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Re: [O] ANN: org-vcard. Export/import vCards. Backwards-compatible with


From: Alexis
Subject: Re: [O] ANN: org-vcard. Export/import vCards. Backwards-compatible with org-contacts.el.
Date: Sat, 02 Aug 2014 11:12:16 +1000

Gour wrote:

> Excuse me for dumb question, but is this package meant to be something
> like org-contacts NG (something which we would really like to have)?

i don't think that's a dumb question at all!

My original motivation for developing org-vcard was to create part of a
pipeline for synchronising contacts between Org and my smartphone. My
intended plan for this pipeline is:

1. Create org-vcard to at least enable easy export and import of vCard
files between my smartphone and Org.

2. Using org-vcard as a library, create org-carddav (which i hope to
start working on shortly) in order to be able to synchronise contacts
stored in Org with arbitrary CardDAV servers.

3. Using org-carddav, set up a way of synchronising my Org-based
contacts with my smartphone-based contacts.

i'm taking this approach because:

(a) The MobileOrg release process currently appears to be stalled. A few
pull requests i've submitted to the project, one of which was intended
as the first step in making MobileOrg org-contacts.el-aware, have been
accepted, but there has been no new release including these
changes/fixes.

(b) (i) i feel org-contacts.el, as it stands, is too inflexible. It's only
aware of a relatively small number of properties, and extending this
requires directly messing around in the org-contacts.el code. i feel
that this has made it difficult to expand the list of properties
available, as it basically requires everyone to agree on exactly what
properties to add, and how.

(b) (ii) Further to (b) (i), i feel people should be able to define
their own properties, in their preferred language, without having to
write code for this.

(b) (iii) More generally, previous discussions on this topic on this
list have convinced me that it's folly to expect everyone to agree on a
single style for contacts in Org, and that what is needed is a system
that can easily accommodate the development of new contact styles,
potentially allowing an ecosystem/marketplace of styles to develop, with
particularly popular styles being considered for inclusion by default in
the system.

Given all the above, yes, i would like to see org-vcard become the basis
for an "Org contacts NG" system. (Which, to answer Feng Shu's question,
would mean that the 'tree' style would be available by default in such a
system.) Whether to actually take this approach, however, is something
i'll let the community decide. :-)


Alexis.



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