Re: [ANN] BREAKING CHANGE -- removing #+BABEL file-wide property lines

[Rainer M Krug <r.m.krug@gmail.com>]

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On Sat, Oct 22, 2011 at 5:52 PM, Eric Schulte <schulte.eric@gmail.com>wrote:

> >
> > Just to add to it: at the moment I have e.g:
> >
> > #+BABEL: :var MAINVERSION=0
> > #+BABEL: :var SVNVERSION=(vc-working-revision (buffer-file-name))
> > #+BABEL: :var SVNSTATE=( symbol-name (vc-state (or (buffer-file-name)
> org-current-export-file)))
> > #+BABEL: :var SVNSTATENUM=(if (eq (vc-state (or (buffer-file-name)
> org-current-export-file)) 'up-to-date) 0 13)
> > #+BABEL: :var DISP_PACKAGE="seedDisp_0.4-13.tar.gz"
> >
> > which would look horrible in one line and a nightmare to edit.
> >
> > Any suggestions how this cold be changed?
> >
>
> Hmm, I don't see any easy solution for the above.  I'm sorry to have
> removed this functionality.
>
> I can think of three options for how to handle this situation.
>
> 1. If it turns out to be possible/desirable my preferred solution here
>   would be to add general property support for appending values to
>   properties when properties are over specified rather than simply
>   replacing the value.  Perhaps this could be done with a variable like
>   org-accumulating-properties which could hold a list of those
>   properties which should accumulate values rather than overwriting
>   them.
>

Should work, but will add an additional level of complexity which I think is
avoidable.


>
> 2. Adding a "#+PROPERTY:" line authoring helper similar to the table
>   formula helper making it more natural to edit such long property
>   lines.
>

I think this might be to complicated


>
> 3. It may be possible to add syntax for extending #+PROPERTY:
>   specifications across multiple lines, something like
>
>   #+PROPERTY:  var MAINVERSION=0,
>   #+PROPERTY+: SVNVERSION=(vc-working-revision (buffer-file-name)),
>   #+PROPERTY+: SVNSTATE=( symbol-name (vc-state (or (buffer-file-name)
> org-current-export-file))),
>   #+PROPERTY+: SVNSTATENUM=(if (eq (vc-state (or (buffer-file-name)
> org-current-export-file)) 'up-to-date) 0 13),
>   #+PROPERTY+: DISP_PACKAGE="seedDisp_0.4-13.tar.gz"
>
>   FWIW I would like to have a similar extender for #+TBLFM: lines.
>   Actually this choice may be my preferred solution.
>

I like that suggestion - This would add an option, if inheritance for
subtrees is incorporated for #+PROPERTY to unset all variables - something I
was looking for some time ago.

So I really like that solution: logical, clear, does not break anything, and
easy to read - I would say go for it.

>
> What do you think?
>
> >
> > In addition: I would like to have a warning if #+BABEL is present in the
> org
> > file, so that one remembers that it has to be changed.
> >
>
> #+begin_src emacs-lisp
>  (add-hook 'org-mode-hook
>            (lambda ()
>              (save-excursion
>                (goto-char (point-min))
>                (when (re-search-forward (org-make-options-regexp
> '("BABEL")))
>                  (message "This file contains a \"#+BABEL:\" line.")))))
> #+end_src
>

Could this be included in the next few versions of org, as I can imnagine
that especially infrequent org-babel users will be confused. Also: in a
year, when I open an old org-file and it des not work, this would warn me
about the necessary modifications.


Cheers,

Rainer


>
> Cheers -- Eric
>
> --
> Eric Schulte
> http://cs.unm.edu/~eschulte/
>



-- 
Rainer M. Krug, PhD (Conservation Ecology, SUN), MSc (Conservation Biology,
UCT), Dipl. Phys. (Germany)

Centre of Excellence for Invasion Biology
Stellenbosch University
South Africa

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email:      Rainer@krugs.de

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