From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: "Sebastien Vauban" Subject: Re: Macros [was: Re: ATTR_HTML for a clickable image, howto?] Date: Thu, 05 Jul 2012 17:51:32 +0200 Message-ID: <803956gq9n.fsf@somewhere.org> References: <86pqbrywgr.fsf@iro.umontreal.ca> <87r4w63602.fsf@gnu.org> <86vclekyqo.fsf@iro.umontreal.ca> <4F7EAED9.2040804@christianmoe.com> <4F803DDC.20808@christianmoe.com> <4F853CCD.4020601@christianmoe.com> <86r4ufr7hx.fsf_-_@mercure.progiciels-bpi.ca> <87wr2ijmoc.fsf@gnu.org> <8762a2s0rv.fsf@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Return-path: List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org-mXXj517/zsQ@public.gmane.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org-mXXj517/zsQ@public.gmane.org To: emacs-orgmode-mXXj517/zsQ@public.gmane.org Hi Nicolas, Nicolas Goaziou wrote: > Bastien writes: >> Fran=C3=A7ois Pinard writes: >>> If macros are there to stay in Org, it might be worth documenting a more >>> complete specification about how to define and use them. >> >> I'd welcome some improvement of the manual wrt macros -- any taker? > > Before documenting anything, we should first define them clearly. I think you're right here, seen the latest threads on this. > That is, we can define them through documentation, but we shouldn't write > documentation by looking at their current implementation. > > Should macros be allowed anywhere (which means that the user can shoot > himself in the foot) or should their expansion happen in a protected > environment (thus limiting their power)? If I had to choose, I would opt for the first case... > In the first case, can macros generate inline Babel code, that will be > executed before export? ... where macros would be pre-processed "=C3=A0 la M4" (or C preprocessing): replacing some keyword with some other expression. > In the second case, what types of elements are allowed in the protected > environment? > > Also, do we want to allow multiples macros definitions to stack up? I.e. > > #+MACRO: a-macro First line of the macro. > #+MACRO: a-macro Second line of the macro. > > If so, do we allow blank lines in them, meaning they can break document > structure even more? > > Can the macros be nested? > > Since macros arguments are comma-separated, how do one insert commas > within an argument? > > Are newline characters allowed in arguments? If not, what else is > forbidden there? > > There are probably other questions, but it should be a good start for > a correct implementation. An extra question is: the "replacing expression" of a macro, must it be pure text, or can it be anything (such as code that will be interpreted, in a further pass, by some back-end)? Best regards, Seb --=20 Sebastien Vauban