[Orgmode] Re: Composing letters using Org mode and the LaTeX isodoc class

[Sébastien Vauban]

Hi Jambunathan,

Jambunathan K wrote:
> Tried out isodoc. I like it.

Delighted to hear so.

I had tried different packages as well, before, but was always (very)
disappointed by the complexity, as soon as what you want is not what they
made.

With isodoc, everything is quite easily doable, and quite intuitive...


> I only wish I had started out with this package rather than scrlttr2.
>
> The good thing about isodoc is that the default style of 'A simple letter'
> in the document is more closer to the convention that is used here in
> India. Furthermore package seems 'very recent'.

Yep, last update a couple of months ago.


> I will have isodoc in mind when I get to work on a patch for letter writing
> support in orgmode. The essentials for letter writing support seem to be the
> same - setup key, value pairs (with key being a headline and value being the
> body) and emit them in a way that is expected by the underlying package.
>
> I would like to hear why you chose to go down the tangling path.

For two reasons:

- because I had not the hope of being able to configure the LaTeX export class
  and/or code in the right way,

- because, in a way, that's quite logical. Here and there, you define stuff.
  At the end, you just arrange them all in a way that fits well the LaTeX
  class demands.

Though, it's not just copying, the way Babel actually does with snippets of
code "à la Noweb". Hence, I really need at least the body to be in real Org
plain code, and be automatically converted to LaTeX, so that I can make use of
the tables, and all the Org markup.

I'm sure Babel is able of that, mixing raw code with convertable code. Just
needs more thinking.


> Personally I feel any sort of markup (this includes babel directives)
> distracting.

They're much less distracting as soon as they're properly highlighted.
Question of color-theme. I can provide you (all) with mine, if you're
interested.


> Btw, your approach set me thinking. I think there is a strong case for
> making headlines act as babel srcnames with their body providing content for
> noweb expansion [3]. This behaviour could be controlled by a buffer local
> variable.

That would definitely make sense to me, at least for this particular need.
But, maybe, there is already a parallel way to do such a thing...


> Wondering how babel treats srcnames? Can there be spaces? Is upper and lower
> cases treated one and the same ...

Being a (tiny) part-time Babel user, I wish I could easily answer such
questions. But, as I always try to take as less risks as possible, these are
things I never really looked at.


> Footnotes: 
> [3] It is likely the body of the headline might be run through a custom
>     renderer (say latex, html or even emac's own comment-region) before
>     finding it's way in to the document generated by tangle.
>
> Thanks once again for referring me to isodoc.

"When someone shares something of value with you and you benefit from it, you
have a moral obligation to share it with others." -- Chinese proverb

I've been as well referred to this excellent package by a friend. Hence, I do
what I have to do...

I now would be pleased to hear what others think, and eventually can do along
this line!

Best regards,
  Seb

-- 
Sébastien Vauban