bug#19014: 25.0.50; Disable Org, Tbl, & Text menu items that change buffer when read-only

bug#19014: 25.0.50; Disable Org, Tbl, & Text menu items that change buffer when read-only

[Drew Adams]

There are lots of menu items in the Org menu-bar menus (Org, Tbl, Text)
that modify the buffer but are not disabled when the buffer is
read-only.  They should be - they are no-ops in this context.

This is all the more important because there are still plenty of menu
items for commands that are useful in a read-only buffer.  Disabling the
others makes those that are available more obvious and easier to select.

That is what we do for the Edit menu, for example.  You can use it as a
model, here.

In GNU Emacs 25.0.50.1 (i686-pc-mingw32)
 of 2014-10-20 on LEG570
Bzr revision: 118168 rgm@gnu.org-20141020195941-icp42t8ttcnud09g
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 6.1.7601
Configured using:
 `configure --enable-checking=yes,glyphs CPPFLAGS=-DGLYPH_DEBUG=1'

bug#19014: 25.0.50; Disable Org, Tbl, & Text menu items that change buffer when read-only

[Bastien]

Hi Drew,

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> There are lots of menu items in the Org menu-bar menus (Org, Tbl, Text)
> that modify the buffer but are not disabled when the buffer is
> read-only.  They should be - they are no-ops in this context.
>
> This is all the more important because there are still plenty of menu
> items for commands that are useful in a read-only buffer.  Disabling the
> others makes those that are available more obvious and easier to select.

Do you often turn read-only on on Org buffers?

In what circumstances would users turn read-only on in Org buffers?

> That is what we do for the Edit menu, for example.  You can use it as a
> model, here.

I understand the suggestion, I'm trying to see if this is important or
not.  Thanks in advance for your feedback.

-- 
 Bastien

bug#19014: 25.0.50; Disable Org, Tbl, & Text menu items that change buffer when read-only

[Drew Adams]

Hi Bastien,

> > There are lots of menu items in the Org menu-bar menus (Org, Tbl,
> > Text) that modify the buffer but are not disabled when the buffer is
> > read-only.  They should be - they are no-ops in this context.
> >
> > This is all the more important because there are still plenty of
> > menu items for commands that are useful in a read-only buffer.
> > Disabling the others makes those that are available more obvious
> > and easier to select.
> 
> Do you often turn read-only on on Org buffers?
> In what circumstances would users turn read-only on in Org buffers?

Fair enough.  The background/context:

1. I don't use Org.  Sorry to say that.  I've read the manual cover
to cover, I am interested in Org mode, and I've heard only good things
about it, but so far I have not found much use for it wrt what I do.

I use Emacs mainly for playing with customizing it etc.  I imagine
I would try doing the same with Org, if I had more time.  I hardly
have enough time to keep up with bug fixes of my existing code and
updates required for it by changes to Emacs. ;-)

2. I was made aware of this Org menus bug only by accident.  A
Bookmark+ user asked that the bookmark annotation buffer be
optionally in Org mode by default.  I added that feature.  He then
asked for Org mode also when an annotation is just displayed, i.e.,
not for editing.  I added that feature too - the buffer is
(optionally) in Org mode, so you can navigate, show/hide, etc.,
but it is made read-only.

That's when I took a look at the menus, to see what kinds of
operations would be available for a read-only Org buffer.  And I
noticed that there are lots of menu items that clearly do not make
sense for read-only.  I filed this bug.  I think that if this bug
is fixed it will quickly let users know which operations are useful
in this context, and which operations do not modify the buffer.

> I understand the suggestion, I'm trying to see if this is important
> or not.  Thanks in advance for your feedback.

Your call.  It doesn't matter to me, personally.  I'm thinking
only of Org users - what might help them.  And you obviously are
a better judge of that.  Feel free to close the bug, if you don't
think it needs or is worth fixing.

Regards - Drew

bug#19014: 25.0.50; Disable Org, Tbl, & Text menu items that change buffer when read-only

[Bastien]

Hi Drew,

Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> Your call.  It doesn't matter to me, personally.  I'm thinking
> only of Org users - what might help them.  And you obviously are
> a better judge of that.  Feel free to close the bug, if you don't
> think it needs or is worth fixing.

I've never seen this issue brought by Org users in the last six years
so I guess we can safely close this, which I'm doing now.

Thanks,

-- 
 Bastien