Yes, it's very well explained, thank you.
I'll try to encode my names by removing any "-" and by adding a dummy letter at the beginning.
Is there another way of doing simple database in org-mode? By putting a component's name in a cell, I would like if the other columns could fill them-self with the component's characteristics.
(My apologies for the double e-mail, the first one wasn't sent to the mailing list)
On , Carsten Dominik <carsten.dominik@gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Christian,
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>
>
> On 5.3.2011, at 04:35, Frozenlock wrote:
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> > Greetings,
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> >
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> > First and foremost, I must say I'm a new Org-mode user... as well as a new emacs user... and have only limited experience with lisp.
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> >
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> > I'm using a table in org-mode as a database, from which I retrieve information as needed from other tables.
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> > This database stores multiples components with names starting by numbers and with the character "-" in them. For example: "10K-AN-D8".
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> > I want to be able to refer to its column with $10K-AN-D8. Yet, this is impossible at the moment.
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> >
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> > I've looked in org-table.el and found, at line 2038:
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> >
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> > (if (string-match "^[a-zA-Z][a-zA-Z0-9]*$" name)
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> >
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> > which, once replaced by this:
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> >
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> > (if (string-match "^[-_a-zA-Z0-9]*$" name)
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> >
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> > Provides me with the ability to name (and refer) columns in any way I want.
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> >
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> > However, I'm reluctant to use this feature; surely there was a reason for this limitation.
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> > Could someone point it out for me?
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> This is limitation is present to disambiguate formulas.
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> In you example $10K-AN-D8, D8 is already a field reference,
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> so Org does not know if you mean $10K-AN - @8$4.
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> Furthermore, you could easily arrive at variables like
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> $10-AN-D8, and then what should the $10 mean?
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> Of cause one could disambiguate heuristically by checking
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> which names have been defined. In fact, name replacement
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> happens first, and this is why your patch appears to
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> work. But the side effect would be that introducing
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> new names could change the interpretation of an
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> existing equation. All this is unstable and
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> unpredictable.
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> Hope this makes it clear.
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> - Carsten