Vertical bars in org file break export to ics

Vertical bars in org file break export to ics

[michael]

Hello list,

for the following *.org file running org-icalendar-export-to-ics will fail
with "Args out of range: [nil nil], 2".

* This is a test
  <2020-01-01 Mi>

| | |
| | | | |

The error also occurs without any personal configuration files loaded
using the following software versions:

- Org Version: latest from org-mode.org
- Emacs Version:26.2 (build 1, x86_64-pc-linux-gnu, GTK+ Version 3.24.8)
of 2019-04-12

(The reason i have these vertical bars in my files is that i tend to use
graphics created with Emacs artist mode for the purpose of network
documentation.)

Is it me or could this be an org-mode bug?

Thanks for your effort in advance!

Michael

Re: Vertical bars in org file break export to ics

[Fraga, Eric]

On Thursday, 30 May 2019 at 08:57, michael wrote:
> (The reason i have these vertical bars in my files is that i tend to use
> graphics created with Emacs artist mode for the purpose of network
> documentation.)

Whether this is a bug or not, I will leave for others to
decide.  However, if you are going to use artist mode, I suggest putting
the lines within a src block with ditaa as the language.

  #+begin_src ditaa
  | | |
  | | | | | |
  #+end_src
  
which gives you the benefit of having C-c ' put you into artist mode
automatically.
-- 
Eric S Fraga via Emacs 27.0.50, Org release_9.2.3-379-gff2bf2

Re: Vertical bars in org file break export to ics

[Thomas Plass]

Hello michael,

michael wrote at 08:57 on May 30, 2019:
: for the following *.org file running org-icalendar-export-to-ics will fail
: with "Args out of range: [nil nil], 2".
: 
: * This is a test
:   <2020-01-01 Mi>
: 
: | | |
: | | | | |

Org recognizes the last two lines as a genuine Org table (with two
rows), not as a collection of vertical bars having a completely
different meaning.

Making the export more robust by gracefully handling unequal
numbers of columns won't help you as I guess you wish to have the
vertical bars exported verbatim (which Org won't do).

Your best bet is probably to choose an unreserved character for use in
the graphics, possibly just before exporting.  Unicode code point
0xFFE4 FULLWIDTH BROKEN BAR looks similar.

Regards

Thomas

Re: Vertical bars in org file break export to ics

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

thunk2@arcor.de (Thomas Plass) writes:

> michael wrote at 08:57 on May 30, 2019:
> : for the following *.org file running org-icalendar-export-to-ics will fail
> : with "Args out of range: [nil nil], 2".
> : 
> : * This is a test
> :   <2020-01-01 Mi>
> : 
> : | | |
> : | | | | |
>
> Org recognizes the last two lines as a genuine Org table (with two
> rows), not as a collection of vertical bars having a completely
> different meaning.
>
> Making the export more robust by gracefully handling unequal
> numbers of columns won't help you as I guess you wish to have the
> vertical bars exported verbatim (which Org won't do).

You're right.

Meanwhile, I made export more robust in this case.

> Your best bet is probably to choose an unreserved character for use in
> the graphics, possibly just before exporting.  Unicode code point
> 0xFFE4 FULLWIDTH BROKEN BAR looks similar.

Or use ": ", i.e., fixed-width area, or \vert as the first bar.

Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou