Re: [O] org-contacts development

[Alexis]

Daimrod <address@hidden> writes:

> So, as you said, we would need to define and document a specification
> for org-contacts. And we need to be clear from the beginning about
> what it can do and what it can not do. For example, it is unlikely
> that org-contacts will be a 1:1 mapping with the vCard format in its
> current form because vCard properties can have values.
>
> e.g.
> PROP1;PROP2=VAL:FOO BAR
>       ^^^^^^^^^

Agreed. But it seem to me we could at least map e.g. "TEL;CELL:" (which
is how my Android phone vCard-exports a mobile number) to
e.g. ":MOBILE:" or ":PHONE_CELL:". And we could map things like
e.g. "EMAIL;TYPE=work:" to e.g. ":EMAIL_WORK:". This is just
brainstorming, however. :-)

> An approach would be to keep using properties whenever it's possible
> to keep the format simple when possible and use subtree instead of
> properties when necessary.
>
> e.g.
> #+BEGIN_SRC org
>   ,* Contact Name
>   ,** PHONE
>      :PROPERTIES:
>      :TYPE:     WORK
>      :END:
>   - num1
>   - num2
> #+END_SRC
>
> But then we would need a special property to indicate that a subtree
> is a contact and ignore subtree without this property (just like it
> does with the EMAIL property ATM).
>
> #+BEGIN_SRC org
>   ,* Contact Name
>     :PROPERTIES:
>     :TYPE:     org-contacts
>     :END:
>
>   ,** PHONE
>      :PROPERTIES:
>      :TYPE:     WORK
>      :END:
>   - num1
>   - num2
> #+END_SRC
>
> And of course it would be nice if we could keep as much compatibility
> with the current format :)

Well, to me this looks broadly similar to what Esben has proposed:

https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-orgmode/2014-05/msg01055.html

Although i like the idea of such a format in principle, my concern (as i
noted in my reply to Esben) is that this might require a substantial
modification of org-contacts.el, both to accommodate this format and to
ensure backwards-compatibility. If this is indeed the case, and someone
else is willing to commit to being the lead on undertaking that work,
then i'll certainly support that work and write relevant MobileOrg code
to work with both the new and old formats. Otherwise, from my
perspective of wanting to simply add some more fields and be able to
transfer contact details between MobileOrg and my phone's Contacts
system, it's more than i'm willing to take on at this point.


Alexis.