Hey,
I gave another shot at this, now that my computer is no longer dead.
I believe it fixes the issues described earlier - let me know of any
feedback.
(Also - I don't know how to get GMail to attach this as anything other
than application/octet-stream, so the text is in the message as well.
Nathaniel Flath


Attachment:

diff --git a/lisp/org-list.el b/lisp/org-list.el
index d9fc24e..88d5a9b 100644
--- a/lisp/org-list.el
+++ b/lisp/org-list.el
@@ -287,14 +287,14 @@ It depends on `org-empty-line-terminates-plain-lists'."
   "Return the correct regular expression for plain lists.
 If GENERAL is non-nil, return the general regexp independent of the value
 of `org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator'."
-  (cond
-   ((or general (eq org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator t))
-    "\\([ \t]*\\([-+]\\|\\([0-9]+[.)]\\)\\)\\|[ \t]+\\*\\)\\([ \t]+\\|$\\)")
-   ((= org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator ?.)
-    "\\([ \t]*\\([-+]\\|\\([0-9]+\\.\\)\\)\\|[ \t]+\\*\\)\\([ \t]+\\|$\\)")
+(cond
+ ((or general (eq org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator t))
+  "\\([ \t]*\\([-+]\\|\\([0-9A-Za-z]+[.)]\\)\\)\\|[ \t]+\\*\\)\\( \\|$\\)")
+  ((= org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator ?.)
+   "\\([ \t]*\\([-+]\\|\\([0-9A-Za-z]+\\.\\)\\)\\|[ \t]+\\*\\)\\( \\|$\\)")
    ((= org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator ?\))
-    "\\([ \t]*\\([-+]\\|\\([0-9]+)\\)\\)\\|[ \t]+\\*\\)\\([ \t]+\\|$\\)")
-   (t (error "Invalid value of `org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator'"))))
+    "\\([ \t]*\\([-+]\\|\\([0-9A-Za-z]+)\\)\\)\\|[ \t]+\\*\\)\\( \\|$\\)")
+    (t (error "Invalid value of `org-plain-list-ordered-item-terminator'"))))

 (defconst org-item-beginning-re (concat "^" (org-item-re))
   "Regexp matching the beginning of a plain list item.")
@@ -530,7 +530,7 @@ List ending is determined by the indentation of text. See
        (save-excursion
 	 (goto-char (match-end 0))
          ;; Ignore counter if any
-         (when (looking-at "\\(?:\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?[0-9]+\\][ \t]*\\)?")
+         (when (looking-at "\\(?:\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?[0-9A-Za-z]+\\][ \t]*\\)?")
            (goto-char (match-end 0)))
 	 (looking-at regexp))))

@@ -1135,11 +1135,11 @@ bullet string and bullet counter, if any."
     (list (point-at-bol)
           (org-get-indentation)
           (progn
-            (looking-at "^[ \t]*\\([-+*0-9.)]+[ \t]+\\)")
+            (looking-at "^[ \t]*\\([-+*0-9A-Za-z.)]+[ \t]+\\)")
             (match-string 1))
           (progn
             (goto-char (match-end 0))
-            (and (looking-at "\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?\\([0-9]+\\)\\]")
+            (and (looking-at "\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?\\([0-9A-Za-z]+\\)\\]")
                  (match-string 1))))))

 (defun org-list-struct (begin end top bottom &optional outdent)
@@ -1259,8 +1259,10 @@ This function modifies STRUCT."
 		     (let ((counter (nth 3 item))
 			   (bullet (org-list-bullet-string (nth 2 item))))
 		       (cond
-			((and (string-match "[0-9]+" bullet) counter)
+			((and (string-match "[0-9A-Za-z]+" bullet) counter)
 			 (replace-match counter nil nil bullet))
+			((string-match "[A-Za-z]+" bullet)
+			 (replace-match "a" nil nil bullet))
 			((string-match "[0-9]+" bullet)
 			 (replace-match "1" nil nil bullet))
 			(t bullet)))))
@@ -1268,7 +1270,7 @@ This function modifies STRUCT."
 		    (setcdr item (list (nth 1 item) bullet (nth 3 item)))))
 	 (get-bul (lambda (item bullet)
 		    (let* ((counter (nth 3 item)))
-		      (if (and counter (string-match "[0-9]+" bullet))
+		      (if (and counter (string-match "[0-9A-Za-z]+" bullet))
 			  (replace-match counter nil nil bullet)
 			bullet))))
 	 (fix-bul
@@ -1582,13 +1584,50 @@ It determines the number of whitespaces to
append by looking at
           " ")))
      nil nil bullet 1)))

+(defun org-increment-string (str cap)
+  "Increments str (a->a, b->b, z->aa, aa->ab etc).  If cap is non-nil, then
+   the letters are capitalized."
+  (let ((res (org-convert-num-to-alpha-str
+	      (1+ (org-convert-alpha-str-to-num str 1 (length str) cap)) cap))
+	(z (if cap ?Z ?z))
+	(b (if cap ?B ?b))
+	(a (if cap ?A ?a)))
+    (if (and(= (string-to-char str) z)
+            (= (string-to-char res) b))
+        (concat (if cap "A" "a")  (substring res 1))
+      (concat (make-string (- (length str) (length res)) a)  res))))
+
+(defun org-convert-alpha-str-to-num (str n pos cap)
+  "Converts the substring consisting of locations pos to pos-n to a
+   numeric representation."
+  (let ((a (if cap ?A ?a)))
+    (if (= pos 1) (* (- (string-to-char str) a) n)
+      (+ (* (- (nth (1- pos) (string-to-list str)) a) n)
+	 (org-convert-alpha-str-to-num str (* 26 n) (1- pos) cap)))))
+
+(defun org-convert-num-to-alpha-str (n cap)
+  "Converts the number n to a alphabetical, base-26 representation."
+  (if (= n 0) ""
+    (concat (org-convert-num-to-alpha-str (/ n 26) cap)
+            (string (+ (if cap ?A ?a) (% n 26))))))
+
 (defun org-list-inc-bullet-maybe (bullet)
   "Increment BULLET if applicable."
-  (if (string-match "[0-9]+" bullet)
+  (let ((case-fold-search nil))
+    (cond
+     ((string-match "[0-9]+" bullet)
       (replace-match
        (number-to-string (1+ (string-to-number (match-string 0 bullet))))
-       nil nil bullet)
-    bullet))
+       nil nil bullet))
+     ((string-match "[a-z]+" bullet)
+      (replace-match
+       (org-increment-string (match-string 0 bullet) nil)
+       nil nil bullet))
+     ((string-match "[A-Z]+" bullet)
+      (replace-match
+       (org-increment-string (match-string 0 bullet) t)
+       nil nil bullet))
+     (t bullet))))

 (defun org-list-repair (&optional force-bullet top bottom)
   "Make sure all items are correctly indented, with the right bullet.
@@ -1980,7 +2019,7 @@ compare entries."
 			   (goto-char (org-end-of-item-before-blank end))))
 	     (value-to-sort
 	      (lambda ()
-		(when (looking-at "[ \t]*[-+*0-9.)]+\\([ \t]+\\[[- X]\\]\\)?[ \t]+")
+		(when (looking-at "[ \t]*[-+*0-9A-Za-z.)]+\\([ \t]+\\[[- X]\\]\\)?[ \t]+")
 		  (cond
 		   ((= dcst ?n)
 		    (string-to-number (buffer-substring (match-end 0)
@@ -2028,7 +2067,7 @@ sublevels as a list of strings."
     (while (org-search-forward-unenclosed org-item-beginning-re end t)
       (save-excursion
 	(beginning-of-line)
-	(setq ltype (cond ((looking-at-p "^[ \t]*[0-9]") 'ordered)
+	(setq ltype (cond ((looking-at-p "^[ \t]*[0-9A-Za-z]") 'ordered)
 			  ((org-at-item-description-p) 'descriptive)
 			  (t 'unordered))))
       (let* ((indent1 (org-get-indentation))
@@ -2037,7 +2076,7 @@ sublevels as a list of strings."
 					       (org-end-of-item-or-at-child end))))
 	     (nextindent (if (= (point) end) 0 (org-get-indentation)))
 	     (item (if (string-match
-			"^\\(?:\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?[0-9]+\\][ \t]*\\)?\\[\\([xX ]\\)\\]"
+			"^\\(?:\\[@\\(?:start:\\)?[0-9A-Za-z]+\\][ \t]*\\)?\\[\\([xX ]\\)\\]"
 			item)
 		       (replace-match (if (equal (match-string 1 item) " ")
 					  "CBOFF"


On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 6:01 AM, Nathaniel Flath <flat0103@gmail.com> wrote:
> I was going to fix the issues described in the first reply - not
> enough items in particular - and resubmit soon.  I got a bit
> distracted by finals.  I'll see if I can figure out the export
> problem, as well.
>
> Thanks,
> Nathaniel Flath
>
> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 5:44 AM, Jacob Mitchell
> <jacob.d.mitchell@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>> On Fri, Aug 27, 2010 at 6:53 AM, Bernt Hansen <bernt@norang.ca> wrote:
>>>
>>> Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> writes:
>>>
>>> > On Jul 29, 2010, at 10:27 PM, Nathaniel Flath wrote:
>>> >
>>> >> Hello all,
>>> >>
>>> >> One thing that had been bugging me was the inability to have an
>>> >> ordered list of the form:
>>> >>
>>> >> a.  Item 1
>>> >> b.  Item 2
>>> >> c.  Item 3
>>> >>
>>> >> The following patch enables this, with lists going from a-z and A-Z.
>>> >> Let me know if there are any issues with it.
>>> >
>>> > Hi,
>>> >
>>> > I am not really sure we need these.  They cause problems when lists get
>>> > really long - also you patch does not further than "z", after that I
>>> > get "{".
>>> >
>>> > Furthermore the export backends implement their own numbering
>>> > rules anyway.  So it seems to me that we do not need this addition.
>>> >
>>> > Any other votes here?
>>>
>>> I'm not currently missing this feature.  I think it definitely would
>>> have to handle more entries if this was to be included in org-mode.
>>
>> I agree, that would be nice.
>>
>>>
>>> Maybe going something like
>>>
>>>  a.
>>>  b.
>>>  ...
>>>  z.
>>>  aa.
>>>  ab.
>>>  ...
>>>  az.
>>>  ba.
>>>  bb.
>>>  ...
>>>  zz.
>>>  ... and if you really need more entries than that (unlikely) you can
>>>  do
>>>  aaa.
>>>  aab.
>>>  ...
>>>  and just keep going indefinitely.
>>
>> As a practical matter we should consider whether it's worth making a
>> non-terminating sequence that can be handled by the exporters.  LaTeX's
>> enumerate package doesn't like going beyond (z):
>>
>> \documentclass[letterpaper]{article}
>> \usepackage{enumerate}
>>
>> \begin{document}
>> \begin{enumerate}[(z)]
>> \item
>> ...
>> \end{document}
>>
>> The items beyond the 26th are mapped to "()".
>>
>> Of course there are going to be ways around these issues, but the question
>> is whether it's desirable enough to implement and maintain that.  Either way
>> is fine with me--I'm new on the mailing list and haven't done any
>> development for org-mode yet.
>>
>> -Jake
>>>
>>> -Bernt
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
>>> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
>>> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
>>> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Emacs-orgmode mailing list
>> Please use `Reply All' to send replies to the list.
>> Emacs-orgmode@gnu.org
>> http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode
>>
>>
>