org-mode headings to org-table

Question

I have a big org file with lot of topics, and every topic have a books subheading. I would like write a function that can generate a list of all books in org-table. I was trying with (org-map-entries) but no luck so far ;)

Answer 1

Something like this. Call it with M-x my-org-books-to-table RET while the org buffer with your books is active to insert the table at point:

(defun my-org-books-to-table ()
  "Generate a list of books and insert as org-table."
  (interactive)
  (let ((item "books")
        items)
    ;; Map through all headings with item (text of the headline) "books".
    (org-map-entries
     (lambda ()
       (let ((lvl (number-to-string (1+ (org-outline-level)))))
         ;; Map through children of heading found. Add to books unless its
         ;; heading text matches "books".
         (org-map-entries
          (lambda ()
            (let* ((olp (org-get-outline-path t t))
                   (txt (car (last olp)))
                   (title (nth 0 olp)))
              (push (list title txt) items)))
          (concat "LEVEL=" lvl "+ITEM<>\"" item "\"") 'tree)))
     (concat "ITEM=\"" item "\""))
    (setq items (nreverse items))
    (setq items (append (list '(title topic) 'hline) items))
    (insert (concat (orgtbl-to-orgtbl items nil) "\n"))))