Get org link to insert link description automatically?

Question

Q: How can I get a custom org link function to insert a description automatically?

I'd like to store org links to files in a dired buffer, but would prefer that the link description be the file name sans path rather than report the full path, ie:

file:~/the/full/path/myfile.ext     ; default, but no thanks
myfile.ext                          ; what I want

Now: org-store-link hardcodes links from dired to provide the default. Instead, I've written a custom function (cribbing from the hard-coded function) and added it to org-store-link-functions:

(defun dired-store-link ()
  (when (derived-mode-p 'dired-mode)
    (let ((file (dired-get-filename nil t)))
      (setf file (if file
                     (abbreviate-file-name (expand-file-name file))
                   default-directory))
      (org-store-link-props :type        "dired"
                            :link        file
                            :description (file-name-nondirectory file))
      file)))

(add-to-list 'org-store-link-functions #'dired-store-link)

So far so good, and it works as expected, but for one thing:

• When calling org-insert-link with the built-in, default behavior, it simply inserts the link without asking me for a description.
• When calling org-insert-link with my custom function, it prompts me to enter a description (which it correctly populates with the file name stored in the :description property).

I'd rather not be prompted for the description each time, and want org-insert-link to use the value of :description that the custom function sets.

How can I convince org-insert-link to use the :description automatically without prompting me for it?

Answer 1

Buried at the bottom of the docstring for org-insert-link is a note that:

If org-make-link-description-function is non-nil, this function will be called with the link target, and the result will be the default link description.

Apparently org throws away a lot of information in the process of storing a link, so all that's left in org-stored-links is a list of entries of the form (link description). Insofar as the earlier function has a file name for the link, it looks like the following works:

(defun org-link-describe (link desc)
  (if (file-exists-p link)
      desc
    (read-string "Description: " desc)))

(setf org-make-link-description-function #'org-link-describe)

It's kind of hacky, and I haven't tested it extensively, but it seems to work so far. Would be thrilled to see a more elegant solution, of course.

Answer 2

I'm using org 9.1.6, and to my dismay it seems that org-store-link-functions is now a builtin org function (rather than a hook), so the original solution no longer works. There may be a workaround using org-link-parameters, but instead I'm using the following little hack, which seems to do the trick:

(defun my//dired-store-link (orig-fun &rest args)
  (if (derived-mode-p 'dired-mode)
      (let ((file (dired-get-filename nil t)))
        (setf file (if file
                       (abbreviate-file-name (expand-file-name file))
                     default-directory))
        (let ((link (concat "file:" file))
              (desc (file-name-nondirectory file)))
          (push (list link desc) org-stored-links)
          (car org-stored-links)))
    (apply orig-fun args)))
(advice-add 'org-store-link :around #'my//dired-store-link)

As a bonus, this does not prompt for a description, since the description pushed to org-stored-links is non-nil.