Citar-org-roam is not filling the capture fields

[ieremies]

Hi (and thanks for the wonderful package).

I'm having a little problem: when using the capture template, even with the exact same config as your README, the citar-fields are not filled and instead asked to me.

I'm using doom emacs, with vertico module and citar / citar-org-roam. Everything else seems fine, citar-org-roam-mode and 2 other functions shows up when M-x. The thing is: when I "click" the citation and choose the "Create Org-Roam Notes", it asks me to fill the fields like citar-citekey etc... Even stranger is the fact there is no defined variable citar-org-roam-template-fields when I try to describe-variable.

Here is my config (doom emacs):

;; Aldready in doom
(use-package citar-org-roam
  :after (citar org-roam)
  :config (citar-org-roam-mode))
;; My config
(setq citar-org-roam-note-title-template "${author} - ${title}")
(setq org-roam-capture-templates
      '(("d" "default" plain
         "%?"
         :target
         (file+head
          "%<%Y%m%d%H%M%S>-${slug}.org"
          "#+title: ${note-title}\n")
         :unnarrowed t)
        ("n" "literature note" plain
         "%?"
         :target
         (file+head
          "%(expand-file-name (or citar-org-roam-subdir \"\") org-roam-directory)/${citar-citekey}.org"
          "#+title: ${citar-citekey} (${citar-date}). ${note-title}.\n#+created: %U\n#+last_modified: %U\n\n")
         :unnarrowed t)))
(setq citar-org-roam-capture-template-key "n")

No other errors, even with debug mode.

Thanks for any help in advance!

[bdarcus]

That's because the PR to update it over at Doom hasn't been merged in months :-) You can take a look at that (I don't have link ATM) for ideas on how to update it locally.

[ieremies]

Hun, did not think of that possibility.

For future reference: doing unpin! citar-org-roam in packages.el did solve the issue. Keep in mind, you need to doom upgrade after.

Thanks, @bdarcus, for the insight, and sorry for opening a doom specific issue here.

[bdarcus]

FYI, that PR has since been merged.

[deen1]

I've been getting what I think is the same issue on vanilla Emacs 28.2.
I just upgraded to MELPA version 20230404.1225 to check. To be clear, when I run M-x citar, select a reference from the list provided that has no notes and hit RET, then choose Create Notes, I get prompted in the minibuffer for citar-citekey, citar-date etc.

My config is as follows:

(use-package citar-org-roam
  :ensure t

  :after (:any citar org-roam)
  :init
  (citar-org-roam-mode)
  (citar-register-notes-source
   'orb-citar-source
   (list :items #'citar-org-roam--get-candidates
	 :hasitems #'citar-org-roam-has-notes
	 :open #'citar-org-roam-open-note
	 :create #'orb-citar-edit-note
	 :annotate #'citar-org-roam--annotate))
  (setq citar-notes-source 'orb-citar-source)
  :no-require
  :custom
  (citar-org-roam-subdir nil)
  :diminish citar-org-roam-mode
  )

I'm trying to use citar specific variables, so this is my capture template:

(add-to-list 'org-roam-capture-templates
	     '("c" "citar bibliography reference" plain
	       (file "~/org-roam/org-notes/citar_template.org")
               :if-new
               (file+head  "~/org-roam/org-notes/${citar-citekey}.org"
		"#+title: ${citar-citekey} (${citar-date}). ${note-title}.\n#+created: %U\n#+last_modified: %U\n\n")
               ))

(setq citar-org-roam-capture-template-key "c")

where citar_template.org looks like this:

* %^{title}
:PROPERTIES:
:Custom_ID: %^{citar-citekey}
:URL: %^{url}
:AUTHOR: %^{citar-author}
:NOTER_DOCUMENT: %^{file}  
:END:

- tags ::
- keywords :: %^{keywords}

[bdarcus]

What happens if you do describe-variable for citar-org-roam-template-fields?

The value cars should be the same as whatever template names you're using in the templates.

Mine shows this, for example:

((:citar-title "title")
 (:citar-author "author" "editor")
 (:citar-date "date" "year" "issued")
 (:citar-pages "pages")
 (:citar-type "=type="))

[deen1]

I see. I get

Its value is
((:citar-title "title")
 (:citar-author "author" "editor")
 (:citar-date "date" "year" "issued")
 (:citar-pages "pages")
 (:citar-type "=type="))

I don't have e.g. citar-citekey in there, which is in my citar-template.org file. But when prompted for it in the minibuffer, (it's the first thing I'm prompted for), and after manually filling it with the correct key, I am them prompted for citar-author as well, which is in citar-org-roam-template-fields.

For example, at one point the capture buffer for an example looks like this, with the minibuffer-prompt citar-author (emphasis on cursor position mine):

* Assigning Probabilities To Non-Lipschitz Mechanical Systems
:PROPERTIES:
:Custom_ID: vanpoucke21_assig_probab_to_non_lipsc_mechan_system
:URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1063/5.0063388
:AUTHOR:   <------------ Here
:NOTER_DOCUMENT: ~/org-roam-files/vanpoucke21_assig_probab_to_non_lipsc_mechan_system.pdf  
:END:

I then changed citar-org-roam-template-fields to include (:citar-citekey "cite-key") or (:citar-citekey "key"), but neither
made a difference -- I was still asked for citar-citekey at the beginning of the capture and so on.

Of course, I have a working version of this capture-template system without citar-org-roam variables. It's just that it was suggested elsewhere (perhaps by you?) that we could change to ensure everything remained within the citar ecosystem.

[bdarcus]

This seems wrong:

  (setq citar-notes-source 'orb-citar-source)

Try removing the notes-source lines?

Here's my vanilla config:

https://gitlab.com/bdarcus/emacs-elp/-/blob/main/lisp/init-notes.el?ref_type=heads

[deen1]

Thanks! Unfortunately setting citar-notes-source to the default value of citar-file leads to the capture template being ignored completely, giving me a capture buffer that looks like this (compare with the above):

:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       18cdd9cd-baf2-497b-8125-fcde0c177be1
:ROAM_REFS: @vanpoucke21_assig_probab_to_non_lipsc_mechan_system
:END:
#+title: Notes on Danny E. P. Vanpoucke & Sylvia Wenmackers, Assigning Probabilities To Non-Lipschitz Mechanical Systems

#+print_bibliography:

I think this is very similar to your vanilla capture-template, which I also tried, with a similar result.

I then tried using your literature-note template using a minimal-ish config using emacs -Q -l, and running Create Notes on a reference again completely avoids the capture template settings -- i.e. the newly created notes buffer does not follow the literature-note format when citar-org-roam-capture-template-key is set, and doesn't even show the capture-template menu buffer (with the template keys as options, that the mini-buffer prompts for) when citar-org-roam-capture-template-key is not set.

[bdarcus]

I'll double check later, but pretty sure there's something wrong with your config.

[bdarcus]

I'll double check later, but pretty sure there's something wrong with your config.

Yeah, so I just quickly tested with the config I linked to above, and it works as expected; if I create a new note from citar-open, it creates a new note, using the template, with the correct data, and no prompts.

You may, in your config, want to ensure that citar-org-roam-mode is activated (which sets the notes source), though you could of course do that manually.

Otherwise, paste your equivalent to what I share above, and I'll see if I can see anything.

[deen1]

I'll double check later, but pretty sure there's something wrong with your config.

That's probably the case, I do have a lot of other stuff including org-roam-bibtex and org-noter hanging around too.

I do have citar-org-roam-mode activated (see above ), and double-checked just now to see that it hasn't been disabled.

Thanks for checking this out, but I wonder if you could just check the following so I can be sure where I'm going wrong:

1. Your config linked above doesn't use e.g. citar-author, citar-date -- does it work for you if you include these in the capture template?

2. Similarly, does my citar-template.org format work for you (modulo a few minor tweaks)?

3. What's the value of citar-org-roam--orig-source for you? By default it seems to take the value at load-time of citar-notes-source, so after your suggestion above I had to manually reset it to citar-file.

4. How does this capture template setup work for you overall? Do you just do Create Notes and get a capture buffer/org file, or do you get a buffer with a list of org-roam-capture-template options first?

[bdarcus]

1. yes
2. not convenient for me to test this ATM
3. citar-file
4. the former

[deen1]

Thanks, I'll try and bisect my config when I can find some more time.

[deen1]

Have a reasonably working fix for my issue here: emacs-citar/citar#756 (comment)