Re: Org-cite: Replace basic follow-processor with transient menu?

[Jonas Bernoulli <jonas@bernoul.li>]

> (defcustom org-cite-basic-follow-actions
>   '[["Open"
>     ("b" "bibliography entry" org-cite-basic-follow.open-bibliography)]
>    ["Copy"
>     ("d" "DOI" org-cite-basic-follow.copy-doi)]
>    ["Browse"
>     ("u" "url" org-cite-basic-follow.browse-url)]]
>   "Contents of the org-cite-basic-follow transient menu. 
>
> This can be customized directly using the customization 
> interface. Use setopt instead of setq if you change this option 
> in elisp, to ensure that the transient is rebuilt.
>
> Further  actions can be added using transient-define-suffix."
>   :group 'org-cite
>   :type 'sexp
>   :set (lambda (option-name new-value)
>          (eval
>           `(transient-define-prefix org-cite-basic-follow (citation &optional prefix)
>              "Follow a citation reference.
>
> The contents of this transient menu is set in org-cite-basic-follow-actions."
>              ,new-value
>              (interactive)
>              (if (or org-cite-basic-follow-ask prefix)
>                  (transient-setup 'org-cite-basic-follow nil nil :scope (list citation prefix))
>                (org-cite-basic-goto citation prefix))))
>          (set-default-toplevel-value option-name new-value)))

(defcustom org-cite-basic-follow-actions
  '[["Open"
    ("b" "bibliography entry" org-cite-basic-follow.open-bibliography)]
    ["Copy"
     ("d" "DOI" org-cite-basic-follow.copy-doi)]
    ["Browse"
     ("u" "url" org-cite-basic-follow.browse-url)]]
  ...)

(transient-define-prefix org-cite-basic-follow (citation &optional prefix)
  [org-cite-basic-follow-actions]
  (interactive)
  (if (or org-cite-basic-follow-ask prefix)
      (transient-setup 'org-cite-basic-follow nil nil
                       ;; (off-topic) Add \n here ---^
                       :scope (list citation prefix))
    (org-cite-basic-goto citation prefix))))


I use something similar in Forge (forge--lists-group et al.), but
there the purpose is to share groups between different prefixes, not
to make them customizable.

To let users choose what commands to offer in the menu, I would
recommend directing users towards Transient's "layer" mechanism instead
of adding an option.

See [[info:transient#Enabling and Disabling Suffixes]].  To try it enter
any prefix (magit-diff would do) and type "C-x l".  Usage information is
displayed after that.

> :scope (list citation prefix)

Shouldn't that be just be
  :scope citation
and then
  (interactive (list (magit-scope)))
to access it?

>> It feels a bit too complex to demand knowledge of these transient
>> details (how to get the arglist) from users.
>>
>> I am wondering if we can somehow plug the existing commands passing the
>> arguments without any extra setup on the user side.
>
> The lambda form is much neater with your (transient-scope) suggestion:
> (lambda (citation prefix)
>         (interactive (transient-scope))
>         ...)
>
> Is this simple enough? I don't feel a macro would improve the
> situation.

Yes, obviously you have to call transient-scope somewhere.

I haven't seen enough of the commands you want to add as suffixes to
know whether it would make sense, and is even possible, to add an
abstraction, and the few examples I have seen already contain
non-commands and "find as pdf" doesn't even exist as a named function.

That being said, if there are multiple commands like

  (defun do-something-with-citation (citation)
    (interactive (list (read-citation "Do something with citation: ")))
    ...)

it might make sense to change read-citation like this

  (defun read-citation (prompt)
    (if (eq transient-current-prefix 'org-cite-basic-follow)
        (org-element-property :key (transient-scope))
      ...old body here...))

Cheers,
Jonas