Denote link with direct jump to an Org heading (plus `denote-org-extras.el`)

[protesilaos]

I have some working code in the link-to-org-headings branch and I am interested in further comments on whether this is useful, how it can be expanded, etc.

Excerpt from the manual on what is on offer right now:

[ Part of {{{development-version}}}. ]

The user option ~denote-org-store-link-to-heading~ determines whether
~org-store-link~ links to the current Org heading.

When its value is non-nil, ~org-store-link~ stores a link to the
current Org heading inside the Denote file. If the heading does not
have a =CUSTOM_ID=, it creates it and includes it in the heading's
=PROPERTIES= drawer. If a =CUSTOM_ID= exists, ~org-store-link~ use it
as-is.

This make the resulting link a combination of the =denote:= link type,
pointing to the identifier of the current file, plus the value of the
heading's =CUSTOM_ID=, such as:

- =[[denote:20240118T060608][Some test]]=
- =[[denote:20240118T060608::#h:eed0fb8e-4cc7-478f-acb6-f0aa1a8bffcd][Some test]]=

Both lead to the same Denote file, but the latter jumps to the heading
with the given =CUSTOM_ID=.

The value of the =CUSTOM_ID= is determined by the Org user option
~org-id-method~. The sample shown above uses the default UUID
infrastructure.

If ~denote-org-store-link-to-heading~ is set to a nil value, the
command ~org-store-link~ only stores links to the Denote file (using
its identifier), but not to the given heading. This is what Denote was
doing in versions prior to =3.0.0=.

[ This feature only works in Org mode files, as other file types do
  not have a linking mechanism that handles unique identifiers for
  headings or other patterns to jump to. If ~org-store-link~ is
  invoked in one such file, it captures only the Denote identifier of
  the file, even if this user option is set to a non-nil value. ]"

[jeanphilippegg]

I have tested this and it works great! As I was not using this feature before, I don't know how it can be expanded. I think this is useful!

[protesilaos]

Thank you @jeanphilippegg! I just merged it into main. Check the command denote-org-link-to-heading for an idea (part of denote-org.el for which I have several ideas).

The org-store-link now also captures the text of the heading when generating the description of the link.

[jeanphilippegg]

Ok, I will check this tomorrow!

[jeanphilippegg]

I have checked your code in denote-org-extras.el. These are good functionalities! Good job.

Here are some comments:

• The command denote-org-extras-link-to-heading and denote-link-ol-store should retrieve the description part of the link description using denote--link-get-description instead of denote--retrieve-title-or-filename. This way, the description can be anything + the heading. This was developed in #222.

• denote-org-extras-link-to-heading can be called in a yaml note and the link format is still with brackets. I don't know if it is desirable to have these links work in other file types. If not, maybe add a condition to prevent it from being called outside org files.

• There are many functionalities related to org spread in denote.el, denote-org-dblock.el and denote-org-extras.el. Maybe we could move all of them into denote-org.el. This could include the sections "Register denote: custom Org hyperlink" and "Glue code for org-capture".

• I get this warning everytime I restart Emacs: "Warning (defvaralias): Overwriting value of ‘denote--file-history’ by aliasing to ‘denote-file-history’".

I will not do pull requests related to this part of the code because it is in development, but if you want me to work on it, let me know!

[protesilaos]

Hello @jeanphilippegg!

This way, the description can be anything + the heading. This was developed [...]

Okay, I missed that. I will check it now.

here are many functionalities related to org spread in [...]

I just made the change that absorbs the dynamic blocks into denote-org-extras.el. See commit edbc0e4. I was not sure how best to deprecate the feature denote-org-dblocks. I think what I did is backward-compatible.

About the Org functionality in denote.el, I think that should stay there. The idea is that all the "extras" files are optional for those who need the additional functionality. What is in denote.el is the basic infrastructure.

[...] maybe add a condition to prevent it from being called outside org files.

Error checking is done since commit e4fcef9.

I get this warning everytime I restart Emacs:

This is because those variables are now public (unrelated to denote-org-extras.el). The reason I made them public is because a user may want to change their value (e.g. M-x remove-hook). Do you keep getting these warnings? Maybe because of savehist-mode?

[protesilaos]

Hello again @jeanphilippegg!

In the denote-org-extras.el we now have the code for the Org dynamic blocks. Note these warnings from some recent changes you made:

  288  18 warning  e-f-b-c  ‘denote-format-link’ called with 3 arguments, but requires 4
  295  25 warning  e-f-b-c  the function ‘denote--link-get-description-with-signature’ is not known to be defined.
  296  23 warning  e-f-b-c  ‘denote--link-get-description’ called with 2 arguments, but accepts only 1

Do you want to take a look or shall I edit it from here?

[Jousimies]

same warning problem here.

Warning (defvaralias): Overwriting value of ‘denote-sort--component-hist’ by aliasing to ‘denote-sort-component-history’

It exists after I restart Emacs even I delete the save history file.

[protesilaos]

I just made a change for the history variables. Hopefully we don't get any warnings now.

[jeanphilippegg]

Do you want to take a look or shall I edit it from here?

Sorry about that. I originally fixed it, but it got lost in the commits. This is fixed in pull request #231.

I just made a change for the history variables. Hopefully we don't get any warnings now.

I fixed denote--keyword-history as well in #231.

Have a good day!

[protesilaos]

I think we are good with denote-org-extras.el for now. Other topics can be discussed in separate threads. Thank you!