Re: [PATCH] Function for copying field values
On Thu Sep 3 2015 Eric Abrahamsen wrote: > Basically it does what it says: if point is on a record name, the > whole record is copied, like before. If point is on a particular > field, the value (but not label) of that field is copied. I am just trying to understand a typical usage pattern for the extended code. I understand that it can make sense for a single record to grab the value of only one field. Yet what would this be good for with multiple records? It seems to me that with multiple records, this would make sense only if it included also the name of the record. Roland -- ___ bbdb-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bbdb-info BBDB Home Page: http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/
Re: [PATCH] Function for copying field values
"Roland Winkler"writes: > On Sat Sep 5 2015 Roland Winkler wrote: >> On Thu Sep 3 2015 Eric Abrahamsen wrote: >> > Basically it does what it says: if point is on a record name, the >> > whole record is copied, like before. If point is on a particular >> > field, the value (but not label) of that field is copied. >> >> I am just trying to understand a typical usage pattern for the >> extended code. I understand that it can make sense for a single >> record to grab the value of only one field. Yet what would this be >> good for with multiple records? It seems to me that with multiple >> records, this would make sense only if it included also the name of >> the record. > > One more thought: Why treat names special? The only field, where it > appears to make sense to grab its value from multiple records > without including some "identifier", would be the name field. > > Then, treating all fields the same way might work best with a > separate command bbdb-copy-field-as-kill instead of extending the > functionality of bbdb-copy-records-as-kill. The prefix arg could > then possibly be used in a different way: with prefix arg the > command could also grab the name field. (Or: include the name field > whenever this command operates on more than one record?) Yup, I asked myself many of these same questions, and I'm not really sure why I settled on the current behavior. All I really need is a quick way to copy and share addresses, phone numbers, and mails from my contacts -- usually just one, and I don't need the name attached. Beyond that, I'm happy to work this however seems most useful. Your last suggestion seems as good as anything I could come up with: why don't we do a separate function that only copies fields. If the name was included automatically when copying multiple records, then the prefix arg could be saved for selecting members from a list value, like it does now. Mostly that's useful when people have a million different email addresses. E -- ___ bbdb-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bbdb-info BBDB Home Page: http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/
Re: [PATCH] Function for copying field values
On Sat Sep 5 2015 Roland Winkler wrote: > On Thu Sep 3 2015 Eric Abrahamsen wrote: > > Basically it does what it says: if point is on a record name, the > > whole record is copied, like before. If point is on a particular > > field, the value (but not label) of that field is copied. > > I am just trying to understand a typical usage pattern for the > extended code. I understand that it can make sense for a single > record to grab the value of only one field. Yet what would this be > good for with multiple records? It seems to me that with multiple > records, this would make sense only if it included also the name of > the record. One more thought: Why treat names special? The only field, where it appears to make sense to grab its value from multiple records without including some "identifier", would be the name field. Then, treating all fields the same way might work best with a separate command bbdb-copy-field-as-kill instead of extending the functionality of bbdb-copy-records-as-kill. The prefix arg could then possibly be used in a different way: with prefix arg the command could also grab the name field. (Or: include the name field whenever this command operates on more than one record?) Roland -- ___ bbdb-info@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/bbdb-info BBDB Home Page: http://bbdb.sourceforge.net/