From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Dan Griswold Subject: Re: iCal export and complex diary sexps Date: Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:31:08 -0400 Message-ID: <87y6dctudf.fsf@rochester.rr.com> References: <87tyo1p6j4.fsf@gmx.ch> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Return-path: Received: from [140.186.70.92] (port=40483 helo=eggs.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1OZU9V-00069z-Ff for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:31:30 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OZU9U-0006ny-1g for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:31:25 -0400 Received: from lo.gmane.org ([80.91.229.12]:38631) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OZU9T-0006nl-MH for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 15 Jul 2010 15:31:24 -0400 Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1OZU9S-0004cc-6R for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:31:22 +0200 Received: from 74-47-147-111.dsl1-fairport.roch.ny.frontiernet.net ([74.47.147.111]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:31:22 +0200 Received: from dgriswol by 74-47-147-111.dsl1-fairport.roch.ny.frontiernet.net with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Thu, 15 Jul 2010 21:31:22 +0200 List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org On 15 Jul 2010, sven.bretfeld@gmx.ch wrote: > There was a thread about this some weeks ago. The iCal export does not > support org-diary-class entries or other complex diary sexps. I missed that thread, but it's an issue I looked into some time ago, with regard to sexps. The basic issue is that org-export-icalendar-* calls icalendar.el, which currently does not support the export of complex sexps. In other words, it doesn't do much good for us to say that Org ought to export these things to ical, because the feature is missing not from org but from a completely different package. I, too, wish the feature was available. But there's no point in complaining here about it. I hope that Ulf Jasper (the author of icalendar.el) is working on this problem. The package appears to be in active development, but I can't confirm that. So, assuming the best, others are working on what is truly not a trivial problem. I looked at the ical specification, and it made my brain hurt. It is very complex to program in a conversion of sexp to the ical format. I'd rather that Carsten and others working actively on org-mode not be distracted by a puzzle that is really not central to org's functionality or purpose. Perhaps org-explort-icalendar could (for the elisp savvy) easily support org-diary-class, but at this stage, with the limitations of icalendar.el, it would only be elementary support, because the function appears to be a nifty way of specifying what (diary-block) does, but without the option of "skip". To program in more than this gets us right back to the fundamental problem, the lack of the needed feature in icalendar.el. > I want to ask if anybody has a workaround on this issue in the > meantime. For example, it could possibly be solved by an > after-export-hook that scans org-files for org-diary-class, converts > the relevant entries to the iCal format and appends them to the ics > file. My way of handling this was to create a file with certain important recurring events in ical format (these happen on the second Tuesday and the second Thursday, those good sexp candidates). I have a function that appends this file to the file icalendar-export-file creates, and have all this tied in by a function called by after-save-hook. Something similar, I'm sure, could be done for org-export-icalendar-* -- -------------- Dan Griswold Rochester, NY --------------