Re: [DISCUSSION] "quick-help" popup for org-columns (column view)

[Philip Kaludercic <philipk@posteo.net>]

Sławomir Grochowski <slawomir.grochowski@gmail.com> writes:

> Ihor Radchenko <yantar92@posteo.net> writes:
>
>> I see no downside supporting `help-quick' command in Org mode's column
>> view. Generally, better integration with Emacs built-in functionality is
>> welcome.
>
> Great. I'll be happy to take care of it.
>
> But first, we need to modify `help-quick' to be more reusable.
> I tried to do it, but I'm not experienced in elisp.
> I wanted to remove references to global variables, so I did a wrapper
> function to pass arguments to `help-quick'. I understand it's not a lispy way.
> I would be grateful for your comment. 
>
> Patch in attachment.

I have to admit that I am not entirely certain what the plan is, but I
have a few concrete comments/questions on this patch

> From 5f343fd15c53f5bc5e7515ef0cd3049b4e0ec388 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
> From: Slawomir Grochowski <slawomir.grochowski@gmail.com>
> Date: Sat, 6 Apr 2024 22:11:01 +0200
> Subject: [PATCH] lisp/help: make `help-quick-toggle' reusable for other
>  keymaps
>
> ---
>  lisp/help.el | 22 +++++++++++++---------
>  1 file changed, 13 insertions(+), 9 deletions(-)
>
> diff --git a/lisp/help.el b/lisp/help.el
> index 1ef46e394f3..c32d1a2e943 100644
> --- a/lisp/help.el
> +++ b/lisp/help.el
> @@ -76,7 +76,7 @@ help-map
>    "C-n"  #'view-emacs-news
>    "C-o"  #'describe-distribution
>    "C-p"  #'view-emacs-problems
> -  "C-q"  #'help-quick-toggle
> +  "C-q"  #'help-quick-toggle-wrapper
>    "C-s"  #'search-forward-help-for-help
>    "C-t"  #'view-emacs-todo
>    "C-w"  #'describe-no-warranty
> @@ -178,22 +178,22 @@ help-quick-sections
>  (declare-function prop-match-value "text-property-search" (match))
>  
>  ;; Inspired by a mg fork (https://github.com/troglobit/mg)
> -(defun help-quick ()
> +(defun help-quick (name-for-buffer sections &optional keymap)
>    "Display a quick-help buffer showing popular commands and their bindings.
>  The window showing quick-help can be toggled using \\[help-quick-toggle].
>  You can click on a key binding shown in the quick-help buffer to display
>  the documentation of the command bound to that key sequence."
>    (interactive)
> -  (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*Quick Help*")
> +  (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create name-for-buffer)

Is there a reason not to re-use the same buffer?  I am not sure if we
need multiple quick-help buffer to co-exist at the same time.

>      (let ((inhibit-read-only t) (padding 2) blocks)
>  
>        ;; Go through every section and prepare a text-rectangle to be
>        ;; inserted later.
> -      (dolist (section help-quick-sections)
> +      (dolist (section sections)

The idea here was that some other function could rebind
`help-quick-sections' dynamically.  That way you avoid the redundant
arguments (which would all have to be documented).

>          (let ((max-key-len 0) (max-cmd-len 0) keys)
>            (dolist (ent (reverse (cdr section)))
>              (catch 'skip
> -              (let* ((bind (where-is-internal (car ent) nil t))
> +              (let* ((bind (where-is-internal (car ent) keymap t))
>                       (key (if bind
>                                (propertize
>                                 (key-description bind)
> @@ -259,21 +259,25 @@ help-quick
>      (message
>       (substitute-command-keys "Toggle display of quick-help buffer using \\[help-quick-toggle]."))))
>  
> -(defun help-quick-toggle ()
> +(defun help-quick-toggle-wrapper ()

The naming here is weird IMO, usually the other function should be
called something like `help-quick-toggle-internal' and this would be
`help-quick-toggle'.

> +  (interactive)
> +  (help-quick-toggle "*Quick Help*" help-quick-sections))
> +
> +(defun help-quick-toggle (name-for-buffer sections &optional keymap)
>    "Toggle display of a window showing popular commands and their bindings.
>  This toggles on and off the display of the quick-help buffer, which shows
>  popular commands and their bindings as produced by `help-quick'.
>  You can click on a key binding shown in the quick-help buffer to display
>  the documentation of the command bound to that key sequence."
>    (interactive)
> -  (if (and-let* ((window (get-buffer-window "*Quick Help*")))
> +  (if (and-let* ((window (get-buffer-window name-for-buffer)))
>          (quit-window t window))
>        ;; Clear the message we may have gotten from `C-h' and then
>        ;; waiting before hitting `q'.
>        (message "")
> -    (help-quick)))
> +    (help-quick name-for-buffer sections keymap)))
>  
> -(defalias 'cheat-sheet #'help-quick)
> +(defalias 'cheat-sheet #'help-quick-wrapper)
>  
>  (defun help-quit ()
>    "Just exit from the Help command's command loop."
> -- 
> 2.30.2
>
>
>
> JD Smith <jdtsmith@gmail.com> writes: 
>
>> Also recall we had a discussion in bug#68236
>> <https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-gnu-emacs/2024-01/msg00124.html>
>> about expanding quick-help to include mode-local
>> personalized binding shortcuts (with org as a particular target of interest).
>
> Thank you for the link I haven't seen that topic.
>  
> Regards,

-- 
	Philip Kaludercic on icterid