Re: form-like process for entering rows in an org-mode table?

[Jean Louis <bugs@gnu.support>]

* Greg Minshall <minshall@umich.edu> [2022-09-28 06:34]:
> Jean Louis,
> 
> > * Greg Minshall <minshall@umich.edu> [2022-07-22 19:14]:
> > > hi.  does anyone have any code, or know of any existing package, that
> > > would allow for some sort of form-like (or "transient"-like) interface
> > > for adding rows to an org-mode table?  in particular, that provides some
> > > sort of =completing-read= interface for a given set of choices for a
> > > given column, etc.
> > 
> > I have total understanding for this use case, as I do similar all the
> > time. Just that I don't use Org tables, I use database tables.
> 
> the project that needs this has been on the back-burner for a while,
> but, for the record, i have looked at "Column View" as a possible
> replacement for "org tables as a database".  in addition to a
> completing-read interface, column view gives the opportunity to add
> descriptive text to a row -- i.e., just the regular, non-property,
> content under a headline -- which is very nice.  but, i haven't played
> with it enough to see how well it will fit my "needs".

I do not know what is column view. But I understand that you need
 descriptive text.

What I know is that without unique ID, there can't be conclusive
completion.

That is why I first construct various completions like this:

;; because there can be same names in different rows
(let* ((list '("Greg [1]" "Greg [2]"))
       (choice (completing-read "Choose: " list)))
  (rcd-get-bracketed-id-end choice)) ⇒ 2

(defun rcd-get-bracketed-id-end (s)
  "Return the ID number in string S from within first brackets on its
end. For example it would return 123 from `Some string [123]'"
  (let* ((match (string-match "\\[\\([[:digit:]]*\\)\\][[:space:]]*$" s)))
    (when match
      (string-to-number
       (substring-no-properties s (match-beginning 1) (match-end 1))))))
                                       
-- 
Jean

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