Announcing my Python module to read org-mode files

Announcing my Python module to read org-mode files

[Charles Cave]

Over the last couple of months I have developed a Python module
to read an org-mode file and return the nodes as a list
of objects.  The module is the basis of a Python/TK GUI
program to display a "Word of the Day" (another article
will be published about this program soon).

Here is the article (and source code)
http://members.optusnet.com.au/~charles57/GTD/orgnode.html

This is an example of what the module can do:

import Orgnode
nodelist = Orgnode.makelist("newgtd.org")

print "\n--------- PROJECT LIST ----------------"
for node in nodelist:
   if node.Tag() == "PROJECT":
       print "[ ]", node.Heading()


I hope the module is of interest to Python programmers!

Charles

Re: Announcing my Python module to read org-mode files

[Ian Barton]

> Over the last couple of months I have developed a Python module
> to read an org-mode file and return the nodes as a list
> of objects.  The module is the basis of a Python/TK GUI
> program to display a "Word of the Day" (another article
> will be published about this program soon).
> 
> I hope the module is of interest to Python programmers!
> 
Charles,

That looks very interesting. Amongst other uses it opens the way to 
produce customized Web pages via mod_python, which in some circumstances 
would be easier than tweaking the current org export function.

I have been experimenting with producing html exported pages optimized 
for my Nokia N95. At the moment I detect the browser string and then 
apply a different style sheet for the mobile version. However, this does 
have limitations, apart from those arising from my lack of css skills.

Using mod_python I can produce completely different output depending on 
the detected browser.

Ian.

Re: Announcing my Python module to read org-mode files

[Mark Elston]

Charles,

* Charles Cave wrote (on 3/14/2009 8:37 PM):
> Over the last couple of months I have developed a Python module
> to read an org-mode file and return the nodes as a list
> of objects.  The module is the basis of a Python/TK GUI
> program to display a "Word of the Day" (another article
> will be published about this program soon).
> 

This looks interesting.  I had started a thread about a month
ago dealing with reading and writing org files from an external
process.  I already was extracting data from external sources
and writing these files but I didn't have a way of effectively
*updating* these files, only overwriting them.  This looks like
what I was looking for to allow me to accomplish this.

The only thing better would be a way to use this package to
update the nodes and then write them back out.  Hmmmmm......

Mark

Re: Announcing my Python module to read org-mode files

[Charles Cave]

Mark Elston <m.elston <at> advantest-ard.com> writes:
 
> The only thing better would be a way to use this package to
> update the nodes and then write them back out.  Hmmmmm......

The changes to the package to write the node output out are...

1. A means of storing the org-mode preamble .. all the lines before
the first headline.  Maybe this could be in a node with level 0
and headline of null. The bodytext of this object could be
the preamble lines.

2. A method to output a node in ord-mode format echoing the
** prefix, TODO tag, headline, tags, properties and body text.

3. The module currently discards lines beginning with #.
These should now be preserved.

I wouldnt imagine this being a great deal of work.
I will add this to my (very long list) of things to do!

Re: Re: Announcing my Python module to read org-mode files

[Mark Elston]

* Charles Cave wrote (on 3/16/2009 6:22 PM):
> Mark Elston <m.elston <at> advantest-ard.com> writes:
>  
>> The only thing better would be a way to use this package to
>> update the nodes and then write them back out.  Hmmmmm......
> 
> The changes to the package to write the node output out are...
> 
> 1. A means of storing the org-mode preamble .. all the lines before
> the first headline.  Maybe this could be in a node with level 0
> and headline of null. The bodytext of this object could be
> the preamble lines.
> 
> 2. A method to output a node in ord-mode format echoing the
> ** prefix, TODO tag, headline, tags, properties and body text.
> 
> 3. The module currently discards lines beginning with #.
> These should now be preserved.
> 
> I wouldnt imagine this being a great deal of work.
> I will add this to my (very long list) of things to do!
> 

Actually, for my purposes, I think the problem is simpler.  As these
files are automatically generated (and, eventually, updated) the
preamble is 'pre-defined' for each file.  It could be written out
new each time the file is updated.  So #1 and #3 are non-issues as far
as I am concerned.

#2 is, of course, the primary issue.  I will probably need to deal with
properties as I get more involved in 'tweaking' my generators so I am
thrilled to see you already support them.

Mark