From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: no doc for `group' in custom :type Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:06:39 -0400 Message-ID: References: Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1185214138 12253 80.91.229.12 (23 Jul 2007 18:08:58 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 23 Jul 2007 18:08:58 +0000 (UTC) To: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Mon Jul 23 20:08:57 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1ID2L2-0007ir-B8 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 23 Jul 2007 20:08:56 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1ID2L1-0008L0-U5 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:08:55 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1ID2HN-00065H-Vo for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:05:10 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1ID2HL-00061v-My for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:05:09 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1ID2HL-00061n-2B for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:05:07 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([140.186.70.10]) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1ID2HK-0002pj-KC for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:05:06 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1ID2Ip-00086G-20; Mon, 23 Jul 2007 14:06:39 -0400 In-Reply-To: X-detected-kernel: Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:75383 Archived-At: [I sent this message a month ago but did not get a response.] Does anyone remember what `group' is for, so as to document it? X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=UNPARSEABLE_RELAY autolearn=failed version=3.1.0 From: "Drew Adams" To: "Emacs-Pretest-Bug" Date: Fri, 8 Jun 2007 11:34:59 -0700 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Subject: no doc for `group' in custom :type In the Elisp manual, I find nothing about `group' as a type symbol. There is an example, in node Simple Types, that uses `group' when explaining type symbol `alist', but `group' is explained nowhere. This is the example: (defcustom list-alist '(("foo" 1) ("bar" 2) ("baz" 3)) "Each element is a list of the form (KEY VALUE)." :type '(alist :value-type (group integer))) The only explanation is this, given in passing: The `group' widget is used here instead of `list' only because the formatting is better suited for the purpose. What formatting? How is a reader supposed to understand this? Why does the manual speak of "widget" here, anyway? `group' should be explained as a symbol that you can use when defining a :type value in a `defcustom', just as `alist' and :value-type are explained in that context. `group' is not something specific to `alist', in any case. I find this, for instance, in file `cus-edit.el' (as well as many other uses of `group'). :type '(repeat (group (regexp :tag "Match") (sexp :tag "Type"))) It seems that it is quite common to use `group' in `defcustom' :type specs, but it is not documented. If users are to understand `group' only by reading the widget doc, then there should at least be a cross reference to that doc here. How can Elisp programmers know about using `group' in :type specs if it is not documented? Furthermore, if you do go to the trouble of looking up `group' in the Widget manual, this is all you find (in node `group'): The `group' Widget ------------------ This widget simply group other widgets together. Syntax: TYPE ::= (group [KEYWORD ARGUMENT]... TYPE...) The value is a list, with one member for each TYPE. There are no other occurrences of "group" in the Widget manual. And that node certainly doesn't teach us anything about formatting, or how the formatting is different from using `list' in :type. Please document `group' fully in the context of `defcustom' :type specs, explaining how it can be used and how it differs from using `list'. In GNU Emacs 22.1.50.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600) of 2007-05-22 on LENNART-69DE564 Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 5.1.2600 configured using `configure --with-gcc (3.4) --cflags -Ic:/g/include' _______________________________________________ emacs-pretest-bug mailing list emacs-pretest-bug@gnu.org http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-pretest-bug