bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Drew Adams]

emacs -Q
 
(defcustom foo nil
  "..."
  :type '(alist :key-type (symbol) :value-type (function)))
 
M-x customize-option foo
 
Edit the Function field to nil (which is an invalid value).
Click the State button and choose Set for Current Session.
 
You see the message "Invalid function: nil" in the echo area.
 
M-x tooltip-mode (to turn it off)
 
Click the State button again and choose Set...
 
No message is displayed. The message is logged in *Messages*, but the
user sees nothing to indicate what, if anything, happened.
 
Disabling tooltip-mode should mean only that mouseover :help text gets
displayed in the echo area. It should not mean that if the mouse is
over something (such as the State button) that has :help text defined
then normal messages (including error messages) are inhibited.
 
Also, clicking a button such as State, and choosing one of its menu
items, should remove any mouseover :help text from the echo area -
regardless of whether the menu item's invocation results in a message.
 

In GNU Emacs 23.0.92.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600)
 of 2009-03-30 on SOFT-MJASON
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600
configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.4)'
 

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Chong Yidong]

"Drew Adams" <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> emacs -Q
>  
> (defcustom foo nil
>   "..."
>   :type '(alist :key-type (symbol) :value-type (function)))
>  
> M-x customize-option foo
>  
> Edit the Function field to nil (which is an invalid value).
> Click the State button and choose Set for Current Session.
>  
> You see the message "Invalid function: nil" in the echo area.
>  
> M-x tooltip-mode (to turn it off)
>  
> Click the State button again and choose Set...
>  
> No message is displayed. The message is logged in *Messages*, but the
> user sees nothing to indicate what, if anything, happened.

I can't reproduce this, either with Emacs 23 or trunk.

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Juanma Barranquero]

On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 11:14, Chong Yidong <cyd@gnu.org> wrote:

> I can't reproduce this, either with Emacs 23 or trunk.

I can, with the trunk. But it only happens with the "Set for Current
Session" option of the [STATE] menu. The [Set for current session]
button above still produces the expected message.

    Juanma

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Mauro Aranda]

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I'm able to reproduce with Emacs 26.2 on Windows, but not on GNU/Linux.

When tooltip-mode is disabled, show-help-function is set to
tooltip-show-help-non-mode.  When this function is called with nil as the
HELP argument, it may clear the echo area.  But my analysis is that it is
being
called at two different times:

On GNU/Linux, it is called right after the click in the button (in this
case,
the State button).  So, the echo area is cleared.  Then, clicking in the
"Set for Current Session" item, triggers the error and then the error
message
is displayed.  tooltip-show-help-non-mode is not called after that,
so no cleaning happens.

But on Windows, it is not called right after the click in the State button,
rather it is called (with a nil argument) after the click in the item
"Set for Current Session", which results in cleaning the echo area.  That,
in fact, is what clears the error message.

It is possible to workaround this problem in tooltip-show-help-non-mode, but
I would like to know if that is desirable, or other approach is preferred.
Also, I don't know what happens on other systems other than GNU/Linux and
Windows, so it would be good to have that information.

Best regards,
Mauro.

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bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Stefan Kangas]

Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com> writes:

> I don't know what happens on other systems other than GNU/Linux and
> Windows, so it would be good to have that information.

I'm not able to reproduce this on current master on macOS.  I see
these messages echoed in the minibuffer and in the *Messages* buffer:

Tooltip mode enabled
custom-variable-set: Invalid function: nil
Tooltip mode disabled
custom-variable-set: Invalid function: nil

This is when invoking "Set for Current Session" according to the
recipe given above.

Thanks,
Stefan Kangas

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Mauro Aranda]

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Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se> writes:

> Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> I don't know what happens on other systems other than GNU/Linux and
>> Windows, so it would be good to have that information.
>
> I'm not able to reproduce this on current master on macOS.  I see
> these messages echoed in the minibuffer and in the *Messages* buffer:
>

Thank you Stefan.

I propose the attached patch.

>
> Thanks,
> Stefan Kangas

Best regards,
Mauro.

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From 2fcecc4efc443b8d7f58369f6cd64570913b9650 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com>
Date: Fri, 30 Aug 2019 10:11:11 -0300
Subject: [PATCH] With tooltip-mode disabled, don't unconditionally clear the
 echo area

* lisp/tooltip.el (tooltip-show-help-non-mode): Only clear the echo
area when the current message displayed is a tooltip message.  (Bug#3192)
---
 lisp/tooltip.el | 5 ++++-
 1 file changed, 4 insertions(+), 1 deletion(-)

diff --git a/lisp/tooltip.el b/lisp/tooltip.el
index b1c69ae..407531b 100644
--- a/lisp/tooltip.el
+++ b/lisp/tooltip.el
@@ -365,7 +365,10 @@ tooltip-show-help-non-mode
       (let ((message-log-max nil))
         (message "%s" tooltip-previous-message)
         (setq tooltip-previous-message nil)))
-     (t
+     ;; Only stop displaying the message when the current message is our own.
+     ;; This has the advantage of not clearing the echo area when
+     ;; running after an error message was displayed.  (Bug#3192)
+     ((equal-including-properties tooltip-help-message (current-message))
       (message nil)))))
 
 (defun tooltip-show-help (msg)
-- 
2.7.4

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com>
> Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2019 07:43:42 -0300
> Cc: 3192@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> +     ;; Only stop displaying the message when the current message is our own.
> +     ;; This has the advantage of not clearing the echo area when
> +     ;; running after an error message was displayed.  (Bug#3192)
> +     ((equal-including-properties tooltip-help-message (current-message))
>        (message nil)))))

I think this will effectively disable tooltip messages in the echo
area in too many situations.

How about if we show the tooltip in these cases for only some short
enough period of time, like 2 sec, and then restore the original
contents of the echo area?

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Mauro Aranda]

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Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com>
>> Date: Sun, 1 Sep 2019 07:43:42 -0300
>> Cc: 3192@debbugs.gnu.org
>>
>> +     ;; Only stop displaying the message when the current message is
our own.
>> +     ;; This has the advantage of not clearing the echo area when
>> +     ;; running after an error message was displayed.  (Bug#3192)
>> +     ((equal-including-properties tooltip-help-message
(current-message))
>>        (message nil)))))
>
> I think this will effectively disable tooltip messages in the echo
> area in too many situations.

Sorry, I don't think I follow.  The clause I propose would replace a
clause whose condition is `t'.  So the new code would run, at most, in the
same cases that the current code, right?  And the two clauses (the
current, and my proposed replace) call `message' with a nil argument, so
if there is some disabling, it is already happening, right?

But I can't figure out why this code (or the current code) would be
disabling tooltip messages.  AFAIU, the case when there is some message
to show is already handled in the first of the clauses, with the
condition: (stringp help).

> How about if we show the tooltip in these cases for only some short
> enough period of time, like 2 sec, and then restore the original
> contents of the echo area?

There should be no tooltip message to show, because this condition would
be reached if HELP is nil.  (HELP might be either a string or nil, just
like in `tooltip-show-help' function).  So I think when the two
previous conditions were not meet, it indicates that it is time to clear
the echo area.  But we shouldn't do that unconditionally, only when the
current message is that of a tooltip.

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bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2019 08:16:21 -0300
> Cc: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>, 3192@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> >> +     ;; Only stop displaying the message when the current message is our own.
> >> +     ;; This has the advantage of not clearing the echo area when
> >> +     ;; running after an error message was displayed.  (Bug#3192)
> >> +     ((equal-including-properties tooltip-help-message (current-message))
> >>        (message nil)))))
> >
> > I think this will effectively disable tooltip messages in the echo
> > area in too many situations.
> 
> Sorry, I don't think I follow.  The clause I propose would replace a
> clause whose condition is `t'.  So the new code would run, at most, in the
> same cases that the current code, right?  And the two clauses (the
> current, and my proposed replace) call `message' with a nil argument, so
> if there is some disabling, it is already happening, right?

My point is that this fix is not as good as possible.  I'm asking
whether we can do better than this.  If not, can you explain why not?

> But I can't figure out why this code (or the current code) would be
> disabling tooltip messages.  AFAIU, the case when there is some message
> to show is already handled in the first of the clauses, with the
> condition: (stringp help).

If this is already handled, then why do we need this change at all?
What use case does it handle that the current code doesn't?

> > How about if we show the tooltip in these cases for only some short
> > enough period of time, like 2 sec, and then restore the original
> > contents of the echo area?
> 
> There should be no tooltip message to show, because this condition would
> be reached if HELP is nil.  (HELP might be either a string or nil, just
> like in `tooltip-show-help' function).  So I think when the two
> previous conditions were not meet, it indicates that it is time to clear
> the echo area.  But we shouldn't do that unconditionally, only when the
> current message is that of a tooltip.

Then I guess I didn't understand your analysis of the original use
case and what happens there.  Could you perhaps describe that use case
in more detail?

Thanks.

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Mauro Aranda]

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Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com>
>> Date: Mon, 2 Sep 2019 08:16:21 -0300
>> Cc: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>, 3192@debbugs.gnu.org
>>
>> >> +     ;; Only stop displaying the message when the current message is
our own.
>> >> +     ;; This has the advantage of not clearing the echo area when
>> >> +     ;; running after an error message was displayed.  (Bug#3192)
>> >> +     ((equal-including-properties tooltip-help-message
(current-message))
>> >>        (message nil)))))
>> >
>> > I think this will effectively disable tooltip messages in the echo
>> > area in too many situations.
>>
>> Sorry, I don't think I follow.  The clause I propose would replace a
>> clause whose condition is `t'.  So the new code would run, at most, in
the
>> same cases that the current code, right?  And the two clauses (the
>> current, and my proposed replace) call `message' with a nil argument, so
>> if there is some disabling, it is already happening, right?
>
> My point is that this fix is not as good as possible.  I'm asking
> whether we can do better than this.  If not, can you explain why not?

Apologies for not getting your point, then.  See the last part of my
response, where a try to explain the situation the best I can.

>> But I can't figure out why this code (or the current code) would be
>> disabling tooltip messages.  AFAIU, the case when there is some message
>> to show is already handled in the first of the clauses, with the
>> condition: (stringp help).
>
> If this is already handled, then why do we need this change at all?
> What use case does it handle that the current code doesn't?

Because it's handling a different case, the case where we got nil as the
argument, indicating us that we should stop showing a tooltip message.
And we need a change, because there is a bug: The user cannot see an
error message because it is cleared by the `tooltip-show-help-non-mode'
function, and that shouldn't happen.  It handles the situation were
there was an error message shown after a tooltip message, but before the
code gets a chance to clear the tooltip message from the echo area.
IOW, when an error message is shown in-between the showing/hiding
mechanism of the tooltip code.

>> > How about if we show the tooltip in these cases for only some short
>> > enough period of time, like 2 sec, and then restore the original
>> > contents of the echo area?
>>
>> There should be no tooltip message to show, because this condition would
>> be reached if HELP is nil.  (HELP might be either a string or nil, just
>> like in `tooltip-show-help' function).  So I think when the two
>> previous conditions were not meet, it indicates that it is time to clear
>> the echo area.  But we shouldn't do that unconditionally, only when the
>> current message is that of a tooltip.
>
> Then I guess I didn't understand your analysis of the original use
> case and what happens there.  Could you perhaps describe that use case
> in more detail?
>
> Thanks.

`tooltip-show-help-non-mode' should handle two situations: 1) when there
is a message to show, show it; 2) when there is no message to show,
hide it.

Both situations are distinguished by the type of the argument.  For the
1st case, the argument is a string; for the 2nd case the argument is
nil.

Additionally, it needs to save the previous message shown (if it is not
a tooltip one), to restore it when transitioning from the 1st case to
the 2nd case.  This previous message shown can be, again, either a
string or nil, with nil meaning there was no previous message shown.

So far so good, let's go to the implementation.  In order:
1) If the argument is a string, then show the message.  If the previous
message shown was not a tooltip one (e.g., it is an error message), save
it, to restore it later.
This is the only chance that `tooltip-show-help-non-mode' gets to store
the perhaps present error message.  This is very important.

2) If the argument is not a string, then we should stop showing the
tooltip message.  But what should we show?
The previous message, that we stored in the 1st case.  And if we didn't
store a string as a previous message, we have nothing to restore, so we
clear the echo area with a (message nil) call.


With that in mind, we can see when this bugs shows up:
The bug shows up when something happens between transitioning from the
1st case to the 2nd case.  In the recipe provided, there is an error
echoed, that `tooltip-show-help-non-mode' can't grab because it ran
the 1st case before the error.  And because it didn't store anything,
when running the 2nd case it clears clears the echo area.  This has the
consequence of not letting the user see the error message.

So what I suggest is making `tooltip-show-help-non-mode' a little more
careful when clearing the echo area.  That is, clear the echo area only
if we are certain that the last message shown was ours.


To finally answer your first question, I couldn't find a better fix for
this.  I didn't see any drawbacks, and I'm certain it improves the
situation, so I proposed it.

Does my explanation make sense to you? If it is not enough,
would you explain to me what do you expect the fix to accomplish?

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bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2019 18:14:00 -0300
> Cc: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>, 3192@debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> Does my explanation make sense to you?

It does, thanks.  I guess I'm okay with the proposed patch.

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Mauro Aranda]

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tags 3192 patch
quit

Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:

>> From: Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com>
>> Date: Sat, 7 Sep 2019 18:14:00 -0300
>> Cc: Stefan Kangas <stefan@marxist.se>, 3192@debbugs.gnu.org
>>
>> Does my explanation make sense to you?
>
> It does, thanks.  I guess I'm okay with the proposed patch.

Great, thanks.

If there are no more objections, could someone push the change?
It's at https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=3192#20

Best regards,
Mauro.

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bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com> writes:

> If there are no more objections, could someone push the change?
> It's at https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=3192#20

I've now pushed the change.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no

bug#3192: 23.0.92; disabling tooltip-mode inhibits showing Customize error msgs

[Mauro Aranda]

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Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org> writes:

> Mauro Aranda <maurooaranda@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> If there are no more objections, could someone push the change?
>> It's at https://debbugs.gnu.org/cgi/bugreport.cgi?bug=3192#20
>
> I've now pushed the change.

Thank you.

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