autoloading entire function

autoloading entire function

[Phillip Lord]

I have written a function in my package which looks like this...


(defun lentic-script-hook (mode-hook init)
  (add-to-list 'lentic-init-functions
               init)
  (add-hook mode-hook
            (lambda ()
              (unless lentic-init
                (setq lentic-init init)))))

It then gets used like this:

(lentic-script-hook 'python-mode-hook
                    'lentic-python-script-init)

Essentially, it makes writing a set of stereotyped "add-hook" calls a
bit easier.

But I now have an autoload problem. If I want to do this:

;;;###autoload
(lentic-script-hook 'python-mode-hook
                    'lentic-python-script-init)

My code will now break since `lentic-script-hook' is not defined.

I could, of course, add an autoload cookie to `lentic-script-hook'. But
now, when the autoload file is loaded, lentic-script-hook is called, so
loading will be forced which defeats the point of autoloading.

So, I need to put the entirely of `lentic-script-hook' into the autoload
files. Of course, it will itself not be autoloaded, but that's not a
huge problem.

How to achieve this?

The only solutions I have so far are this:

;;;###autoload (defun lentic-script-hook (mode-hook init) (add-to-list 'lentic-init-functions init) (add-hook mode-hook (lambda nil (unless lentic-init (setq lentic-init init))))))

putting everything on oneline does the trick. But it's ugly to read,
and, if I evaluate the source file manually (i.e. I don't use
autoloads), the form is commented so does not get evaluated.

Another options is not use defun but it's expansion and autoload this:

;;;###autoload
(defalias 'lentic-script-hook
  #'(lambda
      (mode-hook init)
      (add-to-list 'lentic-init-functions init)
      (add-hook mode-hook
                (lambda nil
                  (unless lentic-init
                    (setq lentic-init init))))))

which works but, also, is not ideal. The defun macro is there for a
reason, and it would be nice to use it.

Any other options I have missed?

Phil

Re: autoloading entire function

[Glenn Morris]

Simply wrap your defun in a progn.
See eg the examples in Emacs sources such as cvs-dired-noselect
(simply search for ^(defun in loaddefs.el).

Re: autoloading entire function

[Phillip Lord]

Glenn Morris <rgm@gnu.org> writes:

> Simply wrap your defun in a progn.
> See eg the examples in Emacs sources such as cvs-dired-noselect
> (simply search for ^(defun in loaddefs.el).

Ah, yes, hadn't thought of that.

Unfortunately, I have another issue. The source file is lexically bound,
and the function uses this feature (it returns closures). This breaks
in the autoload file.

I've tried using eval like so:

;;;###autoload
(eval
   (defun fname())
 t)

which solves both problems.

Any better way?

Phil