On Fri, Jul 31, 2009 at 9:07 PM, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen@xemacs.org>wrote:

> Steve Yegge writes:
>
>  > The mode decorates the source with various text properties to
>  > facilitate navigation, outlining, folding, etc.  My goal is to link
>  > together all the references to each local variable,
>
> Are you being imprecise here?  Surely you have already done this
> "linking" for other reasons?
>

I appear to have inadvertently omitted the word "visually".  I meant:

"My goal is to link together _visually_ all the references to each local
variable,"

But you knew *exactly* what I meant already, based on your first
reply.  You're just being coy, and it's charming, but it's not fooling us.


>
>  > so they light up when you mouse over any of them.
>
> Ie, the only problem you are asking about here is to get the motion
> event, and run a hook on that?
>

Aye.


>
>  > I can't use track-mouse,
>
> *sigh*
>

+1


>
>  > or at least I don't think I can, since this feature needs to
>  > trigger automatically as you move the mouse (from the idle loop).
>
> Well, even if track-mouse doesn't do exactly what you want, it's not
> clear to me that it's unusable.  I can think of two interfaces that
> might serve:
>
> (1) a minor mode where a click toggles the highlighting corresponding
>    to the js2-mode text properties at the point of the click (no
>    motion tracking needed), and
>
> (2) a minor mode which is activated by a click (or popup menu
>    selection), after which you can explicitly use track-mouse until
>    the next non-motion event or something like that.  I don't think
>    this kind of mouse-tracking would require huge amounts of code for
>    what you've described, although there are few enough mouse clicks
>    that you may already be using them all.
>

No clicks.  It's gotta work in unselected windows.  Clicks are a
deal-breaker.  Hell, I've already got it working when point enters
an identifier.  So clicking the mouse *already works*.

No clicks!


>
> I think you do want some kind of activation, otherwise if any mouse
> motion enables the effect we'd have to coin a term "apoplectic fruit
> salad".
>

I'm fine with that term.  We can even name the hook after it, for
all I care.  But this isn't about what I want.  It's my users.  They *love*
this feature in my browser-based code navigation tool.  They drool
over it.  They demand it in Emacs... and who am I to deny them?
I'm afraid I don't have that kind of authority.  My hands are tied here.

So we're just gonna have to implement it.


>
> If you want to test the "any motion" interface now, XEmacs has
> `mode-motion-hook'


XEmacs... that's that VIM clone, isn't it?  Or was it SlickEdit?

In all seriousness, I'd love to go look, but if I'm going to implement
this feature in Emacs, I worry that I don't understand any of the
legal ramifications of not clean-rooming it.

If someone with the initials "rms" OKs it, then I'll look.  Otherwise,
I'll just take your word for it.  At least you've validated the idea
that it's useful.

-steve