Re: Re: contact management in org-mode?

[Russell Adams <RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.Com>]

On Fri, Oct 30, 2009 at 10:26:07PM -0500, Russell Adams wrote:
> Looking into this some more, export is really easy. I can just use a
> dynamic block to store column view in whatever format I choose, and
> export then search & replace ',' for '|'. That is minimal effort!
> 
> Sparse searches in column view, hierarchy organization, etc. I'm
> trying to find a problem here.

I've just converted all my contacts into an Org file, and will
document below how it is organized.

First is Contacts.org:

--------------------------------------------------------
#+COLUMNS:  %20ITEM %15Company %10Title %WorkEmail %WorkPhone %WorkMobile %WorkFax %10WorkStreet %WorkCity %WorkState %WorkPostal %HomeEmail %HomePhone %HomeMobile %10HomeStreet %HomeCity %HomeState %HomePostal

* Contacts

** Adams, Russell
   :PROPERTIES:
   :Company:      Adams Information Services LLC
   :Title:        Principal Consultant
   :WorkEmail:    rladams@adamsinfoserv.com
   :WorkPhone:    
   :WorkMobile:   
   :WorkFax:      
   :WorkStreet:   
   :WorkCity:     
   :WorkState:    
   :WorkPostal:   
   :HomeEmail:    
   :HomePhone:    
   :HomeMobile:   
   :HomeStreet:   
   :HomeCity:     
   :HomeState:    
   :HomePostal:   
   :END:

What a super guy!
--------------------------------------------------------

I could have multiple top level headings for organization. Making a
contact a subheading also lets me use C-c / (spare tree searchs) to
limit the list of contacts.

With the column view modeline, I can edit contacts in long format, or
change fields in column view.

Next I needed a way to lookup addresses for Mutt. Lbdb is very
effective, but given I don't use BBDB anymore I required an
alternative.

I still like lbdb's inmail filter, so I continue to use that. I wrote
a quick lbdb module to find contacts in Contacts.org.

~/.lbdb/lbdbrc:
--------------------------------------------------------
MODULES_PATH="/usr/lib/lbdb /home/rladams/.lbdb/modules"
METHODS="m_inmail m_gpg m_orgcontact"
--------------------------------------------------------

~/.lbdb/modules/m_orgcontact:
--------------------------------------------------------
#! /bin/sh

m_orgcontact_query()
{

    /home/rladams/.lbdb/modules/orgcontact.pl $1

}
--------------------------------------------------------


~/.lbdb/modules/orgcontact.pl: (note the hardcoded Contacts.org file)
--------------------------------------------------------
#!/usr/bin/perl

use strict;
use warnings;

# Read org headers are records

$/="\n*";

open(MYFILE,"/home/rladams/doc/OrgFiles/Contacts.org");
my @rawcontacts = <MYFILE>;
close(MYFILE);

$/="\n";

foreach (@rawcontacts) {
  if ( $_ =~ m/$ARGV[0]/i ){

    my $name;

    foreach (split("\n",$_)) {

      # The first line is the name
      unless (defined $name) {
        $name = $_;
        $name =~ s/^\s*\**\s*//;
        $name =~ s/\s*$//;
      }

      if (m/^\s+:.*email.*:/i) {
        my $email = $_;
        $email =~ s/^\s+:\S+:\s+(\S+)/$1/g;
        $email =~ s/\s*$//;

        printf("%s\t%s\t((Org))\n", $email, $name);

      }

    }

  }

}
--------------------------------------------------------

Given I still use lbdbq in Mutt for address lookups, now it returns
one row per email property using the name from the headline.

Next, to make data entry faster, I've defined a yasnippet which
contains all the properties in a tab list.

~/.emacs/snippets/text-mode/org-mode/contact:
--------------------------------------------------------
#contact : Add a contact w/ PROPERTY drawer
# --
** $1
   :PROPERTIES:
   :Company:      $2
   :Title:        $3
   :WorkEmail:    $4
   :WorkPhone:    $5
   :WorkMobile:   $7
   :WorkFax:      $8
   :WorkStreet:   $9
   :WorkCity:     $10
   :WorkState:    $11
   :WorkPostal:   $12
   :HomeEmail:    $13
   :HomePhone:    $14
   :HomeMobile:   $15
   :HomeStreet:   $16
   :HomeCity:     $17
   :HomeState:    $18
   :HomePostal:   $19
   :END:

$0

--------------------------------------------------------

This also helps keep the property list consistent. 

I hope this helps someone else.

Thanks.

------------------------------------------------------------------
Russell Adams                            RLAdams@AdamsInfoServ.com

PGP Key ID:     0x1160DCB3           http://www.adamsinfoserv.com/

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