Re: [BUG] @* in [cite/nocite:@*] is a valid special LaTeX bibliography key, but it is highlighted using "error" face by oc.el (was: [PATCH] oc-csl: Add support for nocite citations)

[András Simonyi]

Dear All,

On Sun, 3 Jul 2022 at 15:09, Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@gmail.com> wrote:

> Then, oc-natbib, oc-biblatex, and oc-csl should be modified to provide
> an alternative activation function that will not highlight @* as
> non-existing key.
>
> Probably, we can even use an alternative "special" key face, not
> 'org-cite-key.

AFAICS, the situation is rather complex: Org (the main branch)
currently contains five export processors (basic, bibtex, natbib,
biblatex and csl), but only a single activation processor called
"basic". Of the five export processors the three LaTeX-based ones
already support the "*" key in nocite citations, and the CSL processor
could also with my proposed patch, leaving only the "basic" one
without this feature.

I think that the problem with simply adding one or more new activation
processors with different fontification for the "*" key is that Org
has no way of knowing (at least for sure) which export processor will
be used for a exporting a certain Org buffer, since it can depend on
the chosen export backend (see the variable
org-cite-export-processors). E.g., org-cite could be set up to use the
"natbib" processor for "LaTeX" export and the "basic" processor for
any other format.  I think that it'd be more in the spirit of the
"basic" activation processor to be more permissive and not treat "*"
as an error, similarly to citation styles not supported by the "basic"
export processor but supported by others.

best wishes,
András