From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: era Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.bugs Subject: bug#14748: emacs: ses.el: ses is not self-documenting Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 11:14:00 +0300 Message-ID: <1372493640.29981.140661249844461.6A0FF980@webmail.messagingengine.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1372493714 30062 80.91.229.3 (29 Jun 2013 08:15:14 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 08:15:14 +0000 (UTC) Cc: era+emacsbugs@iki.fi To: 14748@debbugs.gnu.org Original-X-From: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Jun 29 10:15:16 2013 Return-path: Envelope-to: geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqJO-0000E3-3e for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 10:15:14 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:57947 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqJN-000365-L4 for geb-bug-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:15:13 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:53191) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqJG-00033c-W6 for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:15:10 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqJD-0004tY-OV for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:15:06 -0400 Original-Received: from debbugs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.43]:53478) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqJD-0004sE-HO for bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:15:03 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-debbugs by debbugs.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqJC-00015M-Dy; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:15:02 -0400 X-Loop: help-debbugs@gnu.org Resent-From: era Original-Sender: "Debbugs-submit" Resent-CC: era+emacsbugs@iki.fi, bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Resent-Date: Sat, 29 Jun 2013 08:15:02 +0000 Resent-Message-ID: Resent-Sender: help-debbugs@gnu.org X-GNU-PR-Message: report 14748 X-GNU-PR-Package: emacs X-GNU-PR-Keywords: patch X-Debbugs-Original-To: submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Debbugs-Original-Xcc: era+emacsbugs@iki.fi Original-Received: via spool by submit@debbugs.gnu.org id=B.13724936454067 (code B ref -1); Sat, 29 Jun 2013 08:15:02 +0000 Original-Received: (at submit) by debbugs.gnu.org; 29 Jun 2013 08:14:05 +0000 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:47793 helo=debbugs.gnu.org) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqIG-00013W-IX for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:14:05 -0400 Original-Received: from out1-smtp.messagingengine.com ([66.111.4.25]:52140) by debbugs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.80) (envelope-from ) id 1UsqID-00012x-Ln for submit@debbugs.gnu.org; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:14:02 -0400 Original-Received: from compute5.internal (compute5.nyi.mail.srv.osa [10.202.2.45]) by gateway1.nyi.mail.srv.osa (Postfix) with ESMTP id 20A9520485 for ; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:14:01 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: from web5.nyi.mail.srv.osa ([10.202.2.215]) by compute5.internal (MEProxy); Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:14:01 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d= messagingengine.com; h=message-id:from:to:mime-version :content-transfer-encoding:content-type:subject:date; s=smtpout; bh=9rLeCSeWCbJI+WPk2dqJbqgaoKs=; b=edXkibKIiwjSjdcvwOTO9Rt7mMJE Csj3IKiQRq2Gg2goHdymbqHDUpM0RfB2lwTqh+cgfivOFcFwLu77R+U+0M0Ud53j UfcAZAZYqhSbxA9ZDQgL1yx2OMMe0kkenXTBbIeLSV7pruDTD+MJXBmNSVDxe5uM aWSRM+k263HQ240= Original-Received: by web5.nyi.mail.srv.osa (Postfix, from userid 99) id EEBC3F41474; Sat, 29 Jun 2013 04:14:00 -0400 (EDT) X-Sasl-Enc: wew2ROjmwPX3+XVEkaBeiKKBfiNeHw+h511PV8hvMHnL 1372493640 X-Mailer: MessagingEngine.com Webmail Interface - ajax-5ae8e04c X-BeenThere: debbugs-submit@debbugs.gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.15 Precedence: list X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 3.x X-Received-From: 140.186.70.43 X-BeenThere: bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org List-Id: "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: bug-gnu-emacs-bounces+geb-bug-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.bugs:75712 Archived-At: Package: emacs Version: 24.3 Severity: minor Tags: patch X-Debbugs-Cc: era+emacsbugs@iki.fi As a long-time user of Emacs, but a total newcomer to SES, I had been hoping the barrier to entry for new users would have been a little lower. I was basically unable to do anything useful at all until I had browsed the better parts of the manual (which as such is good, but again, not very geared towards new users) way into the "advanced" chapter. I have collected some notes in http://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/81105/ but at this point, my proposal for a quick and unintrusive fix would amount to the following; 1. Create an (autoloading) alias "spreadsheet-mode" so that ses-mode is easier to discover (included below). 2. Expand the ses-mode documentation string. My proposal follows in-line, but please accept this as (a draft for) a patch against lisp/ses.el starting at line 1888 of the current trunk version. ;;;###autoload (defalias 'spreadsheet-mode 'ses-mode) ;;;###autoload (defun ses-mode () "Major mode for Simple Emacs Spreadsheet. When you invoke SES in a new buffer, it is divided into cells which you can enter data into. You can navigate the cells with the arrow keys and add more cells with the tab key. The contents of these cells can be numbers, text, or Lisp expressions. (To enter text, enclose it in double quotes.) In an expression, you can use cell coordinates to refer to the contents of another cell. For example, you can sum a range of cells with `(+ A1 A2 A3)'. There are specialized functions like `ses+' (addition for ranges with empty cells), `ses-average' for performing calculations on cells, and `ses-range' and `ses-select' for extracting ranges of cells. Each cell also has a print function which controls how it is displayed. Each SES buffer is divided into a print area and a data area. Normally, you should simply use SES to look at and manipulate the print area, and let SES manage the data area outside the visible region. See \"ses-example.ses\" (in `data-directory') for an example spreadsheeet and the Info documentation `(emacs) Ses.' Notice the separate keymaps for cell editing mode and print mode specifications, below. Key definitions: \\{ses-mode-map} These key definitions are active only in the print area (the visible part): \\{ses-mode-print-map} These are active only in the minibuffer, when entering or editing a formula: \\{ses-mode-edit-map}" -- If this were a real .signature, it would suck less. Well, maybe not.