Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Ryan Thompson]

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Hi all,

I have a use case where I'd like for Org Mode to remove broken links while
preserving their text when exporting. In particular, I'm exporting the same
file multiple times with different sets of headlines excluded each time,
and as a result I have to be careful of linking to headlines that might not
be present in every export. It would be much easier if such links could
simply be converted back to plain text for that export, while remaining as
a link for any exports that *do* include the target headline. None of the
existing settings do quite what I want. The "mark" option comes closest. I
basically want "mark" but without adding any additional text around the
link's text. Would the developers be willing to merge such a feature if I
wrote it? I would add another possible value to
"org-export-with-broken-links", perhaps calling it something like "unlink"
or "strip".

Thanks,

Ryan Thompson

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Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Ryan Thompson]

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Hi all,

I have a use case where I'd like for Org Mode to remove broken links while
preserving their text when exporting. In particular, I'm exporting the same
file multiple times with different sets of headlines excluded each time,
and as a result I have to be careful of linking to headlines that might not
be present in every export. It would be much easier if such links could
simply be converted back to plain text for that export, while remaining as
a link for any exports that *do* include the target headline. None of the
existing settings do quite what I want. The "mark" option comes closest. I
basically want "mark" but without adding any additional text around the
link's text. Would the developers be willing to merge such a feature if I
wrote it? I would implement it by adding another possible value to
"org-export-with-broken-links", perhaps calling it something like "unlink"
or "strip" (suggestions for a better name welcome). Alternatively, I could
implement an option to dispatch broken link handling to an arbitrary
function.

Thanks,

Ryan Thompson

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Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Ryan Thompson]

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(Apologies for the double post of this email; due to a misconfiguration of
my mailer, I believed my first email hadn't gone through until I remembered
to check the archives.)

On Sat, Jan 12, 2019 at 12:38 PM Ryan Thompson <rct@thompsonclan.org> wrote:

> Hi all,
>
> I have a use case where I'd like for Org Mode to remove broken links
> while preserving their text when exporting. In particular, I'm exporting
> the same file multiple times with different sets of headlines excluded each
> time, and as a result I have to be careful of linking to headlines that
> might not be present in every export. It would be much easier if such links
> could simply be converted back to plain text for that export, while
> remaining as a link for any exports that *do* include the target headline.
> None of the existing settings do quite what I want. The "mark" option comes
> closest. I basically want "mark" but without adding any additional text
> around the link's text. Would the developers be willing to merge such a
> feature if I wrote it? I would implement it by adding another possible
> value to "org-export-with-broken-links", perhaps calling it something like
> "unlink" or "strip" (suggestions for a better name welcome). Alternatively,
> I could implement an option to dispatch broken link handling to an
> arbitrary function.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Ryan Thompson
>
>

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Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Berry, Charles]

> On Jan 12, 2019, at 12:38 PM, Ryan Thompson <rct@thompsonclan.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have a use case where I'd like for Org Mode to remove broken links while preserving their text when exporting. In particular, I'm exporting the same file multiple times with different sets of headlines excluded each time, and as a result I have to be careful of linking to headlines that might not be present in every export. It would be much easier if such links could simply be converted back to plain text for that export, while remaining as a link for any exports that *do* include the target headline. None of the existing settings do quite what I want. The "mark" option comes closest.


> I basically want "mark" but without adding any additional text around the link's text.


Sounds like a good use case for a filter. See

	(info "(org) Advanced Export Configuration")

and scroll down to the `Filters' section.

Just use the `broken-links:mark' option and set up your link filter to strip the `BROKEN LINK:' part.

HTH,

Chuck

Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Ryan Thompson]

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Hi,

This sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately it seems that the
`broken-links:mark'
option doesn't preserve the text of the link. In fact, looking at the
source, the code that handles broken link errors doesn't even have access
to the link's text, only the link target, so it's already too late once the
org-link-broken signal is thrown. This also means that the implementation I
was considering won't work.

So, it looks like I need to intercept execution earlier in the export
process. Any ideas on how to do that?

Thanks,

Ryan

On Sun, Jan 13, 2019 at 9:50 AM Berry, Charles <ccberry@ucsd.edu> wrote:

>
>
> > On Jan 12, 2019, at 12:38 PM, Ryan Thompson <rct@thompsonclan.org>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hi all,
> >
> > I have a use case where I'd like for Org Mode to remove broken links
> while preserving their text when exporting. In particular, I'm exporting
> the same file multiple times with different sets of headlines excluded each
> time, and as a result I have to be careful of linking to headlines that
> might not be present in every export. It would be much easier if such links
> could simply be converted back to plain text for that export, while
> remaining as a link for any exports that *do* include the target headline.
> None of the existing settings do quite what I want. The "mark" option comes
> closest.
>
>
> > I basically want "mark" but without adding any additional text around
> the link's text.
>
>
> Sounds like a good use case for a filter. See
>
>         (info "(org) Advanced Export Configuration")
>
> and scroll down to the `Filters' section.
>
> Just use the `broken-links:mark' option and set up your link filter to
> strip the `BROKEN LINK:' part.
>
> HTH,
>
> Chuck
>
>
>
>

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Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Berry, Charles]

> On Jan 13, 2019, at 1:33 PM, Ryan Thompson <rct@thompsonclan.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> This sounds like a good idea, but unfortunately it seems that the `broken-links:mark' option doesn't preserve the text of the link. In fact, looking at the source, the code that handles broken link errors doesn't even have access to the link's text, only the link target, so it's already too late once the org-link-broken signal is thrown. This also means that the implementation I was considering won't work.
> 
> So, it looks like I need to intercept execution earlier in the export process. Any ideas on how to do that?

Looks like your original idea to revise `org-export-data' might be best. 

IIUC, you need to add the link text to the SIGNAL-DATA in each of the places where `org-export-resolve-*-link' functions call `signal', then modify `org-export-data' to ignore the addition for `mark' and add it back for your new `mark-with-text' option.

HTH,

Chuck

Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Janek Fischer]

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I am looking for exactly the feature in https://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-orgmode/2019-01/msg00203.html:
I have a note with many links, but would like to export that note as landing page as text stripped of links.

Has there been any progress in the last 4 years on this,
or any hint on how to get this now?

Regards
Janek

---
CTO https://forensicdiscovery.de and https://software-challenge.deSoftware Engineering Student @ https://code.berlin

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Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Hanno Perrey]

Hej Janek,

> I have a note with many links, but would like to export that note as
> landing page as text stripped of links.

I have had a similar need recently where I wanted to export a document
filled with inks to org-roam nodes and other org headlines via id links.
I was able to strip the links on export for just this type while
preserving other link types:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(defun my-link-remover (link contents info) contents)
(org-link-set-parameters "id" :export 'my-link-remover)
#+end_src

This could of course be extended to actually check the link and only
remove it if it points to nowhere.

Hope this points you in a useful direction!

Best wishes,

Hanno



--
Hanno Perrey
https://hoowl.se

Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Ihor Radchenko]

Janek Fischer <janek.fischer@protonmail.com> writes:

> I am looking for exactly the feature in https://lists.gnu.org/r/emacs-orgmode/2019-01/msg00203.html:
> I have a note with many links, but would like to export that note as landing page as text stripped of links.
>
> Has there been any progress in the last 4 years on this,
> or any hint on how to get this now?

For example, you can make all the code throwing 'org-link-broken return
a list of (PATH LINK) instead of just PATH. Then, `org-export-data' and
`org-export-with-broken-links' may be modified to optionally do
something with the LINK object itself.

Patches welcome!

-- 
Ihor Radchenko // yantar92,
Org mode contributor,
Learn more about Org mode at <https://orgmode.org/>.
Support Org development at <https://liberapay.com/org-mode>,
or support my work at <https://liberapay.com/yantar92>

Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Ryan C. Thompson]

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On 1/13/19 5:34 PM, Berry, Charles wrote:
> Looks like your original idea to revise `org-export-data' might be best.
>
> IIUC, you need to add the link text to the SIGNAL-DATA in each of the places where `org-export-resolve-*-link' functions call `signal', then modify `org-export-data' to ignore the addition for `mark' and add it back for your new `mark-with-text' option.
>
> HTH,
>
> Chuck

Years later, I became annoyed enough by this to attempt to fix it again. 
Unfortunately, I looked into changing all the functions that signal 
org-link-broken, and not all of them can be modified in the way you 
described, at least not easily. Instead, I came up with a fairly clean 
alternative solution: define a new link type "maybe" using 
org-link-set-parameters with an :export function that pulls out the real 
link transcoder from the backend and calls it, but then implements my 
desired behavior if that transcoder throws an error. This allows you to 
prefix any link's path with "maybe:" to have it magically become plain 
text if it can't be resolved during export. Here's the implementation:


(org-link-set-parameters
  "maybe"
  :follow
  (lambda (path prefix)
    (condition-case err
        (org-link-open-from-string (format "[[%s]]" path))
      (error (message "Failed to open maybe link %S" path))))
  ;; This must be a lambda so it is self-contained
  :export
  (lambda (path desc backend &optional info)
    (when (symbolp backend)
      (setq backend (org-export-get-backend backend)))
    ;; Generate the non-maybe version of the link, and call the
    ;; backend's appropriate transcoder on it, but catch any error
    ;; thrown and just replace the link with its text instead.
    (let* ((real-link
            (with-temp-buffer
          (save-excursion (insert "[[" path "][" desc "]]"))
          (org-element-link-parser)))
           (real-link-transcoder (cdr (assoc 'link 
(org-export-get-all-transcoders backend)))))
      (condition-case err
          (funcall real-link-transcoder real-link desc info)
        (error
         (message "Skipping error during maybe link transcoding: %S" err)
         (or desc path))))))


Using the above code, the following org file can be successfully 
exported to HTML, with the broken/invalid links converted to just plain 
text.


* First heading
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: heading1
:END:
- [[maybe:maybe:maybe:https://google.com][Maybe google]]
- [[maybe:#heading1][Link to first heading]]
- [[maybe:#heading2][Link to second heading]]
- [[maybe:#heading3][Link to third(?) heading]]
- [[maybe:blarg:notalink][This is an invalid link]]
* Second heading
:PROPERTIES:
:CUSTOM_ID: heading2
:END:


So, this isn't an ideal solution, since it requires me to prefix any 
potential offending links with "maybe:". But it's good enough for me.


Regards,

Ryan

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Re: Feature request: Allow export to convert broken links to plain text

[Berry, Charles]

Ryan,

> On Sep 9, 2023, at 9:13 PM, Ryan C. Thompson <rct@thompsonclan.org> wrote:
> 
> So, this isn't an ideal solution, since it requires me to prefix any potential offending links with "maybe:". But it's good enough for me.
> 

It is good that you have a solution, albeit with the caveat you mention above.

A couple of thoughts:

There is a hook that operates on the copy buffer before parsing viz. "org-export-before-parsing-functions is a variable defined in ‘ox.el’." (In older versions, it was org-export-before-parsing-hook.) Maybe you can add a hook that will add that prefix to all links, so you do not need to put it in your working files.

Or you could write an elisp macro that takes two arguments (link, desc) and uses them to either construct a link or your preferred substitute if it fails validation. 

HTH,

Chuck