From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Improved help from minibuffer prompts Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:02:28 -0400 Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1081966150 29277 80.91.224.253 (14 Apr 2004 18:09:10 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 14 Apr 2004 18:09:10 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Wed Apr 14 20:08:48 2004 Return-path: Original-Received: from quimby.gnus.org ([80.91.224.244]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BDooa-0003Gd-00 for ; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 20:08:48 +0200 Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by quimby.gnus.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1BDooZ-000508-00 for ; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 20:08:47 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1BDono-0008Og-RX for emacs-devel@quimby.gnus.org; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:08:00 -0400 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.30) id 1BDokE-0006T7-CY for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:04:18 -0400 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.30) id 1BDoj9-00053z-4S for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:03:42 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.164] (helo=fencepost.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.30) id 1BDoit-0004bR-Vf for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:02:57 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.24) id 1BDoiS-0007vL-9d; Wed, 14 Apr 2004 14:02:28 -0400 Original-To: =?iso-8859-1?q?Stefan_Reich=F6r?= In-reply-to: (message from =?iso-8859-1?q?Stefan_Reich=F6r?= on Tue, 13 Apr 2004 08:26:11 +0200) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.4 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+emacs-devel=quimby.gnus.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:21632 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.devel:21632 In my mode the user is often asked some questions in the minibuffer. Sometimes the questions need some more explanations. So I decided to put the needed help in the function's docstring. You didn't say which function you mean, but according to the code it looks like the entire doc string of the command that invoked the minibuffer is the help string you use. I don't think that will be very natural. It would be more natural to have a variable which, if non-nil, has extra help for the current minibuffer question. The caller would bind that variable. What do you think of that? Better: the caller binds minibuffer-extra-help to the string it should use. All entry to the minibuffer binds minibuffer-current-extra-help to minibuffer-extra-help, and binds minibuffer-extra-help to nil. This way, a recursive use of the minibuffer will not mistakenly use a string meant for the outer minibuffer level.