Sorting entries in helm-org-ql

[akirak]

I am using helm-org-ql-source in this project, and now I'd rather want to display items in a way where lower-level items are shown first. Is it possible to sort entries in helm-org-ql?

[alphapapa]

An argument could easily be added to helm-org-ql-source to pass a sorting argument to org-ql-select.

org-ql/helm-org-ql.el

Line 188 in 0648196

(cl-defun helm-org-ql-source (buffers-files &key (name "helm-org-ql"))

[akirak]

I added :sort argument to org-ql-select in helm-org-ql.el, but it didn't work. It must be because the action returns a heading text, not an element.

[alphapapa]

Oops, you're right, sorry for sending you down the wrong path there.

I guess what we should do is, when a sorting argument is given, use the element action, and then map the helm-org-ql--heading across the results (which will require going to each result's buffer and position). We could do that regardless of whether there's a sorting argument, but I want the Helm command to be as fast and responsive as possible, so I'd prefer to not go through that extra work when sorting isn't used.

[akirak]

Thank you for your comment.

I also wonder if it is possible to skip subtrees (##89) in helm-org-ql. It probably should be optional, but it will have a great impact on sorting performance, since it reduces the number of items.

[alphapapa]

It would have to be optional, yes.

[akirak]

Maybe you can parse elements and generate outlines in a single path. With candidate-transformer, filtered-candidate-transformer, or filter-one-by-one of the helm source, you can store both the headline and the element in a single cell. Parsing elements would be a performance cost anyway, so you would want to avoid it when sorting is unused.

helm-source is indeed an interesting read. You may be able to change the sorting method after dispatching a helm session using candidate-transformer.

[alphapapa]

Yeah, there are a lot of possibilities. I generally try not to get too fancy with Helm sources' options. I used transformers for sorting in org-rifle, but something changed and it broke (not sure whether due to a change in Helm, Org, or my own code). Sometimes Helm changes without warning, as well, and I try to minimize chances of breakage due to something that's out of my control.