You can retrieve keywords in the org-file like this:

(defun get-keyword (key)
  (org-element-map (org-element-parse-buffer) 'keyword
    (lambda (k)
      (when (string= key (org-element-property :key k))
(org-element-property :value k)))
    nil t))

(get-keyword "ORG_LMS_COURSE")


John

-----------------------------------
Professor John Kitchin
Doherty Hall A207F
Department of Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-268-7803
@johnkitchin
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu



On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 11:17 AM Matt Price <moptop99@gmail.com> wrote:

>
>
> On Sat, Nov 10, 2018 at 2:22 AM Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr>
> wrote:
>
>> Hello,
>>
>> Matt Price <moptop99@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>> > I am writing this interface to my university's learning management
>> system:
>> >
>> https://github.com/titaniumbones/Org-Marking-Mode/tree/use-structured-course-def
>> .
>> > I am only using hte exporting system tangentially and I have not
>> defined a
>> > new exporter. However, I would really like to be able to set some
>> variable
>> > values in the header section of hte document, e.g.:
>> >
>> > #+ORG_LMS_COURSE: becomingmodern
>>
>> You can add keywords specific to a given export back-end in its
>> definition, more precisely in :options-alist value. For example, in
>> "ox-texinfo", there is
>>
>>     (org-export-define-backend 'texinfo
>>       '((bold . org-texinfo-bold))
>>       ...
>>       :options-alist
>>       '((:texinfo-filename "TEXINFO_FILENAME" nil nil t)
>>         ...))
>>
>> which means `texinfo' back-end should recognize the "#+TEXINFO_FILENAME"
>> keyword, and store its value in the :texinfo-filename property from
>> "info" paramater, which is passed to each function.
>>
>> You can write a derived back-end using this new keyword, along with
>> a template function that actually uses it. Look at the definition of
>> `beamer' back-end for an example.
>>
>> Thank you as always, Nicolas. I have not written a derived backend for
> this, though I guess many of the functions are export-like and in osme ways
> thatwould make a lot of sense. But I also need to use the course id to
> receive data from the courseware server, so for instance, right now I have
> this code:
>
> ------
> (defun org-lms-get-students (&optional course)
>   (unless course
>     (setq course org-lms-course))
>   (let* ((courseid (plist-get course :id))
>          (result
>          (org-lms-canvas-request (format "courses/%s/users" courseid) "GET"
>                                  '(("enrollment_type[]" . "student")
>                                    ("include[]" . "email")))))
>     (message "RESULTS")
>     ;;(with-temp-file "students-canvas.json" (insert result))
>     (loop for student in-ref result
>           do
>           (if (string-match "," (plist-get student :sortable_name))
>               (let ((namelist  (split-string (plist-get student
> :sortable_name) ", ")))
>                 (plist-put student :lastname (car namelist) )
>                 (plist-put student :firstname (cadr namelist)))))
>     result))
>
> ---
>
> Is there aclever way to extract the value of ~org-lms-course~ from the
> exporter even if what I'm doing really isn't an export? I'm actually
> harvesting JSON data  from the server, rather than producing an export
> file.
>
>
>> HTH,
>>
>> --
>> Nicolas Goaziou
>>
>