Feature Request: Bookmarking end-of-file in an org document

[jmay]

I would like to be able to save a bookmark to an org file that points to the end of the file, not to any heading in it. This isn't really org-specific, but I only have use cases that involve org files. Since org-bookmark-heading remaps the the bookmark-make-record-function in any org-mode buffer, this feature should either be in this package or there should be a fallback-to-default-bookmark handler (and therefore a way to decide whether to fallback, and have the feature in the built-in bookmark function, which adds complexity in both places).

Since this might not be of interest to everyone, there would need to be a switch to toggle this feature.

My proposal is to recognize that point is at end of buffer and record a specific type of org bookmark in that case. Could overload the existing id or outline-path fields for this or have a different attribute. org-bookmark-heading-jump would then recognize the EOB marker and jump directly to (end-of-buffer).

Would this be useful to other people?

[alphapapa]

Hi Jason,

Sure, this seems like it could be useful. I'd suggest that such a record record an additional end-of-buffer alist key, and the jumping function should do what's necessary when it's there. I doubt that additional configuration is needed; just documenting the behavior and attempting to DWIM/DTRT should be enough.

Note as well that this probably needs to be handled in indirect, narrowed buffers too.

What do you think? Thanks.

[jmay]

I haven't experimented with indirect or narrowed buffers. How would those work differently from a regular org buffer? My idea was to evaluate (eq (point) (point-max)) to decide whether the bookmark is for EOB. Maybe that check should be disabled for indirect/narrowed.

[jmay]

I can't think of a reason for recording start-of-buffer or any other special positions, but maybe using a position alist key with a value that could potentially refer to something other than eob.

[akirak]

This isn't really org-specific

@jmay If it's not specific to Org, I think the feature should not be confined to this package. I think you can define a new bookmark backend and use its bookmark-store function explicitly to create a bookmark that jumps to the end of your file. Is there anything I am missing?

[jmay]

@akirak As far as I can tell, there's only one "slot" for injecting a new bookmark backend. I'd like to be able to inject an alternative flow that only operates when point is at EOB but does not disturb any other backend, mode-specific or otherwise.

I made changes in the commit above that enhances org-bookmark-heading with EOB-specific behavior. Feedback appreciated. Is this worth submitting as a PR? Probably there should be a switch to make this optional.

[akirak]

@jmay I have never had a situation where I want to bookmark the end of a file. That's not my current workflow. I may mistakenly bookmark the end of a file when I just want to bookmark a heading. Thus I want the functionality to be opt-in.

Otherwise, I don't have any opinion on how it should be implemented. I think it's a trade-off between usefulness vs. additional complexity. It would be possible to implement your idea as a function advice without tweaking this package.

[jmay]

@akirak Thanks for the input. I've added a configuration setting (defaulting to OFF) for the proposed EOB marking. Latest revision is jmay@4ee2240

[akirak]

@jmay This is not my project, so @alphapapa may review your PR, if he is interested in it.

[alphapapa]

Actually, I can imagine wanting to bookmark the end of an Org file, e.g. if one always appends to the end of a file, and so the last heading won't be the same one each time one visits (like with a datetree).

So I think we could add a special case for when point is at end-of-buffer, and maybe prompt the user whether to bookmark EOB or that heading.