org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Matt Price]

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I have just pushed a more-or-less-working version of my "Org Writer's
Room" mode to github:

https://github.com/titaniumbones/org-writers-room

It's a very simple set of mostly-trivial minor modes that creates a
Scrivener-like writing environment for org users.  put
org-writers-room.el in your load path, load or require it, and then,
in an org-mode file, type M-x org-writers-room.  This will close all
but one of your existing windows, split the remaining window into 3
columns, and populate them as follows:

- left-hand column contains your unnarrowed original org file.
Ideally it should be org-global-cycle'd to "children" but I can't see
how to instruct org-cycle or org-global-cycle to set visibility to a
particular level.  (I would also like to have the entire "PROPERTIES"
drawer and ALL NON-HEADING CONTENTS of the heading hidden at all
times, but I can't figure that out either).
- wide center column contains an indirect buffer narrowed to the
subtree at point in the main buffer.
- right-hand column contains a second indirect buffer narrowed to the
properties drawer of the subtree at point.

In the left-hand column, press C-c C-x b or just RET on a heading to
"activate" it and place its contents in the other two columns.

It could definitely be a lot better but it's not so terrible!  It
allows you to have an overview of the project as a whole, a clean view
of the section you're writing at the moment, and a look over at the
metadata -- the "back of the index card" from Scrivener -- to remind
you of what you're trying to do in the setion you're currently
writing.

I would really like to make the metadata part more robust, with maybe
some functions that let you edit the property values without touching
the property names, and perhaps some fontlock trickery to make it look
prettier.  Siilarly, I'd like to do a bit more with the guide and evne
with the main section.  Eventually, I'd also like to make it
compatible with zotero-plain so I can start to use citations properly
in org-mode instead of inserting them post-facto in libreoffice
(ugh!).    But for now I'm pleased it works at all.

 I would love it if people would try it out.  It should be much more
stable than the last, awful version I posted some months ago.  The
code is very simple and mostly just

(1) rewrites the org functions for dealing with indirect buffers, so
that the indirect buffers don't need to be clones of the parent buffer
(2) changes some keybindings
(3) sets up the stable window configuration described above.

I would really love it if some other people would try it out, and (oh
please!) suggest/implement improvements.  I am well aware of my
terrible coding limitations.

Thank you,
matt

PS, the readme on github is a little out of date, but the code itself
is mostly documented so I hope that helps.  Though there's no general
documentation at the top of the file -- oops, sorry.

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Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Ivan Andrus]

Looks cool.  I already opened one issue on github.  :-)

-Ivan

On Oct 31, 2013, at 10:00 PM, Matt Price <moptop99@gmail.com> wrote:

> I have just pushed a more-or-less-working version of my "Org Writer's
> Room" mode to github:
> 
> https://github.com/titaniumbones/org-writers-room
> 
> It's a very simple set of mostly-trivial minor modes that creates a
> Scrivener-like writing environment for org users.  put
> org-writers-room.el in your load path, load or require it, and then,
> in an org-mode file, type M-x org-writers-room.  This will close all
> but one of your existing windows, split the remaining window into 3
> columns, and populate them as follows:
> 
> - left-hand column contains your unnarrowed original org file.
> Ideally it should be org-global-cycle'd to "children" but I can't see
> how to instruct org-cycle or org-global-cycle to set visibility to a
> particular level.  (I would also like to have the entire "PROPERTIES"
> drawer and ALL NON-HEADING CONTENTS of the heading hidden at all
> times, but I can't figure that out either).
> - wide center column contains an indirect buffer narrowed to the
> subtree at point in the main buffer.
> - right-hand column contains a second indirect buffer narrowed to the
> properties drawer of the subtree at point.
> 
> In the left-hand column, press C-c C-x b or just RET on a heading to
> "activate" it and place its contents in the other two columns.
> 
> It could definitely be a lot better but it's not so terrible!  It
> allows you to have an overview of the project as a whole, a clean view
> of the section you're writing at the moment, and a look over at the
> metadata -- the "back of the index card" from Scrivener -- to remind
> you of what you're trying to do in the setion you're currently
> writing.
> 
> I would really like to make the metadata part more robust, with maybe
> some functions that let you edit the property values without touching
> the property names, and perhaps some fontlock trickery to make it look
> prettier.  Siilarly, I'd like to do a bit more with the guide and evne
> with the main section.  Eventually, I'd also like to make it
> compatible with zotero-plain so I can start to use citations properly
> in org-mode instead of inserting them post-facto in libreoffice
> (ugh!).    But for now I'm pleased it works at all.
> 
> I would love it if people would try it out.  It should be much more
> stable than the last, awful version I posted some months ago.  The
> code is very simple and mostly just
> 
> (1) rewrites the org functions for dealing with indirect buffers, so
> that the indirect buffers don't need to be clones of the parent buffer
> (2) changes some keybindings
> (3) sets up the stable window configuration described above.
> 
> I would really love it if some other people would try it out, and (oh
> please!) suggest/implement improvements.  I am well aware of my
> terrible coding limitations.
> 
> Thank you,
> matt
> 
> PS, the readme on github is a little out of date, but the code itself
> is mostly documented so I hope that helps.  Though there's no general
> documentation at the top of the file -- oops, sorry.
> <org-writers-room.png>

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Alan L Tyree]

Matt Price writes:

> I have just pushed a more-or-less-working version of my "Org Writer's
> Room" mode to github:
>
<SNIP>
> PS, the readme on github is a little out of date, but the code itself
> is mostly documented so I hope that helps.  Though there's no general
> documentation at the top of the file -- oops, sorry.

Hi Matt,
Looks very promising. My first look at it and the middle "column"
doesn't preserve visual line mode. I have taken to using this a lot
since it is much easier to interact with non-emacs/org-mode users.

I'll put it through some more testing in the next day or so.

Also would like your ideas on useful properties. I have 'edition' and
'status' (review, in-progress, draft, submitted, final). I know you are
aiming at fiction, but I'm sure your ideas would be welcome.

Cheers,
Alan


-- 
Alan L Tyree           http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
Tel:  04 2748 6206     sip:172385@iptel.org

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Ian Barton]

On 01/11/13 06:08, Alan L Tyree wrote:
>
> Matt Price writes:
>
>> I have just pushed a more-or-less-working version of my "Org Writer's
>> Room" mode to github:
>>
> <SNIP>
>> PS, the readme on github is a little out of date, but the code itself
>> is mostly documented so I hope that helps.  Though there's no general
>> documentation at the top of the file -- oops, sorry.
>
> Hi Matt,
> Looks very promising. My first look at it and the middle "column"
> doesn't preserve visual line mode. I have taken to using this a lot
> since it is much easier to interact with non-emacs/org-mode users.
>
> I'll put it through some more testing in the next day or so.
>

Thanks for sharing it. I have just started on a short non-fiction book 
and I can see it being very useful. If only you could add a "Locked cell 
with no Internet connection, or other distractions" mode.

Ian.

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Matt Price]

On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 2:08 AM, Alan L Tyree <alantyree@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Matt Price writes:
>
>> I have just pushed a more-or-less-working version of my "Org Writer's
>> Room" mode to github:
>>
> <SNIP>
>> PS, the readme on github is a little out of date, but the code itself
>> is mostly documented so I hope that helps.  Though there's no general
>> documentation at the top of the file -- oops, sorry.
>
> Hi Matt,
> Looks very promising. My first look at it and the middle "column"
> doesn't preserve visual line mode. I have taken to using this a lot
> since it is much easier to interact with non-emacs/org-mode users.

Do you load visual line mode automatically when you load org-mode?  if
not it will definitely be broken, as I have to manually set the major
and minor modes on the new buffers (if I don't do that, all indirect
buffers will have the same modes as the parent buffer, which I don't
want).  I bet there's a way to record all the minor modes in a buffer,
then reload them in the indirect buffer, but I don't know it.  Does
anyone else out there?
>
> I'll put it through some more testing in the next day or so.
>
> Also would like your ideas on useful properties. I have 'edition' and
> 'status' (review, in-progress, draft, submitted, final). I know you are
> aiming at fiction, but I'm sure your ideas would be welcome.

I'm only sort of aiming at fiction as I don't really write fiction, so
I think "status" is great.  I'm not so sure about "edition" -- when
would you use that, do you think?  You may have noticed in any case
that org-writers-room-properties is a defcustom, so it an be tweaked
by hand if you think your use case is uncommon.

I'm sure you will find lots more bugs -- the mode isn't very
well-constructed, and in particular it doesn't dismantle itself very
well -- really it should remember the existing window arrangement and
restore it when it quits...

Please feel free to hack away at it!

>
> Cheers,
> Alan
>
>
> --
> Alan L Tyree           http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
> Tel:  04 2748 6206     sip:172385@iptel.org

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Matt Price]

On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 5:07 AM, Ian Barton <lists@wilkesley.net> wrote:
> On 01/11/13 06:08, Alan L Tyree wrote:
>>
>>
>> Matt Price writes:
>>
>>> I have just pushed a more-or-less-working version of my "Org Writer's
>>> Room" mode to github:
>>>
>> <SNIP>
>>>
>>> PS, the readme on github is a little out of date, but the code itself
>>> is mostly documented so I hope that helps.  Though there's no general
>>> documentation at the top of the file -- oops, sorry.
>>
>>
>> Hi Matt,
>> Looks very promising. My first look at it and the middle "column"
>> doesn't preserve visual line mode. I have taken to using this a lot
>> since it is much easier to interact with non-emacs/org-mode users.
>>
>> I'll put it through some more testing in the next day or so.
>>
>
> Thanks for sharing it. I have just started on a short non-fiction book and I
> can see it being very useful. If only you could add a "Locked cell with no
> Internet connection, or other distractions" mode.

I could use that mode too.  Maybe someone on the list can implement it?
>
> Ian.
>
>

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Thorsten Jolitz]

Matt Price <moptop99@gmail.com> writes:

Hi, 

> Do you load visual line mode automatically when you load org-mode?  if
> not it will definitely be broken, as I have to manually set the major
> and minor modes on the new buffers (if I don't do that, all indirect
> buffers will have the same modes as the parent buffer, which I don't
> want).  I bet there's a way to record all the minor modes in a buffer,
> then reload them in the indirect buffer, but I don't know it.  Does
> anyone else out there?

I have this (stolen) function in outorg.el:

,---------------------------------------------------------------------------
| ;; courtesy to Trey Jackson (http://tinyurl.com/cbnlemg)
| (defun outorg-which-active-modes ()
|   "Give a message of which minor modes are enabled in the current buffer."
|   (interactive)
|   (let ((active-modes))
|     (mapc
|      (lambda (mode)
|        (condition-case nil
|            (if (and (symbolp mode) (symbol-value mode))
|                (add-to-list 'active-modes mode))
|          (error nil) ))
|      minor-mode-list)
|     ;; (message "Active modes are %s" active-modes)
|     active-modes))
`---------------------------------------------------------------------------

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Alan L Tyree]

Matt Price writes:

> On Fri, Nov 1, 2013 at 2:08 AM, Alan L Tyree <alantyree@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Matt Price writes:
>>
>>> I have just pushed a more-or-less-working version of my "Org Writer's
>>> Room" mode to github:
>>>
>> <SNIP>
>>> PS, the readme on github is a little out of date, but the code itself
>>> is mostly documented so I hope that helps.  Though there's no general
>>> documentation at the top of the file -- oops, sorry.
>>
>> Hi Matt,
>> Looks very promising. My first look at it and the middle "column"
>> doesn't preserve visual line mode. I have taken to using this a lot
>> since it is much easier to interact with non-emacs/org-mode users.
>
> Do you load visual line mode automatically when you load org-mode?  if
> not it will definitely be broken, as I have to manually set the major
> and minor modes on the new buffers (if I don't do that, all indirect
> buffers will have the same modes as the parent buffer, which I don't
> want).  I bet there's a way to record all the minor modes in a buffer,
> then reload them in the indirect buffer, but I don't know it.  Does
> anyone else out there?

Yes, I have the following line at the top of the file:

# -*- mode: visual-line; mode: org; fill-column: 1000; -*-


>>
>> I'll put it through some more testing in the next day or so.
>>
>> Also would like your ideas on useful properties. I have 'edition' and
>> 'status' (review, in-progress, draft, submitted, final). I know you are
>> aiming at fiction, but I'm sure your ideas would be welcome.
>
> I'm only sort of aiming at fiction as I don't really write fiction, so
> I think "status" is great.  I'm not so sure about "edition" -- when
> would you use that, do you think?  You may have noticed in any case
> that org-writers-room-properties is a defcustom, so it an be tweaked
> by hand if you think your use case is uncommon.

The document is a law textbook that is now going into its 8th edition. I
keep it under version control but it is handy to know at a glance which
sections I have updated, etc.

Cheers,
Alan

>
> I'm sure you will find lots more bugs -- the mode isn't very
> well-constructed, and in particular it doesn't dismantle itself very
> well -- really it should remember the existing window arrangement and
> restore it when it quits...
>
> Please feel free to hack away at it!
>
>>
>> Cheers,
>> Alan
>>
>>
>> --
>> Alan L Tyree           http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
>> Tel:  04 2748 6206     sip:172385@iptel.org


-- 
Alan L Tyree           http://www2.austlii.edu.au/~alan
Tel:  04 2748 6206     sip:172385@iptel.org

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Matt Price]

I've pushed a new version of org-writers-room to the repo,

https://github.com/titaniumbones/org-writers-room

It's still rather simple, but some of the awful usability bugs are less severe:
- org-writers-room can only be called from an org-mode buffer
- when disabled, org-writers-room gets rid of the extra windows it
created  Doesn't restore a pre-existing windowing setup yet,
unfortunately -- I would love some advice about how to do that.
- the guide window displays a half-decent collapsed outline of the
document by default.

Unfortunately, one you start typing the guide mode starts to display
your new text.  I don't know if there's a way around this, and
probably it would be better to use one of the existing outline modes
for the guide window, but I don't know how to use those.  Maybe
Thorsten or someone can comment on how to improve that.

I would also like to figure out better ways to manipulate the metadata
-- there must be an "org-next-property" or a way to simulate it with
org-element, but I haven't figured it out yet...

Anyway, it's a start.  Still very eager to hear from people trying it
out, or who would like to help out (I'm so slow!!!).

Thanks,
Matt

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Thorsten Jolitz]

Matt Price <moptop99@gmail.com> writes:

Hi Matt, 

I've pushed a new version of org-writers-room to the repo,
>
> https://github.com/titaniumbones/org-writers-room
>
> It's still rather simple, but some of the awful usability bugs are
> less severe: - org-writers-room can only be called from an org-mode
> buffer - when disabled, org-writers-room gets rid of the extra windows
> it created Doesn't restore a pre-existing windowing setup yet,
> unfortunately -- I would love some advice about how to do that.

these are the lines in outorg.el that deal with the window
configuration, maybe they can give you an idea of the simple way I saved
and restored the initial window-config when launching/killing the
outorg-edit-buffer:

,----------------------------------------------------------------------------
| 12 matches for "window" in buffer: outorg.el
|     145:(defvar outorg-initial-window-config nil
|     146:  "Initial window-configuration when editing as Org.")
|     217:first line of the window showing the editing buffer."
|     359:    (setq outorg-initial-window-config nil)
|     442:    (setq outorg-initial-window-config
|     443:          (current-window-configuration))
|     654:    (if (one-window-p) (split-window-sensibly (get-buffer-window)))
|     655:    (switch-to-buffer-other-window edit-buffer)
|    1038:  (setq outorg-initial-window-config
|    1039:        (current-window-configuration))
|    1063:  (set-window-configuration
|    1064:   outorg-initial-window-config)
`----------------------------------------------------------------------------


> - the guide window displays a half-decent collapsed outline of the
> document by default.
>
> Unfortunately, one you start typing the guide mode starts to display
> your new text.  I don't know if there's a way around this, and
> probably it would be better to use one of the existing outline modes
> for the guide window, but I don't know how to use those.  Maybe
> Thorsten or someone can comment on how to improve that.

unfortunately I have no time to checkout your writers mode right now,
although I find the idea quite interesting and will give it a try next
time I have a writing project. 

If the doc is an Org-mode doc, navi-mode.el should work out of the box -
just follow the installation instructions. It offers many views on the
associated document, outlines, keywords, and combinations of both. You
can customize (improve) the current keyword searches, and define your
own keyword searche too, simply by customizing 2 variables.

You would have to make the *Navi* buffer pop up in the right window in
your config, then you can switch back and forth from the document to
*Navi* buffer (with M-s M-s and d or s or o).

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten

Re: org-writers-room sort of works! just in time for NaNoWriMo

[Matt Price]

On Mon, Nov 4, 2013 at 12:33 PM, Thorsten Jolitz <tjolitz@gmail.com> wrote:
> Matt Price <moptop99@gmail.com> writes:
>
> Hi Matt,
>
>> Hi Thorsten,
>>
>> Wow, navi-mode really is incredibly cool.
>
> thanks. why not write this on the mailing list - a bit of publicity
> can't hurt ;)
>
oh shoot, sorry!  my mistake!

>> I had not tried it before because it failed to load properly on al of
>> hte org files I tested it with. I suspected that I was not following
>> some important convention in the way I structure those files, but now
>> that doesn't seem to be the case. On further investigation, something
>> very strange is going on; the buffers work fine when I close and then
>> reopen them, but anything that has been open for a long time seems to
>> fail to load navi-mode. Have you seen anything like this before?
>
> not really, but I have a very useful command
>
> ,----------------------------------------------------------------
> | nuke-and-eval is an interactive Lisp function in `nukneval.el'.
> |
> | (nuke-and-eval)
> |
> | Attempt to cleanly reevaluate a buffer of elisp code.
> `----------------------------------------------------------------
>
> and when I do this in an outshine buffer, things get messed up sometimes
> ...
>
>> When I run (navi-search-and-switch) in ny test files, I get en error.
>> The issue seems to be (I think!) on line 1247 of navi.el, where
>> "split-string" is passed "headline-string"; but for some reason
>> headline-string is nil.  Reading the code, I do not see immediately
>> what the problem could be, but I suspect that some variable has been
>> set by *something* I do in the course of my daily work, and doesn't
>> get reset properly.  If you have an idea I'd really appreciate it!
>
> I bet C-h v outline-promotion-headings is nil when you do it in your
> org-mode test file, it should be:
>
> ,------------------------------------------------------------------------
> | outline-promotion-headings is a variable defined in `outshine.el'.
> | Its value is shown below.
> |
> |   Automatically becomes buffer-local when set.
> |
> | Documentation:
> | A sorted list of headings used for promotion/demotion commands.
> | Set this to a list of headings as they are matched by `outline-regexp',
> | top-level heading first.  If a mode or document needs several sets of
> | outline headings (for example numbered and unnumbered sections), list
> | them set by set, separated by a nil element.  See the example for
> | `texinfo-mode' in the file commentary.
> |
> | For more information check the manuals.
> |
> |
> |
> | Value:
> |  (("* " . 1)
> |  ("** " . 2)
> |  ("*** " . 3)
> |  ("**** " . 4)
> |  ("***** " . 5)
> |  ("****** " . 6)
> |  ("******* " . 7)
> |  ("******** " . 8))
> |
> | Local in buffer `tmp5.org'; global value is nil
> `------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I think this is all related to Emacs internals and loading, if you make
> sure outshine-mode is installed properly, especially with this line:
>
> ,------------------------------------------------------------
> | (add-hook 'outline-minor-mode-hook 'outshine-hook-function)
> `------------------------------------------------------------
>
> thinks should work. Maybe you should just restart your Emacs with the
> lines for installing outshine/outorg/navi in you init file and see if
> it works then? Otherwise reverting a buffer (M-x revert-buffer) might
> help in special cases ...

Yes, this is the problem of course.  I just copy-pasted the setup code
into my .emacs without looking at it  Foolish!
Busy today and likely tomorrow but I'm going to try to rewrite
writers-room as an extension of navi-mode.  The navi-mode buffer is so
much superior to my navigation guide, I don't see how I can use mine
anymore...

Thanks!
mtt
>
> Thanks for your report, let me know if it works. I use navi all the time
> with emacs-lisp-mode, picolisp-mode, org-mode and R-mode and did not
> have any problems for a long time now...
>
> --
> cheers,
> Thorsten