Re: [O] Extract item body with drawers/properties

[Bastien]

Hi Christopher,

"Christopher J. White" <address@hidden> writes:

> Is there a function to extract the body of an item minus all the auxiliary
> information?

Yes -- see org-element.el in contrib/lisp/ and ̀org-element-parse-buffer'
as a starting point.  Nicolas might give further directions on how to get
the body text only.

> * Item
>   This is the text I want.
>   And here is the second line.
>   SCHEDULED: <2012-05-12>
>   DEADLINE: <2012-05-13>

Please put SCHEDULED: <2012-05-12> and DEADLINE: <2012-05-13> on the
line right after the headline "Item".  It will produce unexpected
results on some commands right now.  

>   :PROPERTIES:
>   :foo: bar
>   :END:

I would also recommend putting this right below the SCHEDULED/DEADLINE
line.  

>   And it's conceivable there is more below drawers...
> ** Sub-Item 1
> ** Sub-Item 2

> Basically I want a function that does the following:
>
> (org-entry-get-text)
> "This is the text I want
> And here is the second line.
> And it's conceivable there is more below drawers..."

There is `org-agenda-get-some-entry-text' but you don't want to look at
it... because it's tuned for use in agenda only.

> Point is at "* Item" when this is called.
>
> For one project (org-toodledo), I coded a version (see below) that pulls
> out the drawers, drops properties SCHEDULED/DEADLINE/CLOSED, and pulls off
> any indentation, and it works pretty well, although it is probably not
> complete for all cases.  However, I'm now working on extensions for another
> project (org-taskjuggler) and want to again pull out the note.
>
> I tried again to find such a function in the org source files, but I just
> can't seem to find it.
>
> Does it exist?  

Not yet -- but building one from org-element.el is possible.

> If not, does it make sense to make my version below
> workable for org-mode developers in general?

Please have a look at what Aurélien is working on right now:
http://orgmode.org/w/org-sync.git

The purpose is exactly this: build a gateway between Org and
external services like toodledo.  There is no support for toodledo
service in Aurélien's code for now, but I think there will be when
he will be done.

You might also be interested in org-x:

  http://thread.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode/45570

AFAIU, org-x ignores the content of a subtree, so this will not
help you that much -- but the idea of connecting Org with external 
services is there.

> (Related, what is the right term for this block of text?  Note?  Content?
> Text?)

I'd call this the "contents" of a section.  Note the plural form, as
each section can contain paragraphs, code snippets, etc.

HTH,

-- 
 Bastien