Re: phone links...

[Michael Strey <mstrey@strey.biz>]

On Mo, Apr 08, 2013 at 07:47:52 -0500, Robert Goldman wrote:
> Michael Strey wrote:

[...]

> > What about integrating these few functions into org-contacts?  
> 
> I am very reluctant to do this.
> 
> I don't use org-contacts at all, but I *do* like to have phone numbers
> in my TODO items.

Actually, I do not use org-contacts either but I use an org file as
contact data base that follows the conventions defined in org-contacts.
Nevertheless, I would like to be able to use some of the newer functions of
org-contacts, namely the VCard export.

Currently org-phone.el as well as my org-dial.el are incompatible with
org-contacts.  The only idea behind my proposal was to make the contributors
of both packages aware of each other.


> I think we can get an appropriate combination by having org-phone be
> free-standing, and simply let the org-contacts user adopt them if s/he
> likes.

Yes, of course, with some persuading.

> Related question:  if the org-contact entries are *known* to be phone
> numbers (keyed by the field), why not automagically treat those values
> as phone numbers, instead of requiring them to be phone links (which add
> cruft to the files)?  And similarly for EMAIL.
> 
> I.e., why not simply have:
> 
> #+BEGIN_SRC org
> * Surname, Name
>   :PROPERTIES:
>   :EMAIL:    foo@bar.com
>   :PHONE:    +49 351 4129535; +49 176 6626196
>   :END:
> #+END_SRC
> ?

That would be convenient indeed.  But considering the given syntax rules
for links in org-mode, I'm not sure whether I really would like it.  Too
much magic can be confusing.

Moreover that would create a dependency between org-contacts and org-phone.
Org-contacts would require org-phone in order to work as intended, thus
creating a strong argument for my proposal of merging both packages.

Regards
-- 
Michael Strey 
www.strey.biz