy to disable if one think
>    they get too much in the way.
>
> 2.4 `org-apply-on-list' 
> ========================
>
>    It's not much, but I added that small function, inspired from
>    `apply-of-rectangle', that might be of some use. It basically
>    applies a function passed as argument to each item of the list
>    (with a possible return value for functional usage).
>
>    As an illustration, here is a small function that walks through a
>    list (and its sublists, if any), checking every item with a blank
>    checkbox whose body is matched by REGEXP. It returns the number of
>    items checked.
>
>
>   (defun my-check-o-matic (regexp)
>     ;; Function we are going to apply.
>     (let ((search-and-check 
>            (lambda (count)
>              (let* ((body-end (save-excursion 
> (org-end-of-item-text-before-children)))
>                     ;; Take care of any sublist first
>                     (count (if (not (org-item-has-children-p))
>                                count
>                              (goto-char body-end)
>                              (org-apply-on-list search-and-check count))))
>                ;; Tests and checking if the formers are successful
>                (if (and (save-excursion (re-search-forward regexp body-end t))
>                         (org-at-item-checkbox-p)
>                         (equal (match-string 1) "[ ]"))
>                    (progn (org-toggle-checkbox) (1+ count))
>                  count)))))
>       ;; Call of `org-apply-on-list': notice initial value of counter
>       (format "%d items checked"(org-apply-on-list search-and-check 0))))
>
> 3 Where can it be tried ? 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>   The source is at:
>
>   address@hidden:ngz/org-mode-lists.git   branch: end-lists
>
>   It is merged very frequently with git head, and I keep a clone of
>   Org Mode master branch at the same place. So, you can switch from
>   end-lists to master without too much hassle. It is very stable
>   anyway, so you do not need to be an adventurous type.
>
>   Feedback, suggestions and comments are welcome.
>
>   Regards,
>
> -- Nicolas
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
> address@hidden
> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode