Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Phillip Lord]

If I try to use the "d" (`bbdb-delete-current-field-or-record')
command to delete a record, it fails if the current record has no
name -- I get the "on an unfield" error.

As this appears to be the only way to delete a record, I don't know
what to do. Well, other than edit the .bbdb file by hand which seems
such a low brow way of doing things.

Any suggestions welcome.

Cheers

Phil

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Burton Samograd]

Phillip Lord <phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk> writes:

> As this appears to be the only way to delete a record, I don't know
> what to do. Well, other than edit the .bbdb file by hand which seems
> such a low brow way of doing things.

Sometimes that is the only way.  At least you have the choice to do
that if you really need to (as compared to other programs which use
binary files to store simple data).

> Any suggestions welcome.

Edit the file manually or see if you can debug the bbdb code and fix it.

-- 
burton samograd					kruhft .at. gmail
kruhft.blogspot.com	www.myspace.com/kruhft	metashell.blogspot.com

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Phillip Lord]

>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhftREMOVE@gmail.com> writes:

  BS> Sometimes that is the only way.  At least you have the choice to
  BS> do that if you really need to (as compared to other programs
  BS> which use binary files to store simple data).

  >> Any suggestions welcome.

  BS> Edit the file manually or see if you can debug the bbdb code and
  BS> fix it.

Clearly "debug the code and fix it" is a solution for any problem ever
(well, at least any computable, decidable problem). I was kind of
hoping for something a bit more specific. IF I decide to fix the bbdb
code, I'd like to do it after I find I have no alternative. 

Cheers

Phil

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Burton Samograd]

Phillip Lord <phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk> writes:

>>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhftREMOVE@gmail.com> writes:
> Clearly "debug the code and fix it" is a solution for any problem ever
> (well, at least any computable, decidable problem). I was kind of
> hoping for something a bit more specific. IF I decide to fix the bbdb
> code, I'd like to do it after I find I have no alternative.

Add a name field with Ctl-o and see if you can delete it then.

-- 
burton samograd					kruhft .at. gmail
kruhft.blogspot.com	www.myspace.com/kruhft	metashell.blogspot.com

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Phillip Lord]

>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhftREMOVE@gmail.com> writes:

  BS> Phillip Lord <phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk> writes:

  >>>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhftREMOVE@gmail.com> writes:
  >> Clearly "debug the code and fix it" is a solution for any problem
  >> ever (well, at least any computable, decidable problem). I was
  >> kind of hoping for something a bit more specific. IF I decide to
  >> fix the bbdb code, I'd like to do it after I find I have no
  >> alternative.

  BS> Add a name field with Ctl-o and see if you can delete it then.


Yeah, that works. But for some reason, it sends after the rename it
sends BBDB into a hang, which I have to Ctrl-G out of. 

Editing the BBDB file by hand seems like the best option for the mo...

Cheers

Phil

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Burton Samograd]

Phillip Lord <phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk> writes:

>>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhftREMOVE@gmail.com> writes:
>   BS> Add a name field with Ctl-o and see if you can delete it then.
>
>
> Yeah, that works. But for some reason, it sends after the rename it
> sends BBDB into a hang, which I have to Ctrl-G out of. 
>
> Editing the BBDB file by hand seems like the best option for the
> mo...

I'm thinking that bbdb is getting to be a bit of an abandonded project
and it's code is a bit messy and long in tooth, so bug fixes might be
few and far between in the future.  Of course, the beauty is that you
can just edit the file and be done with it...try that with an outlook
bug :)

> Cheers
Indeed.  Glad I could help.

-- 
burton samograd					kruhft .at. gmail
kruhft.blogspot.com	www.myspace.com/kruhft	metashell.blogspot.com

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Phillip Lord]

>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhft@gmail.com> writes:

  >> Editing the BBDB file by hand seems like the best option for the
  >> mo...

  BS> I'm thinking that bbdb is getting to be a bit of an abandonded
  BS> project and it's code is a bit messy and long in tooth, so bug
  BS> fixes might be few and far between in the future. 


Yes, I know. It's a bit of a worry, but BBDB could do with some
recoding. The user interface hooks are fairly nice and usable, though,
and I suspect its still quite widely used. Perhaps "feature complete"
rather than abandoned is more appropriate. 

I thought that something based around muse (in the same way that
planner mode is) would be quite nice, even if the searching
capabilities left something to be desired. 


Phil

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Burton Samograd]

Phillip Lord <phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk> writes:

>>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhft@gmail.com> writes:
> Yes, I know. It's a bit of a worry, but BBDB could do with some
> recoding. The user interface hooks are fairly nice and usable, though,
> and I suspect its still quite widely used. Perhaps "feature complete"
> rather than abandoned is more appropriate. 
>
> I thought that something based around muse (in the same way that
> planner mode is) would be quite nice, even if the searching
> capabilities left something to be desired.

I just found planner a couple of days ago and I have been using it
quite a bit, including starting the contact database that I was
planning on moving into BBDB from various sources.  Planner/wiki is
nice because you can make a pretty nice free form tag or header based
database with embedded links without having to worry about *any* file
format (other than the simple wiki markup in your file), and it works
well with external Unix tools if you follow something like the
email/usenet message structure format.  I'm still in the design
process and trying some ideas, but wiki/muse is a really nice place to
start that doesn't require any coding to get your data in a ... uh
... base :)

-- 
burton samograd					kruhft .at. gmail
kruhft.blogspot.com	www.myspace.com/kruhft	metashell.blogspot.com

Re: Deleting nameless BBDB Entry

[Phillip Lord]

>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhft@gmail.com> writes:

  BS> Phillip Lord <phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk> writes:

  >>>>>>> "BS" == Burton Samograd <kruhft@gmail.com> writes:
  >> Yes, I know. It's a bit of a worry, but BBDB could do with some
  >> recoding. The user interface hooks are fairly nice and usable,
  >> though, and I suspect its still quite widely used. Perhaps
  >> "feature complete" rather than abandoned is more appropriate.
  >> 
  >> I thought that something based around muse (in the same way that
  >> planner mode is) would be quite nice, even if the searching
  >> capabilities left something to be desired.

  BS> I just found planner a couple of days ago and I have been using
  BS> it quite a bit, including starting the contact database that I
  BS> was planning on moving into BBDB from various sources.

It's good, but a bit young yet. I've started using it out of
necessity, but it still lacks features to make it highly
usable. Still, it's good that Emacs is finally trying to move beyond
diary mode, which is a bit too low level for the modern world. 

  BS> Planner/wiki is nice because you can make a pretty nice free
  BS> form tag or header based database with embedded links without
  BS> having to worry about *any* file format (other than the simple
  BS> wiki markup in your file), and it works well with external Unix
  BS> tools if you follow something like the email/usenet message
  BS> structure format.  I'm still in the design process and trying
  BS> some ideas, but wiki/muse is a really nice place to start that
  BS> doesn't require any coding to get your data in a ... uh ... base
  BS> :)

Makes sense. Will look forward to seeing it. 

Cheers

Phil