From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED.blaine.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Eric Abrahamsen Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: bug#35261: 26.1; EBDB Documentation Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2019 11:54:47 -0700 Message-ID: <877ebtlr0o.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> References: <87r2a5nyn1.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> <87a7gronz1.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Injection-Info: blaine.gmane.org; posting-host="blaine.gmane.org:195.159.176.226"; logging-data="239474"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@blaine.gmane.org" User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/27.0.50 (gnu/linux) Cc: "35261@debbugs.gnu.org" <35261@debbugs.gnu.org> To: David Masterson Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Apr 16 21:25:25 2019 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([209.51.188.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:256) (Exim 4.89) (envelope-from ) id 1hGTht-00109y-Cn for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 21:25:25 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:41604 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hGThs-0006gb-Bj for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 15:25:24 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([209.51.188.92]:55638) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hGTEa-0006GL-RD for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:55:10 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hGTEX-0006qM-2g for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:55:06 -0400 Original-Received: from debbugs.gnu.org ([209.51.188.43]:52682) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS1.0:RSA_AES_128_CBC_SHA1:16) (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1hGTEU-0006p7-2e for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:55:03 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-debbugs by debbugs.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1hGTET-0008OS-Uq for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:55:01 -0400 X-Loop: help-debbugs@gnu.org Resent-From: Eric Abrahamsen Original-Sender: "Debbugs-submit" Resent-CC: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Resent-Date: Tue, 16 Apr 2019 18:55:01 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: help-debbugs@gnu.org X-GNU-PR-Message: followup 35261 X-GNU-PR-Package: emacs Original-Received: via spool by 35261-submit@debbugs.gnu.org id=B35261.155544089832251 (code B ref 35261); Tue, 16 Apr 2019 18:55:01 +0000 Original-Received: (at 35261) by debbugs.gnu.org; 16 Apr 2019 18:54:58 +0000 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:37993 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1hGTEP-0008O7-RU for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:54:58 -0400 Original-Received: from ericabrahamsen.net ([52.70.2.18]:48154 helo=mail.ericabrahamsen.net) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1hGTEN-0008Nu-H2 for 35261@debbugs.gnu.org; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 14:54:56 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost (97-126-87-168.tukw.qwest.net [97.126.87.168]) (Authenticated sender: eric@ericabrahamsen.net) by mail.ericabrahamsen.net (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 09C92FA028; Tue, 16 Apr 2019 18:54:48 +0000 (UTC) In-Reply-To: (David Masterson's message of "Mon, 15 Apr 2019 20:56:06 +0000") X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.18 Precedence: list X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.2.x-3.x [generic] X-Received-From: 209.51.188.43 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "bug-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:157732 Archived-At: On 04/15/19 20:56 PM, David Masterson wrote: > Eric Abrahamsen writes: [...] >> This doesn't seem right: it's the `ebdb' command that tells you the >> database is empty (and that message should include a mention of 'c'). > > Actually, the first thing that the 'ebdb' seems to do is ask for a > search string which is a little surprising on an empty database. I can > see that people might want a quick command to find something in their > database, but you shouldn't overload the 'ebdb' command that way. Have > one command (ebdb) to startup EBDB and another command to start it up > and find a record. Or, perhaps, two separate commands which people > could always script together. Okay, it would make sense to have an `ebdb-start' command that just opens an *EBDB* buffer. >> 'c' prompts for the creation of a record. Do you remember what sort of >> error you got during record creation? There shouldn't be anything you >> have to do in advance, except maybe confirm that you want to create a >> new database at the default location. > > Good point. I kind of messed up that statement. The error I got was an > error that basically is that I was putting in data for a field that was > improper for the field. In this case, it was looking for an *email* > address and I was assuming that any old text string would do. The error > did not give the clue that it was specifically looking for a string that > was formatted for "name@machine.com". So, there should be a clue in the > documentation on how to read the error -- basically that the error is > pointing out that the input doesn't fit the defined structure and (most > importantly) how to find out what the defined structure is. Sure, I can add this as well. Actually I'm on the fence about requiring a "@" in mail fields at all, as it's possible someone might want to note a machine-local address for someone. I can't decide. But there are a few other fields (like the url field) that also do a bit of validation, and it would be good to explain that. > On that, it seems that the documentation is still evolving in that > area. For instance, looking at the documentation of ebdb-field-* > variables says that they are obsolete as of 25.1 and the documentation > is relatively low, so the error above would be confusing in that you'd > wonder if you were looking at the right variable. Unfortunately this doesn't have to do with EBDB, but rather with a weird interaction between the help system and EIEIO. Class names apparently once functioned as variables, but no longer do, and so Emacs complains when you try to treat one as a variable. You'll have better luck using help to look up the *function* definitions of the class names, not the variable definition. Eric