Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Marius Hofert]

Hi,

I use C-c C-a to attach files (e.g., a pdf file) in Gnus v5.13. I am then asked:
1) "Content type (default application/pdf):"
2) "One line description:"
3) "Disposition (default attachment):"
... so quite a lot of questions. Is there any way to just get the default
answers to these three questions set and not being asked when attaching files?
For example, one gets the same behavior if one used the following to attach
files:
1) M-x dired
2) mark all attachments via "m"
3) C-c C-m C-a 
=> no question is asked.

Cheers,

Marius

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Martyn Jago]

Marius Hofert <marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch> writes:

> Hi,
>
> I use C-c C-a to attach files (e.g., a pdf file) in Gnus v5.13. I am then asked:
> 1) "Content type (default application/pdf):"
> 2) "One line description:"
> 3) "Disposition (default attachment):"
> ... so quite a lot of questions. Is there any way to just get the default
> answers to these three questions set and not being asked when attaching files?
> For example, one gets the same behavior if one used the following to attach
> files:
> 1) M-x dired
> 2) mark all attachments via "m"
> 3) C-c C-m C-a 
> => no question is asked.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Marius

You should probably direct this question to the gmane.emacs.gnus.user
list.

Best, Martyn

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Uday S Reddy]

On 12/15/2011 3:13 PM, Martyn Jago wrote:
> Marius Hofert<marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch>  writes:
>>
>> I use C-c C-a to attach files (e.g., a pdf file) in Gnus v5.13. I am then asked:
>> 1) "Content type (default application/pdf):"
>> 2) "One line description:"
>> 3) "Disposition (default attachment):"
>> ... so quite a lot of questions. Is there any way to just get the default
>> answers to these three questions set and not being asked when attaching files?
>
> You should probably direct this question to the gmane.emacs.gnus.user
> list.

Not necessarily.  message-mode is now the default mail sending mode in 
Gnu Emacs, which is what this question was about.

Cheers,
Udy

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Marius Hofert <marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch> writes:

> I use C-c C-a to attach files (e.g., a pdf file) in Gnus v5.13. I am then asked:
> 1) "Content type (default application/pdf):"
> 2) "One line description:"
> 3) "Disposition (default attachment):"
> ... so quite a lot of questions.

Yeah, that's three questions too many.  I think Message should just
guess at 1) and 3), and then the user can change it if the user wants
to.

2) should just be removed.

However, Emacs 24 is in a feature freeze, so that'll have to wait until
the next development cycle.

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

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Marius Hofert]

Thanks for answering this, I highly appreciate it and look forward to an update. 

Since I typically attach several documents, I currently switch to dired mode, mark the attachments and add them to the current mail (via C-c C-m C-a). 

I really like many features of Gnus, but given the ease of use of modern mail programs, I admit that especially attaching documents is far too slow in Gnus. In Mac Mail for example, I can simply drag-and-drop documents to a mail to attach them -- I don't have to switch buffers, navigate to a folder via the minibuffer, hit C-C C-m C-a... If there was a drag-and-drop feature, that would be very nice. Just a thought. It would also be fantastic to have such a feature for saving attachments (just drag them out of the mail buffer to somewhere). 

A second (not related to this thread anymore but to the use of Gnus as a mail program) thought is the following. I typically have one window open all the time, running Gnus and checking mails every minute. Assume you have another buffer open where you type text. Then, every minute, the minibuffer shows "Checking new news...done" and when this is displayed, I can't input text anymore. I first have to hit C-g before continuing as normal. Not sure if it is possible to make Gnus more work in the background not interfering with work done in other buffers, but that would also be good. But I guess this is only a Mac problem since under Linux one could run several emacs instances independently (and therefore Gnus in a different emacs) [is that true? I don't have a linux box to test that].

Cheers,

Marius


On 2012-01-04, at 20:52 , Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:

> Marius Hofert <marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch> writes:
> 
>> I use C-c C-a to attach files (e.g., a pdf file) in Gnus v5.13. I am then asked:
>> 1) "Content type (default application/pdf):"
>> 2) "One line description:"
>> 3) "Disposition (default attachment):"
>> ... so quite a lot of questions.
> 
> Yeah, that's three questions too many.  I think Message should just
> guess at 1) and 3), and then the user can change it if the user wants
> to.
> 
> 2) should just be removed.
> 
> However, Emacs 24 is in a feature freeze, so that'll have to wait until
> the next development cycle.
> 
> -- 
> (domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
>  bloggy blog http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no/

ETH Zurich
Dr. Marius Hofert
RiskLab, Department of Mathematics
HG E 65.2
Rämistrasse 101
8092 Zurich
Switzerland

Phone +41 44 632 2423
marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch
http://www.math.ethz.ch/~hofertj

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Marius Hofert <marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch> writes:

> If there was a drag-and-drop feature, that would be very nice.

Yes, that would be nice.  I haven't really looked into the Emacs
drag-and-drop support -- does it work on most platforms?

> Not sure if it is possible to make Gnus more work in the background
> not interfering with work done in other buffers, but that would also
> be good.

It's not currently particularly feasible.  Emacs has a single-threaded
Lisp engine.  Emacs 25 may make some strides toward multi-threading...

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

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen]

Marius Hofert <marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch> writes:

> I don't know (I'm no expert...). I can only tell for the Mac, and
> there you have drag-and-drop (for example, you can drag-and-drop
> things to a shell opened with M-x shell)

Right.  If Emacs supports drag-and-drop, then it would certainly be
natural for Message do use it to add attachments.

If nobody else implements this, I'll have a look at it during the next
development cycle.

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

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Leo]

On 2012-01-07 06:07 +0800, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
> Right.  If Emacs supports drag-and-drop, then it would certainly be
> natural for Message do use it to add attachments.
>
> If nobody else implements this, I'll have a look at it during the next
> development cycle.

DnD attachments works already.

Leo

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Thierry Volpiatto]

Leo <sdl.web@gmail.com> writes:

> On 2012-01-07 06:07 +0800, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
>> Right.  If Emacs supports drag-and-drop, then it would certainly be
>> natural for Message do use it to add attachments.
>>
>> If nobody else implements this, I'll have a look at it during the next
>> development cycle.
>
> DnD attachments works already.
I can confirm it is working, however it is not the fastest and best way
to add attachments, specially when you attach files that come from
differents directories.


-- 
  Thierry
Get my Gnupg key:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 59F29997 

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Marius Hofert]

On 2012-01-07, at 04:42 , Leo wrote:

> On 2012-01-07 06:07 +0800, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
>> Right.  If Emacs supports drag-and-drop, then it would certainly be
>> natural for Message do use it to add attachments.
>> 
>> If nobody else implements this, I'll have a look at it during the next
>> development cycle.
> 
> DnD attachments works already.

Can you explain how, please?
If I DnD a .pdf to a new message buffer (Gnus v5.13, Emacs 24, Mac OS X 10.7.2), the *code* of the .pdf file is inserted, not a link to the .pdf file as attachment. To be more precise, a huge amount of code is inserted starting with "%PDF-1.5..." (as if you look at the .pdf file as .txt). 
Furthermore, DnD of an attachment out of a received email also did not work under my setup above. I just can't "grab" the .pdf. 

Cheers,

Marius

> 
> Leo
 

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Thierry Volpiatto]

Marius Hofert <marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch> writes:

> On 2012-01-07, at 04:42 , Leo wrote:
>
>> On 2012-01-07 06:07 +0800, Lars Magne Ingebrigtsen wrote:
>>> Right.  If Emacs supports drag-and-drop, then it would certainly be
>>> natural for Message do use it to add attachments.
>>> 
>>> If nobody else implements this, I'll have a look at it during the next
>>> development cycle.
>> 
>> DnD attachments works already.
>
> Can you explain how, please?
It is working fine for me when i DnD from Thunar in a message buffer.
(even for pdf's)

> If I DnD a .pdf to a new message buffer (Gnus v5.13, Emacs 24, Mac OS
> X 10.7.2), the *code* of the .pdf file is inserted, not a link to the
> .pdf file as attachment. To be more precise, a huge amount of code is
> inserted starting with "%PDF-1.5..." (as if you look at the .pdf file
> as .txt).
> Furthermore, DnD of an attachment out of a received email also did not work under my setup above. I just can't "grab" the .pdf. 

Can't reproduce here on xubuntu with thunar.


-- 
  Thierry
Get my Gnupg key:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 59F29997 

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Leo]

On 2012-01-07 23:45 +0800, Marius Hofert wrote:
> Can you explain how, please?
> If I DnD a .pdf to a new message buffer (Gnus v5.13, Emacs 24, Mac OS
> X 10.7.2), the *code* of the .pdf file is inserted, not a link to the
> .pdf file as attachment. To be more precise, a huge amount of code is
> inserted starting with "%PDF-1.5..." (as if you look at the .pdf file
> as .txt).
> Furthermore, DnD of an attachment out of a received email also did not work under my setup above. I just can't "grab" the .pdf. 
>
> Cheers,
>
> Marius

I just used the mouse to drop a file on to this buffer. Worked
perfectly. I am using emacs-23(Macport) + gnus(from emacs-24).

,----[ leading # removed ]
| <part filename="/Users/leo/Downloads/paper.pdf" disposition=attachment>
| </part>
`----

Check dnd-protocol-alist, see if you have mml-dnd-attach-file in it.

,----[ C-h v dnd-protocol-alist RET ]
[snipped 18 lines]
| This variable was introduced, or its default value was changed, in
| version 22.1 of Emacs.
| 
| Value: (("^file:///" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
|  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
|  ("^file:" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
|  ("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
|  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
|  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
|  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
| 
| Original value was 
| (("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
|  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
|  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
|  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
| 
| Local in buffer *unsent wide reply to Marius Hofert*; global value is 
| (("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
|  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
|  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
|  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
`----

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Sivaram Neelakantan]

On Sun, Jan 08 2012,Leo  wrote:

> On 2012-01-07 23:45 +0800, Marius Hofert wrote:
>> Can you explain how, please?
>> If I DnD a .pdf to a new message buffer (Gnus v5.13, Emacs 24, Mac OS
>> X 10.7.2), the *code* of the .pdf file is inserted, not a link to the
>> .pdf file as attachment. To be more precise, a huge amount of code is
>> inserted starting with "%PDF-1.5..." (as if you look at the .pdf file
>> as .txt).
>> Furthermore, DnD of an attachment out of a received email also did
>> not work under my setup above. I just can't "grab" the .pdf.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Marius
>
> I just used the mouse to drop a file on to this buffer. Worked
> perfectly. I am using emacs-23(Macport) + gnus(from emacs-24).
>

Can confirm that DnD attachments work for me too.

GNU Emacs 23.3.1 (i386-mingw-nt5.1.2600) of 2011-03-10 on 3249CTO
No Gnus v0.17

[snipped 34 lines]




 sivaram
 -- 

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Marius Hofert]

On 2012-01-08, at 13:19 , Leo wrote:

> On 2012-01-07 23:45 +0800, Marius Hofert wrote:
>> Can you explain how, please?
>> If I DnD a .pdf to a new message buffer (Gnus v5.13, Emacs 24, Mac OS
>> X 10.7.2), the *code* of the .pdf file is inserted, not a link to the
>> .pdf file as attachment. To be more precise, a huge amount of code is
>> inserted starting with "%PDF-1.5..." (as if you look at the .pdf file
>> as .txt).
>> Furthermore, DnD of an attachment out of a received email also did not work under my setup above. I just can't "grab" the .pdf. 
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Marius
> 
> I just used the mouse to drop a file on to this buffer. Worked
> perfectly. I am using emacs-23(Macport) + gnus(from emacs-24).
> 
> ,----[ leading # removed ]
> | <part filename="/Users/leo/Downloads/paper.pdf" disposition=attachment>
> | </part>
> `----
> 
> Check dnd-protocol-alist, see if you have mml-dnd-attach-file in it.
> 
> ,----[ C-h v dnd-protocol-alist RET ]
> [snipped 18 lines]
> | This variable was introduced, or its default value was changed, in
> | version 22.1 of Emacs.
> | 
> | Value: (("^file:///" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
> |  ("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
> | 

I don't have the first three lines in my dnd-protocol-alist.
You can I get them? 

> | Original value was 
> | (("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
> | 

this is what I have.

Cheers,

Marius


> | Local in buffer *unsent wide reply to Marius Hofert*; global value is 
> | (("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
> `----

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Thierry Volpiatto]

Marius Hofert <marius.hofert@math.ethz.ch> writes:

> I don't have the first three lines in my dnd-protocol-alist.
> You can I get them? 
Are you sure you check the local value in your message buffer:

(current-buffer)
==>
#<buffer *unsent followup to Marius Hofert on gmane.emacs.help*>

dnd-protocol-alist ; Local value from this buffer
==>
(("^file:///" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
 ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
 ("^file:" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
 ("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
 ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
 ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
 ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))

dnd-protocol-alist ; Global value
==>
(("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
 ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
 ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
 ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))


-- 
  Thierry
Get my Gnupg key:
gpg --keyserver pgp.mit.edu --recv-keys 59F29997 

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Marius Hofert]

I realized that I can "customize" dnd-protocol-alist. I added the three lines as in Leo's setup (mml-dnd-attach-file, dnd-open-file, mml-dnd-attach-file) [I even used the same order]. Still, drag-and-drop of files to a new message buffer includes the file contents, not the file as attachment. Do I need to install anything to get this feature?

Cheers,

Marius

On 2012-01-08, at 13:19 , Leo wrote:

> On 2012-01-07 23:45 +0800, Marius Hofert wrote:
>> Can you explain how, please?
>> If I DnD a .pdf to a new message buffer (Gnus v5.13, Emacs 24, Mac OS
>> X 10.7.2), the *code* of the .pdf file is inserted, not a link to the
>> .pdf file as attachment. To be more precise, a huge amount of code is
>> inserted starting with "%PDF-1.5..." (as if you look at the .pdf file
>> as .txt).
>> Furthermore, DnD of an attachment out of a received email also did not work under my setup above. I just can't "grab" the .pdf. 
>> 
>> Cheers,
>> 
>> Marius
> 
> I just used the mouse to drop a file on to this buffer. Worked
> perfectly. I am using emacs-23(Macport) + gnus(from emacs-24).
> 
> ,----[ leading # removed ]
> | <part filename="/Users/leo/Downloads/paper.pdf" disposition=attachment>
> | </part>
> `----
> 
> Check dnd-protocol-alist, see if you have mml-dnd-attach-file in it.
> 
> ,----[ C-h v dnd-protocol-alist RET ]
> [snipped 18 lines]
> | This variable was introduced, or its default value was changed, in
> | version 22.1 of Emacs.
> | 
> | Value: (("^file:///" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . mml-dnd-attach-file)
> |  ("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
> | 
> | Original value was 
> | (("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
> | 
> | Local in buffer *unsent wide reply to Marius Hofert*; global value is 
> | (("^file:///" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^file://" . dnd-open-file)
> |  ("^file:" . dnd-open-local-file)
> |  ("^\\(https?\\|ftp\\|file\\|nfs\\)://" . dnd-open-file))
> `----

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Hofert Jan Marius]

Okay, here are the latest findings concerning the drag-and-drop of files to an *unsent mail* buffer for attaching them:

As Thierry pointed out to me off-list, I should not have to specify dnd-protocol-alist. I removed the parts I added, restarted emacs, and realized that locally (in an *unsent mail* buffer), the variable dnd-protocol-alist is set correctly. Nevertheless, DnD does not work. I then checked on Ubuntu 11.10 with the same .gnus.el. There it works. So it seems to be a problem on Mac OS X. 

Any ideas? 

Cheers,

Marius

PS: I work with Emacs 24 (Emacs-pretest-24.0.91-universal-10.6.7.dmg from
http://emacsformacosx.com/) on Mac OS X 10.7.2 with Gnus v5.13.

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Uday Reddy]

Hofert Jan Marius wrote:
> 
> 
>  So it seems to be a problem on Mac OS X. 
> 
> Any ideas? 

Yes, the Mac (NextStep) version of Emacs seem to use a different
protocol.  Here is what we do in VM:

1. In the keymap for messaging, we have

    (define-key map [ns-drag-file] 'vm-ns-attach-file)

2. vm-ns-attach-file is defined as:

;;;###autoload
(defun vm-ns-attach-file ()
  "Insert a drag and drop file as a MIME attachment in a VM
composition buffer.  This is a version of `vm-dnd-attach-file'
that is needed for Mac and NextStep."
  (interactive)
  (let ((file (car ns-input-file))
	type)
    (unless vm-send-using-mime
      (error (concat "MIME attachments disabled, "
		     "set vm-send-using-mime non-nil to enable.")))
    (when (and file (file-regular-p file))
      (setq ns-input-file (cdr ns-input-file))
      (setq type (or (vm-mime-default-type-from-filename file)
		     "application/octet-stream"))
      (vm-attach-file file type))))

This doesn't solve the problem for you in Gnus.  But, something similar
would be needed.

Cheers,
Uday

Re: Gnus: How to simplify file attachments?

[Marius Hofert]

Dear Uday,

thanks for reporting this. 
I'm not an elisp programmer, but it's good to know that it's not a local issue but rather a Mac-related problem in general. 
I'll report news if there are any.

Cheers,

Marius


On 2012-01-16, at 20:02 , Uday Reddy wrote:

> Hofert Jan Marius wrote:
>> 
>> 
>> So it seems to be a problem on Mac OS X. 
>> 
>> Any ideas? 
> 
> Yes, the Mac (NextStep) version of Emacs seem to use a different
> protocol.  Here is what we do in VM:
> 
> 1. In the keymap for messaging, we have
> 
>    (define-key map [ns-drag-file] 'vm-ns-attach-file)
> 
> 2. vm-ns-attach-file is defined as:
> 
> ;;;###autoload
> (defun vm-ns-attach-file ()
>  "Insert a drag and drop file as a MIME attachment in a VM
> composition buffer.  This is a version of `vm-dnd-attach-file'
> that is needed for Mac and NextStep."
>  (interactive)
>  (let ((file (car ns-input-file))
> 	type)
>    (unless vm-send-using-mime
>      (error (concat "MIME attachments disabled, "
> 		     "set vm-send-using-mime non-nil to enable.")))
>    (when (and file (file-regular-p file))
>      (setq ns-input-file (cdr ns-input-file))
>      (setq type (or (vm-mime-default-type-from-filename file)
> 		     "application/octet-stream"))
>      (vm-attach-file file type))))
> 
> This doesn't solve the problem for you in Gnus.  But, something similar
> would be needed.
> 
> Cheers,
> Uday
>