Reverse function of enlist

#1

It would be nice to have a reverse function of enlist that would take a list of titles and output a single title for enlist to act upon it ad returns the original list.

It would allow to pass a list of titles as a single arguments. If there is no space in the titles, one could use join[ ] as a substitute but in many a case there will be spaces!

I have been able to have this functionality with a function. See below and after that, my comments.

\function .prepareTitle()
	=[charcode[91],[91]]
	[all[]]
	=[charcode[93],[93]]
	+[join[]]
\end

\function .tolist()
  [all[]]
	:map[search:title:literal[ ]then<.prepareTitle>else<currentTiddler>]
	+[join[ ]]
\end

\define importTitles()
<$let those={{{
  [tag{!!tagged}]
	+[dump[ball tagged]]
	+[.tolist[]]
}}}
>
<$action-setfield got=<<those>>/>
</$let>
\end

<label>tag to be looked for <$edit-text field=tagged/></label>

<$button actions=<<importTitles>>>import titles with that tag</$button>

into field "got": <$view field=got/>

This function works nicely BUT it needs an auxiliary function. If I tag $:/tags/Macro the above tiddler, it will also export that one. I can setup an other tiddler to just import that auxiliary function but it’s a bit tedious. If anyone is able to make it without an auxiliary function, let they show it!

BTW it’s a bit awkward to export function by tagging $:/tags/Macro . Sure, it does the job. But it would have been a perfect fit to tag $:/tags/Function instead (both macros could be used at the same time.

#2

See the titlelist suffix for the format operator: https://tiddlywiki.com/#format%20Operator

\function to.list() [format:titlelist[]join[ ]]

1 Like
#3

I have found this issue using the new functions which I love. Sometimes I want them to return a list but the rules only return the first item. So if you want to return a single string use +[join[ ]] which is a great way to concatenate various values into a readable string such as tooltip.

However as requested and suggested by @saqimtiaz it you want to retain a list of titles in the variable and or function use format:titlelist[]join[ ]]. You will have to use an enlist it to get the titles back out, but you could even pass the whole list as a parameter or a variable.

I think you will find any of the global tags, SystemTag: $:/tags/Global
SystemTag: $:/tags/Global/View SystemTag: $:/tags/Global/View/Body $:/tags/Macros all do “effectively” the same thing, for defines, functions procedure even custom widgets.

#4

than you @saqimtiaz.

The “enlist” documentation should point to that functionality to help out fellow coders. This could indeed be a documentation pattern: for any help, point out related items. the reverse of a function in particular.

#5

You have used function from modern TW 5.3.
It is time to replace your \define importTitles() with \procedure importTitles()

#6

I’ve come to a decision on that. \define isn’t going anywhere. I have probably a few thousand \defines to wade through – frankly, too many to take that approach. My decision, for what it’s worth, if I don’t need nesting, if I’m making significant use of substitution, they’re staying just as they are.

New code, that’s different. \procedure is my new BFF. :heart:

#7

I was not aware of \procedure

I can’t really see in the doc what it does better than \define. Except using the \parameters pragma. But the loc don’t really show why it would be such a great feature. If I understand your intent correctly, the combination of the two works better if I use functions (defined by \function) in my filter? And again, how’s that?

Also’ in the " Macro Definition Syntax" there is no mention of \procedure.

I thnk, however, that it would probably better to have a new topic for that. So if you want to contribute, join me on the “\procedure vs \define” please.