Re: [O] [Feature Request] Make property-drawers exportable

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Thorsten Jolitz <address@hidden> writes:

> Nicolas Goaziou <address@hidden> writes:

>> Property drawers are Org meta data, they are not for user's
>> cosumption. Though you can export some properties with macros (see
>> {{{property{NAME}}}} macros).
>
> I don't really agree. Property drawers are for meta data used by
> Org-mode too, obviously, but they are perfectly suited for meta-data
> about the document, as well as those simple data-base features described
> in the manual.

It seems I wasn't clear enough. More on this below.

> Why deny Org users the full benefit of these other uses for
> property-drawers by denying them the possibility to export their
> document meta-data or data-bases?

I don't deny anyone the right code this:

  (defun my-latex-property-drawer (drawer contents info)
    (concat "\\begin{example}\n"
            (org-element-interpret-data drawer)
            "\\end{example}"))

  (org-export-define-derived-backend 'my-latex 'latex
    :translate-alist '((property-drawer . my-latex-property-drawer)))

[...]

> And whats wrong with a simple CD collection database implemented with
> property-drawers, as described in the manual? Why shouldn't people be
> allowed to export their CD database to some text-formatting backend?

Database example is interesting. My point is that you will never want to
dump the whole database in your exported document because Org may fill
it with its own meta-data, making the output look like garbage. Also,
some backends (ox-icalendar, at least) create properties during export,
so you would even get new properties in your output.

It's perfectly fine to export the part of a database you're interested
in, like your whole CD collection, but it requires to filter out Org
meta-data, and to properly format your own properties. This depends so
much on the contents of your database that it is impossible to provide
good defaults for it.

Therefore, default export doesn't even try. Instead, tools are provided
to access values from your own database (again, macro
{{{property(...)}}}) so they can be exported. If you have special needs
for your database, just code them and plug them in.

You have a choice.


Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou