Silos ignored

[MarcRohrer]

Hi namilus,

I use the Silo feature of denote. Unfortunately denote-menu does not seem to be very interested in silos?

denote-directory is a variable defined in ‘denote.el’.

describe-variable denote-directory: 
Its value is "h:/src/lisp/notes"
Original value was 
"h:/src/emacs/Documents/notes/"
Local in buffer .sbcl.lisp; global value is "~/notes"

It uses the global value instead of the one set in .dir-locals.el

Marc

[namilus]

Hello @MarcRohrer,

Firstly sorry for the late reply.

After looking into this slightly, I've discovered that the issue is that buffer local variables do not transfer when the major mode of the buffer changes. For example, when you open, in dired, one of your denote silos, and inspect the value of denote-directory, you'll find that it's value is indeed default-directory, as per how it's set in the .dir-local.el file. However, when you then run list-denotes, the major mode of the buffer changes from dired to denote-menu-mode, and as a result, all the buffer local variables get erased. Please see the stackoverflow link below for further details:

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/19280851/how-to-keep-dir-local-variables-when-switching-major-modes/19295380#19295380]

A workaround to this is to define a function that sets denote-directory to be your silo inside a let construct, and then call list-denotes. An example below:

(defun my-open-silo ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((denote-directory "/tmp/denote-silo"))
    (list-denotes)))

You can pull the recent changes in commit dca339b and try and see if that works. Because denote-directory is set to the silo value inside the let block, once you close that denote menu buffer, if you call list-denotes again, it should open a denote menu buffer for the global value of denote-directory.

[namilus]

Sorry there was a typo in the previous commit. Please pull ceb67d2. Thanks

[MarcRohrer]

Hi,

I do not quite understand. I do not switch major modes. I have a file x.org in the direcory y in which there is a .dir-locals.el, that sets denote-directory. I call consult-notes from that file. When does the major mode change?

Marc

[namilus]

Hi Marc,

Could you explain your workflow a little bit more? What does the function consult-notes do?

Here's my understanding of what's happening:

1. You have a denote silo i.e a directory of denote files as well as .dir-locals.el file that sets denote-directory to be the default-directory.
2. When you open one of the denote directory files (say an org-mode note), inside that buffer, the value of denote-directory is the value you expect it to be i.e the path of the denote silo (you can check this with C-h v denote-directory.
3. Then you run list-denotes inside that buffer. When you do this, the major mode of the buffer changes from org-mode to denote-menu-mode. With that change, all directory local variables are cleared and so the fallback value of denote-directory is used i.e the value you gave it in your init.el file.

This is what's happening as far as I am aware. The workaround I gave seems to work except for exporting to dired. I still need to figure out what's going wrong there...

[MarcRohrer]

Hi,

sorry, mixed things up here. I use consult-notes

https://github.com/mclear-tools/consult-notes

it provides similar functions to denote-menu. Also not perfect, but silos are used. But I tried denote-menu in exactly the same manner.

1. yes
2. denote-directory is correct:

denote-directory is a variable defined in ‘denote.el’.

Its value is "h:/Buch/Trockental/material"
Original value was 
"h:/src/emacs/Documents/notes/"
Local in buffer Trockental.org; global value is "~/notes"

Directory for storing personal notes.

3. I cannot verify this. Visually there is no change...

Marc

[zhuatw]

Hi namilus,

I use the Silo feature of denote. Unfortunately denote-menu does not seem to be very interested in silos?

denote-directory is a variable defined in ‘denote.el’.

describe-variable denote-directory: 
Its value is "h:/src/lisp/notes"
Original value was 
"h:/src/emacs/Documents/notes/"
Local in buffer .sbcl.lisp; global value is "~/notes"

It uses the global value instead of the one set in .dir-locals.el

Marc

Machine-translated, English is not understandable, please forgive me! I'm not an IT professional, here's a basic description of the problem: With this , had the same problem?

After reading your answer, and using your latest d1d741f Putting together this workaround, a view table can appear

(defun zzf-denote-open-silo-in-job ()
  (interactive)
  (list-denotes)
  (let ((denote-directory "~/notes/job/"))
    (list-denotes)))

But cannot use denote-menu-filter-by-keyword, It will still find the denote-directory up

[MarcRohrer]

As I currently do not use your package, I do not really need a workaround. But thanx anyway! I just wanted to let you know, that there is a problem.

As Prot recommended your package, it might be relevant to someone else, as Silos are a standard feature of Denote.

[namilus]

Hi @zhuatw @MarcRohrer,

Thank you for pointing out that issue @zhuatw. This seems to be a larger issue than I had first envisioned. I'll continue to work on this and post any progress here too.

[james-ru]

The function denote-silo-extras-select-silo-then-command in denote-silo-extras.el helps me do this with the following snippet that calls list-denotes:

(defun james/denote-select-silo-and-list-denotes (silo)
  "Select SILO and run the `list-denotes` command in it.
SILO is a file path from `denote-silo-extras-directories`."
  (interactive (list (denote-silo-extras-directory-prompt)))
  (denote-silo-extras-select-silo-then-command silo 'list-denotes))

I have it bound to SPC d l for ease of use.