Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[ST]

Hello,

it would be nice to be able to make URIs to INCLUDEd files clickable. In
order to make them also lightweight, readable and corresponding to
current link syntax, I would suggest the following:

[[[dir/file]]]
[[[dir/file]] :lines "5-10"]
[[[dir/file][My file]] :lines "5-10"]

as clickable, including links.

What do you think? Or maybe there is already something like this, if yes
- how can I achieve the same?

Thank you!

Re: Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

ST <smntov@gmail.com> writes:

> it would be nice to be able to make URIs to INCLUDEd files clickable. In
> order to make them also lightweight, readable and corresponding to
> current link syntax, I would suggest the following:
>
> [[[dir/file]]]
> [[[dir/file]] :lines "5-10"]
> [[[dir/file][My file]] :lines "5-10"]
>
> as clickable, including links.
>
> What do you think?

This does not make sense: include files are not meant to be inlined.
Links are.

> Or maybe there is already something like this, if yes
> - how can I achieve the same?

Use `C-c '` on a file. 

Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou

Re: Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[ST]

On Thu, 2018-09-27 at 13:58 +0200, Nicolas Goaziou wrote:
> Hello,
> 
> ST <smntov@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > it would be nice to be able to make URIs to INCLUDEd files clickable. In
> > order to make them also lightweight, readable and corresponding to
> > current link syntax, I would suggest the following:
> >
> > [[[dir/file]]]
> > [[[dir/file]] :lines "5-10"]
> > [[[dir/file][My file]] :lines "5-10"]
> >
> > as clickable, including links.
> >
> > What do you think?
> 
> This does not make sense: include files are not meant to be inlined.
> Links are.

What do you mean by "inlined"? During an export such a link
[[[dir/file]]] should be replaced with the content of the "file", and
the link itself disappear. But in the source .org file it is just
shorter/cleaner way to write 

#+INCLUDE: "dir/file"

and be able to click the link to open the file in a separate buffer.

> 
> > Or maybe there is already something like this, if yes
> > - how can I achieve the same?
> 
> Use `C-c '` on a file. 

Why shouldn't it be possible to achieve just the same by ALSO clicking
on the URI? If you use .org files as a wiki - this feature is quite
useful.

Thank you!

Re: Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[ST]

> > What do you mean by "inlined"?
> 
> Roughly, I mean "located within a paragraph".
> 
> > During an export such a link
> > [[[dir/file]]] should be replaced with the content of the "file", and
> > the link itself disappear. But in the source .org file it is just
> > shorter/cleaner way to write 
> >
> > #+INCLUDE: "dir/file"
> 
> This is different. It is easier to insert text at column 0 than at
> a random position in a line. You cannot do the latter in Org.

Aaa... I see. Actually I don't need it to be in the middle, only at
column 0.

> > and be able to click the link to open the file in a separate buffer.
> 
> This is already possible.

Starting with which version of Org? I have 8.2.10 and it doesn't seem to
work there...

> 
> > Why shouldn't it be possible to achieve just the same by ALSO clicking
> > on the URI? If you use .org files as a wiki - this feature is quite
> > useful.
> 
> Why do you need something else if there is already a way to do what you
> want? I'm not a big fan of extending syntax gratuitously.

Well, triple square brackets is shorter and cleaner for wiki purposes...
I don't mind it to be able to include files only at column 0, it's
totally OK.

Regards.

Re: Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[Nicolas Goaziou]

ST <smntov@gmail.com> writes:

> Aaa... I see. Actually I don't need it to be in the middle, only at
> column 0.

Then the link syntax is not adequate. What would you do if the triple
bracket horror is on the middle of the line?

> Starting with which version of Org? I have 8.2.10 and it doesn't seem to
> work there...

Not out of the box, but you can probably add a mouse event on INCLUDE
keywords. And there's a function to visit the file already.

>> Why do you need something else if there is already a way to do what you
>> want? I'm not a big fan of extending syntax gratuitously.
>
> Well, triple square brackets is shorter and cleaner for wiki purposes...
> I don't mind it to be able to include files only at column 0, it's
> totally OK.

As I said, link syntax is inadequate here. I still think what Org
provides is enough.

Re: Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[Kaushal Modi]

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On Thu, Sep 27, 2018 at 11:03 AM Nicolas Goaziou <mail@nicolasgoaziou.fr>
wrote:

> As I said, link syntax is inadequate here. I still think what Org
> provides is enough.
>

+1. Also the proposed link syntax is too confusing with the existing and
also for a very corner use case. And then we need to worry about fontifying
those and existing links correctly, adding support to exporters, etc.

Unrelated:

@ST: btw also please update to the latest Org 9.1.x on maint branch or via
Org Elpa. Version 8.x is too old.

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Re: Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[Nicolas Goaziou]

Hello,

ST <smntov@gmail.com> writes:

> What do you mean by "inlined"?

Roughly, I mean "located within a paragraph".

> During an export such a link
> [[[dir/file]]] should be replaced with the content of the "file", and
> the link itself disappear. But in the source .org file it is just
> shorter/cleaner way to write 
>
> #+INCLUDE: "dir/file"

This is different. It is easier to insert text at column 0 than at
a random position in a line. You cannot do the latter in Org.

> and be able to click the link to open the file in a separate buffer.

This is already possible.

> Why shouldn't it be possible to achieve just the same by ALSO clicking
> on the URI? If you use .org files as a wiki - this feature is quite
> useful.

Why do you need something else if there is already a way to do what you
want? I'm not a big fan of extending syntax gratuitously.

Regards,

-- 
Nicolas Goaziou                                                0x80A93738

Re: Feature proposal: Triple square brackets to create a link to a file AND include the file

[John Kitchin]

You can get essentially what you want with a custom org-link in org-9 or
later.

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp
(org-link-set-parameters
 "wiki"
 :follow (lambda (path) (find-file path))
 :export (lambda (path description backend)
	   ;; do this for all exports
	   (with-temp-buffer
	     (insert-file-contents path)
	     (buffer-string))))
#+END_SRC

If you need extra syntax to support the lines below, see
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu/blog/2015/02/05/Extending-the-org-mode-link-syntax-with-attributes/
for an approach to do that with the existing link syntax, so it might
look like:

[[wiki:dir/file :lines "5-10"]]

This link is clickable and inserts the file at the link point in the
export.



ST <smntov@gmail.com> writes:

> Hello,
>
> it would be nice to be able to make URIs to INCLUDEd files clickable. In
> order to make them also lightweight, readable and corresponding to
> current link syntax, I would suggest the following:
>
> [[[dir/file]]]
> [[[dir/file]] :lines "5-10"]
> [[[dir/file][My file]] :lines "5-10"]
>
> as clickable, including links.
>
> What do you think? Or maybe there is already something like this, if yes
> - how can I achieve the same?
>
> Thank you!


--
Professor John Kitchin
Doherty Hall A207F
Department of Chemical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
412-268-7803
@johnkitchin
http://kitchingroup.cheme.cmu.edu