intro.txt

VimOrganizer version 0.30, November 2, 2011.  Requires Vim version that 
is compiled with support for folding and tabs.  Conceal will
be taken advantage of if working with Vim73 supporting conceal.  
(Also, I STRONGLY suggest that you apply a patch to Vim so that 
folded headings can have level-dependent highlighting, 
patch for Vim73 is in contrib directory of the download.  If you're on
Windows contact me and I should be able to provide you with an 
executable.  If I hadn't been able to make Vim do this I would have 
bitten the bullet and moved to Emacs, as much as I hate editing in Emacs.)

VimOrganizer is a Vim filetype plugin that attempts to clone Emacs' Org-mode.  
It is currently (November 2011) in an alpha-stage, both in terms of (1) the 
breadth and depth of Org-mode features it clones and (2) the stability of its
operation.  It is nevertheless very usable.

Some of the ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS since previous (December 2010) version:
   -- Adjusts to any colorscheme
   -- Org menu in gvim.
   -- "Dashboards" to assist with Date entry, Columns, Tables,
      Agenda searches, and exporting.
   -- VimOrganizer help file to install in Vim.
   -- Better compatibility with Org-mode files.  Open, edit, and save same 
      files in Org-mode and/or VimOrganizer with (some) of the functionality and
      configuration-specific options of Org-mode supported in VimOrganizer.
   -- Support for Org-mode style links (as well as use of 'Conceal' in Vim73
                                        to hide link brackets and 
                                        descriptions)
   -- Easy to use Org-like column mode, including column headings,
      inherited columns, support for Org column blocks, and ability to 
      specify a list of custom column specs to apply in any buffer.
   -- Org-like narrowing of code blocks and subtrees
   -- Support for Org-like specifications of TODOS, tags, dates,
      including support for Org-compatible config lines in a file.
   -- Support for Org-like CATEGORIES, both in specification and in 
      their inherited behavior.
   -- Search specification in Agenda searches is now nearly identical
      to specification of searches in Org-mode.
   -- User can specify list of commonly used custom agenda searches.
   -- Clockin, clockout, and (when a running Emacs server is available,
      clocktable block creation and updates.
   -- Org-like "refiling"
   -- Easy creation and editing of tables, as well as (when a running Emacs 
      server is available) manipulation and evaluation of tables, including
      all spreadsheet functionality in Org-mode.
   -- "Live" block evaluation (when a running Emacs server is available) 
   -- Support for nearly all the export types and export options 
      available in Org-mode (when running Emacs server is available)
   -- Call out to an Emacs server to do "tangling" (literate programming).
   -- Many bug fixes and small improvements

Org-mode, and thus VimOrganizer, is a text-editor plugin/application that can 
be used for (1) keeping notes, (2) maintaining TODO lists, (3) planning 
projects, and/or (4) authoring and publishing documents, including support for 
literate programming and "reproducible research".  Like Org-mode, VimOrganizer
does this by implementing a flexible plain-text system with a lightly 
structured document format.  Org-mode has been in constant development for 
seven or eight years, and continues to be developed.  Work on VimOrganizer is 
likewise ongoing, but VimOrganizer is at present a smaller and less ambitious 
project than Org-mode.

File formats and basic workflows for VimOrganizer and Org-mode are very 
similar (files auto-convert as part of loading process) and VimOrganizer 
actually calls out to an Emacs' Org-mode server to 
implement important features, e.g., exporting to pdf format for printing.

Thus, to make full use of VimOrganizer you will want to have an Emacs' 
server running alongside.  In most cases this requires little knowledge of 
Emacs other than how to start it up and add a few lines to the '.emacs' file, 
Emacs' counterpart to Vim's '.vimrc'.  (You can even edit the .emacs file in 
Vim.)  VimOrganizer is focused on leveraging Org-mode by accessing it via
an Emacs server, and re-implementing in Vim only what is necessary and makes 
sense. 

VimOrganizer also lets Vim users access Org-babel, a subproject of 
Org-mode that allows execution of source-code blocks in org-format 
documents.  Uses for Org-babel range from writing technical research papers to 
simply using a VimOrganizer document as a "language-scratchpad".  Over 
twenty languages are supported, including C, R, Lisp, Python, Perl, Ruby, 
and others.  VimOrganizer calls out to a running Emacs server for Org-babel 
processing; functionality and speed are essentially the same as 
when editing with Org-mode in Emacs.

VimOrganizer has a first draft of a Vim help file, but the best first step in
learning about VimOrganizer is to learn about Emacs' Org-mode.  VimOrganizer 
uses the same basic concepts but implements them within the context of Vim 
(and with a reduced feature set).  Org-mode's main documentation and 
support newsgroup are found here:
Org-mode Main Manual:  http://orgmode.org/manual/index.html
Org-mode Compact Guide: http://orgmode.org/guide/index.html
Org-mode support:  http://news.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.orgmode 
Org-babel information: http://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/ 

VimOrganizer help can be found here:
https://github.com/hsitz/VimOrganizer/blob/master/doc/vimorg.txt

==========================
INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS
===========================
https://github.com/hsitz/VimOrganizer/blob/master/INSTALL.txt


QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, SUGGESTIONS
================================
Questions, comments, and suggestions regarding VimOrganizer are always 
appreciated.  The preferred place for those is in the VimOrganizer newsgroup 
here:
http://groups.google.com/group/vimorganizer/topics

VimOrganizer project files are maintained at github and the version 
there may be more recent than the files at vim.org:
https://github.com/hsitz/VimOrganizer

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NOTE:  some code from other Vim plugins has been incorporated into the
VimOrganizer script files.  Do NOT download these plugins to use them 
with VimOrganizer; since VimOrganizer does not call out to them in any way:

1.  Charles Campbell's great calendar utilities 
2.  Table editing routines from Maxim Kim's excellent vimwiki plugin. 
    These are really quite nice (seem to be inspired by Org-mode's
    own table-editing stuff) and deserve to be offered as a separate
    plugin of their own, not dependent on any larger project. (If
    VimOrganizer is not quite the sort of plugin you're looking for then
    vimwiki may be.) 
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VimOrganizer page at vim.org:
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=3342