Is it possible to add templates other than #+BEGIN_ #+END_ to org-structure-template-alist?

Question

I've noticed that org-structure-template-alist changed (I'm using org-mode version 9.2) to automatically expand to #+BEGIN_<some block tag> #+END_<some block tag>. I wonder if it's possible to add different kind of templates. For instance a :PROPERTIES:<some properties>:END: template.

Is it possible or should I turn to another package like yasnippets?

Answer 1

UPDATE:

Haven't noticed that Org Mode 9.2 changed the mechanism of template expansion, where org-structure-template-alist is only for blocks defined by "#+BEGIN_" and "#+END_". And entry like ("p" ":PROPERTIES:?:END:") is no longer accepted.

As mentioned in the above link, other "complex" template can be defined by function tempo-define-template , and org-tempo must be loaded((require 'org-tempo)). Actually the entries of org-structure-template-alist are converted to org-tempo-tags via tempo-define-template by org-tempo, and org-tempo-tags defaults to:

(("<i" . tempo-template-org-index)
 ("<A" . tempo-template-org-ascii)
 ("<H" . tempo-template-org-html)
 ("<L" . tempo-template-org-latex)
 ("<v" . tempo-template-org-verse)
 ("<s" . tempo-template-org-src)
 ("<q" . tempo-template-org-quote)
 ("<l" . tempo-template-org-export-latex)
 ("<h" . tempo-template-org-export-html)
 ("<E" . tempo-template-org-export)
 ("<e" . tempo-template-org-example)
 ("<C" . tempo-template-org-comment)
 ("<c" . tempo-template-org-center)
 ("<a" . tempo-template-org-export-ascii)
 ("<I" . tempo-template-org-include))

For your case, you can define a template by:

(tempo-define-template "my-property"
               '(":PROPERTIES:" p ":END:" >)
               "<p"
               "Insert a property tempate")

---

Below answer only works for Org mode version prior to 9.2

Yes, you could add an entry to it like this:

(add-to-list 'org-structure-template-alist '("p" ":PROPERTIES:?:END:"))

Then in org file, you type <p and TAB, it will expand to property and leave the point at the position of ?.

And you can find more details in the documentation of the variable by typing C-h v org-structure-template-alist RET.

Answer 2

The frequency at which they introduce incompatible changes in the customization of org-mode is really a pity.

The following code gives you the old structure templates of org-mode prior to version 9.2 back. The function org-complete-expand-structure-template is a pure copy from version 9.1 and org-try-structure-completion is a slightly modified version of that one of 9.1. (I added a type-check there.)

After installing that code you can just use your old template
(add-to-list 'org-structure-template-alist '("p" ":PROPERTIES:?:END:"))
again.

(defvar org-structure-template-alist)

(defun org+-avoid-old-structure-templates (fun &rest args)
  "Call FUN with ARGS with modified `org-structure-template-alist'.
Use a copy of `org-structure-template-alist' with all
old structure templates removed."
  (let ((org-structure-template-alist
     (cl-remove-if
      (lambda (template)
        (null (stringp (cdr template))))
      org-structure-template-alist)))
    (apply fun args)))

(eval-after-load "org"
  '(when (version<= "9.2" (org-version))
     (defun org-try-structure-completion ()
       "Try to complete a structure template before point.
This looks for strings like \"<e\" on an otherwise empty line and
expands them."
       (let ((l (buffer-substring (point-at-bol) (point)))
         a)
     (when (and (looking-at "[ \t]*$")
            (string-match "^[ \t]*<\\([a-zA-Z]+\\)$" l)
            (setq a (assoc (match-string 1 l) org-structure-template-alist))
            (null (stringp (cdr a))))
       (org-complete-expand-structure-template (+ -1 (point-at-bol)
                              (match-beginning 1)) a)
       t)))

     (defun org-complete-expand-structure-template (start cell)
       "Expand a structure template."
       (let ((rpl (nth 1 cell))
         (ind ""))
     (delete-region start (point))
     (when (string-match "\\`[ \t]*#\\+" rpl)
       (cond
        ((bolp))
        ((not (string-match "\\S-" (buffer-substring (point-at-bol) (point))))
         (setq ind (buffer-substring (point-at-bol) (point))))
        (t (newline))))
     (setq start (point))
     (when (string-match "%file" rpl)
       (setq rpl (replace-match
              (concat
               "\""
               (save-match-data
             (abbreviate-file-name (read-file-name "Include file: ")))
               "\"")
              t t rpl)))
     (setq rpl (mapconcat 'identity (split-string rpl "\n")
                  (concat "\n" ind)))
     (insert rpl)
     (when (re-search-backward "\\?" start t) (delete-char 1))))

     (advice-add 'org-tempo-add-templates :around #'org+-avoid-old-structure-templates)

     (add-hook 'org-tab-after-check-for-cycling-hook #'org-try-structure-completion)

     (require 'org-tempo)
     ))