Re: [patch] SQL enhancements

[Michael Mauger <mmaug@yahoo.com>]

> > Since my employer has decided that they no longer need my services,

> > I've got time to dedicate to Emacs!
>
> I haven't looked at your patch yet, but could you answer 
> if you fixed annoyances that I noticed in the current SQL mode:
>
> 1. `sql-product' is not marked as a safe local variable.

I have added 
    (put 'sql-product 'safe-local-variable 'symbolp)
in this patch (sql-user, sql-database, and sql-server have been marked safe as well)

> 2. I see no way to start SQL interactive mode without entering 
> its login parameters (user, password, database, server) in the 
> minibuffer.
>
> I'd like to create a command that let-binds parameters:
>
>  (let ((sql-database "database.sqlite"))
>   (sql-sqlite))
>
> but it still asks for the database name (with the correct default value).
> I mean it's right to ask this by default, but there should be a way
> to skip confirmation of already defined parameters.

With this patch you can do the following:

    (let ((sql-database "database.sqlite")
          (sql-sqlite-login-params nil))
     (sql-sqlite))

to set the parameters and avoid the prompting.  You can set `sql-sqlite-login-params' to
a list of the parameters you want to be prompted for; the default for sqlite 
is '(user password server database).

or

    (sql-set-product-feature 'sqlite :sqli-login nil) ; Permanently disable prompting

    (let ((sql-database "database.sqlite"))
     (sql-sqlite))

[There's actually a bug in my patch in this second case that I have since corrected.]

> 3. And this is not directly related to SQL mode but important:
> A colleague of mine has switched from Emacs to other editors
> because in SQL mode Emacs doesn't have horizontal scroll bars!
>
> Unlike other modes, SQL mode produces the wide output where
> it's necessary to easily scroll tabular data horizontally.

I've encountered the same issue but found that C-x > (scroll-right) and C-x < (scroll-left) 
provide a useful way to pan left and right without having to reach for the mouse.

But, point taken.