Help with async-shell-command

Help with async-shell-command

[Pete Ley]

Hey,

Is there a way to call async-shell-command so that it doesn't open an
output buffer? I'm trying to write a sync routine that'll get called
pretty often and I'd like to use async-shell-command, but it always
opens an annoying *Async Shell Command* buffer, even when there is no
output. 

So far, I've sort of solved the problem by writing a wrapper function
that calls it and (delete-windows-on "*Async Shell Command*") afterward,
but this has the side effect of closing a window I was using if the
window wasn't split for the purpose of the buffer.

Is there a way I can 1) call a shell command asychronously 2) without
showing *Async Shell Command* and 3) without messing up my window setup?

Thanks
Pete

Re: Help with async-shell-command

[Thorsten Jolitz]

Pete Ley <peteley11235@gmail.com> writes:

> Hey,
>
> Is there a way to call async-shell-command so that it doesn't open an
> output buffer? I'm trying to write a sync routine that'll get called
> pretty often and I'd like to use async-shell-command, but it always
> opens an annoying *Async Shell Command* buffer, even when there is no
> output. 
>
> So far, I've sort of solved the problem by writing a wrapper function
> that calls it and (delete-windows-on "*Async Shell Command*") afterward,
> but this has the side effect of closing a window I was using if the
> window wasn't split for the purpose of the buffer.
>
> Is there a way I can 1) call a shell command asychronously 2) without
> showing *Async Shell Command* and 3) without messing up my window setup?

you can use

,--------------------------------------------------------------------------
| start-process is a built-in function in `C source code'.
| 
| (start-process NAME BUFFER PROGRAM &rest PROGRAM-ARGS)
| 
| Start a program in a subprocess.  Return the process object for it.
| NAME is name for process.  It is modified if necessary to make it unique.
| BUFFER is the buffer (or buffer name) to associate with the process.
| 
| Process output (both standard output and standard error streams) goes
| at end of BUFFER, unless you specify an output stream or filter
| function to handle the output.  BUFFER may also be nil, meaning that
| this process is not associated with any buffer.
`--------------------------------------------------------------------------

e.g. M-:

,--------------------------------------------------------------
| (start-process "mp" nil "mplayer"
|   "-playlist" "http://streams.greenhost.nl:8080/hardbop.m3u")
`--------------------------------------------------------------

and then M-:

,--------------------
| (kill-process "mp")
`--------------------


-- 
cheers,
Thorsten

Re: Help with async-shell-command

[Pete Ley]

Thorsten Jolitz <tjolitz@gmail.com> writes:

> ,--------------------------------------------------------------------------
> | start-process is a built-in function in `C source code'.
> | 
> | (start-process NAME BUFFER PROGRAM &rest PROGRAM-ARGS)
> | 
> | Start a program in a subprocess.  Return the process object for it.
> | NAME is name for process.  It is modified if necessary to make it unique.
> | BUFFER is the buffer (or buffer name) to associate with the process.
> | 
> | Process output (both standard output and standard error streams) goes
> | at end of BUFFER, unless you specify an output stream or filter
> | function to handle the output.  BUFFER may also be nil, meaning that
> | this process is not associated with any buffer.
> `--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Perfect! Exactly what I'm looking for. 

Re: Help with async-shell-command

[E Sabof]

This is the usual way of preserving layout:

(save-window-excursion
  (async-shell-command))

Evgeni

peteley11235@gmail.com writes:

> Hey,
>
> Is there a way to call async-shell-command so that it doesn't open an
> output buffer? I'm trying to write a sync routine that'll get called
> pretty often and I'd like to use async-shell-command, but it always
> opens an annoying *Async Shell Command* buffer, even when there is no
> output.
>
> So far, I've sort of solved the problem by writing a wrapper function
> that calls it and (delete-windows-on "*Async Shell Command*") afterward,
> but this has the side effect of closing a window I was using if the
> window wasn't split for the purpose of the buffer.
>
> Is there a way I can 1) call a shell command asychronously 2) without
> showing *Async Shell Command* and 3) without messing up my window setup?
>
> Thanks
> Pete

Re: Help with async-shell-command

[Stefan Monnier]

> This is the usual way of preserving layout:
> (save-window-excursion

Nope.  This is the usual way of trying to patch over code which messes
up the layout, but that fails miserably if you have something like popup
frames or other display-buffer-alist settings.

I think using `start-process' is the better solution, so the layout is
not affected and there's no need to try and undo it.


        Stefan