From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Kevin Rodgers Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: newbie : elisp - prompt for input Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 13:51:45 -0600 Organization: IHS Message-ID: References: <87irkc4ql6.fsf@mail.com> <87y7t836ka.fsf@mail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1156881240 16212 80.91.229.2 (29 Aug 2006 19:54:00 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 29 Aug 2006 19:54:00 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Aug 29 21:53:59 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GI9eU-00075o-Ll for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:53:39 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GI9eU-00063n-7w for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:53:38 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1GI9eI-00062b-GI for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:53:26 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1GI9eG-00060Z-4Z for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:53:25 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GI9eF-00060W-Rv for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 15:53:23 -0400 Original-Received: from [80.91.229.2] (helo=ciao.gmane.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA:32) (Exim 4.52) id 1GI9nU-0002Te-G8 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 16:02:56 -0400 Original-Received: from list by ciao.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.43) id 1GI9do-0006uy-O8 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:52:57 +0200 Original-Received: from 207.167.42.206 ([207.167.42.206]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:52:56 +0200 Original-Received: from ihs_4664 by 207.167.42.206 with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian)) id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00 for ; Tue, 29 Aug 2006 21:52:56 +0200 X-Injected-Via-Gmane: http://gmane.org/ Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-Lines: 33 Original-X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org X-Gmane-NNTP-Posting-Host: 207.167.42.206 User-Agent: Thunderbird 1.5.0.5 (Windows/20060719) In-Reply-To: <87y7t836ka.fsf@mail.com> X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:37044 Archived-At: Hadron Quark wrote: > Kevin Rodgers writes: > >> Hadron Quark wrote: >>> Is the snippet below the best way to prompt and parse an integer value? >>> >>> >>> (defun count-words(max) >>> "count words in buffer" >>> (interactive "nMax words to count to:") >>> (while (zerop max) >>> (setq max (string-to-number(read-string "> 0 please. re-enter:")))) >> The only thing I see wrong with it is that the check runs outside >> of the interactive form, and prompts the user (regardless of whether >> the function was called interactively). > > Youve lost me : what do you mean "outside of the interactive form" - the > whole function is an interactive form isnt it? No, the interactive form is exactly that: (interactive "nMax words to count to:") The interactive form is a declaration whose only effect is to bind the function arguments to values when it's called interactively: via an input event binding, M-x (execute-extended-command), or the call-interactively function. If you type "(count-words 0)" into the *scratch* buffer (without the quotes) and type `C-x e' or `C-j', you'll be prompted to re-enter MAX even though you were never prompted in the first place. -- Kevin