Re: [ANN] List improvement v.2

From: Glauber Alex Dias Prado <smade4@gmail.com>
To: Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com>
Cc: Org Mode List <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>,
	Nicolas Goaziou <n.goaziou@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [ANN] List improvement v.2
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 05:45:50 -0300	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <8739ugfem9.fsf@gmail.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <256365B6-8D44-4EC3-A4A5-935ED090DFFD@gmail.com> (Carsten Dominik's message of "Sun, 15 Aug 2010 08:26:10 +0200")

Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:

> Hi Nicolas,
>
> I have finally started to look at your changes to the list
> implementation.
> Lots of it is very good!  I like for example that TAB indentation now
> works
> a lot better.
>
> Here are a few problems I noted so far:
>
> 1 Error when pressing M-RET in second line after list
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>   - Example item1
>   - Exmaple item2
>
> With cursor position at "@", M-RET throws an error
>
> 2 Incompatibility 1
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>   - Example 1
>   - Ex 2
>
>   This used to be outside of the list.  The HTML exporter still treats
>   it as being outside of the list.  The LaTeX exporter treats it as
>   part of the last item.  If I add a second empty line, then both
>   exporters handle it well.
>
>   So this breaks with documented properties of the lists.  I guess
>   this is unavoidable because this is just how the new list definition
>   works.  But it will break existing documents when exported to LaTeX
>
> 3 Text between two sublists
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
>   - Ex1
>   - Ex2
>     - Ex2a
>     - Ex2b
>     Some text between two sublists
>     - A new list starts
>
> This always was an inconsistency between HTML and LaTeX export, and it
> still is now.  There seems to be no way now to do what I intend here,
> putting some text between two lists.

preferably not only for lists, something like:

* some stuff
  quick intro
** nest 1  
   stuff about nest1
  now what i dont think is possible and dont even know if it is usually
  done on latex something that belongs to some stuff and is in between
  nest 1 and 2, i find it usefull for commenting on nests(thats why
  i miss it) and looks like it is the same thing you are wishing for lists?
  My use case for this is mostly note-taking.
** nest 2
   stuff about nest2

could be also usefull, if it makes sense, btw the lists are taking shape :).

>
>
> On Jul 22, 2010, at 11:08 PM, Nicolas Goaziou wrote:
>
>> 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:
>>
>>  git@github.com: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
>>
>>
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>
> - Carsten
>
>
>
>
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