Links in Org-mode : Clunky

Links in Org-mode : Clunky

[Nathan Neff]

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Hello all,

I've always found that the links in org-mode are basically
very clunky to try to use in a quick fashion.

To my understanding (see my other question about CUSTOM_ID
versus ID) it's a good practice to store either a CUSTOM_ID or ID
- (still can't grok the difference) and then store a hyperlink to that
CUSTOM_ID or ID.

By storing a hyperlink to CUSTOM_ID or ID my heading can change,
but this won't matter.  I can also move the heading to another file, and
links
to it will still work.

However, I find that it's pretty clunky to store a CUSTOM_ID or ID
for a heading, and then copy the link, and then paste it where I want to
use it.  Granted, it's not very difficult using org-store-link and
org-insert-link,
but it's just not as easy as I would think it would be.

I've recently stumbled on Helm and was wondering if anyone has coded some
kind of function that would show me a list of my headings, and create a
CUSTOM_ID
or ID for the heading and then copy a link to that heading so that I could
easily paste it.

Let's say I'm typing some stuff and want to insert a link to another
heading, I would
press some key combo and a helm search would come up.  I would find the
heading that
I want to link to.  If the heading has a CUSTOM_ID property, then a link to
that CUSTOM_ID
would be inserted at the text where my cursor is.  If there's not a
CUSTOM_ID property perhaps a prompt for a CUSTOM_ID could pop up.  Once I
enter the CUSTOM_ID, the link is created and copied to my cursor location /
clipboard.

Has anyone coded such a plugin or am I missing some cool Helm-fu?

Thanks,
--Nate

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Re: Links in Org-mode : Clunky

[Ihor Radchenko]

Dear Nathan,

> Has anyone coded such a plugin or am I missing some cool Helm-fu?

Not exactly the same, but see the code below. Note that the code does
not support creating CUSTOM_ID. Instead, it silently creates an ID if it
does not exist (see (org-id-get ... 'create)).
The helm completion will work if it is enabled globally. 

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(defvar org-id-history nil
  "ID completion history for id: link type.")

(defvar org-id-cache nil
  "ID completion cache for id: link type.")

(defun org-id-prompt-id ()
  "Prompt for the id during completion of att-id: link."
  (let ((org-refile-history org-id-history)
	(org-refile-cache org-id-cache)
	(org-refile-target-verify-function nil))
    (let ((prompt-ans (org-refile-get-location "Select org entry")))
      (prog1
	  (or (org-id-get (seq-find #'markerp
				    prompt-ans)
			  'create)
              (user-error "Cannot find ID of the entry: %s" prompt-ans))
	(setq org-id-history org-refile-history)
	(setq org-id-cache org-refile-cache)))))


(defun org-id-link-complete (&optional arg)
  "Completion function for id: link."
  (let* ((id (org-id-prompt-id)))
    (format "id:%s" id)))

(org-link-set-parameters "id" 
			 :complete #'org-id-link-complete)
#+end_src

Regards,
Ihor
 


Nathan Neff <nathan.neff@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello all,
>
> I've always found that the links in org-mode are basically
> very clunky to try to use in a quick fashion.
>
> To my understanding (see my other question about CUSTOM_ID
> versus ID) it's a good practice to store either a CUSTOM_ID or ID
> - (still can't grok the difference) and then store a hyperlink to that
> CUSTOM_ID or ID.
>
> By storing a hyperlink to CUSTOM_ID or ID my heading can change,
> but this won't matter.  I can also move the heading to another file, and
> links
> to it will still work.
>
> However, I find that it's pretty clunky to store a CUSTOM_ID or ID
> for a heading, and then copy the link, and then paste it where I want to
> use it.  Granted, it's not very difficult using org-store-link and
> org-insert-link,
> but it's just not as easy as I would think it would be.
>
> I've recently stumbled on Helm and was wondering if anyone has coded some
> kind of function that would show me a list of my headings, and create a
> CUSTOM_ID
> or ID for the heading and then copy a link to that heading so that I could
> easily paste it.
>
> Let's say I'm typing some stuff and want to insert a link to another
> heading, I would
> press some key combo and a helm search would come up.  I would find the
> heading that
> I want to link to.  If the heading has a CUSTOM_ID property, then a link to
> that CUSTOM_ID
> would be inserted at the text where my cursor is.  If there's not a
> CUSTOM_ID property perhaps a prompt for a CUSTOM_ID could pop up.  Once I
> enter the CUSTOM_ID, the link is created and copied to my cursor location /
> clipboard.
>
> Has anyone coded such a plugin or am I missing some cool Helm-fu?
>
> Thanks,
> --Nate