[Vimoutliner] Extending VO

[Steve Litt]

Hi all,

This is just a fleeting thought. I could as easily argue against it as for it. 
But I might as well throw it out there.

Imagine if VO's native format were a filesystem. The outline would be a 
directory. Each level 1 headline would be a subdirectory of the outline 
directory. Every instance of body text would be contained in a file within 
the directory representing its parent outline. Cloning would be a symlink :-) 
Hoisting and/or groupware would be a matter of marking a directory as "signed 
out" and then editing the headline's subdirectory as an outline. Interoutline 
linking would be trivial.

Where it starts getting complicated is that headlines must have a text 
representation, but must also sort correctly. Perhaps every file and 
directory would have 12 character, base 26 filename, and in every directory 
file aaaaaaaaaaaa would be reserved for the text representation of the 
directory's headline. This would also take care of the unsightly spaces you 
wouldn't want in a filename. New filenames would be inserted half way between 
those that should be above or below them. However, there must be a facility 
to "retree" in the event that filenames in a certain interval become 
unavailable.

Where this starts to really unravel is in implementing it within Vim. What a 
monumental task that would be! Also, it might marginalize Windows users 
because (correct me if I'm wrong) there are no symlinks in Windows.

Well, so much for mental meandering. I've got a book to write :-)

Thanks

SteveT

Steve Litt
Author: Universal Troubleshooting Process books and courseware
http://www.troubleshooters.com/