Re: Getting the TAB key for filename completion

[Kevin Rodgers <kevin.d.rodgers@gmail.com>]

Davin Pearson wrote:
> I have installed hippie-expand inside my Emacs.  Specifically I have
> installed the following command:
> 
> (fset 'my-complete-file (make-hippie-expand-function
>                          '(try-complete-file-name-partially
>                            try-complete-file-name)))
> 
> 
> 
> My trouble is that I cannot bind this command to the TAB key when you
> enter the command M-x compile RET.  Could someone please advise me how
> to get file name completion with the TAB key online?

`M-x compile' reads its COMMAND argument by calling read-from-minibuffer
with a nil KEYMAP argument, which defaults to minibuffer-local-map:

(define-key minibuffer-local-map "\t" 'my-complete-file); or (kbd "TAB")

The tricky part would be trying to restrict that binding to `M-x compile'.
I think it'd be easier to define a new command:

(defun my-compile ()
   "Run `\\[compile]' with TAB temporarily bound to `my-complete-file'."
   (interactive)
   (let ((tab-command (lookup-key minibuffer-local-map "\t")))
     (define-key minibuffer-local-map "\t" 'my-complete-file)
     (unwind-protect
	(call-interactively 'compile)
       (define-key minibuffer-local-map "\t" tab-command))))

-- 
Kevin Rodgers
Denver, Colorado, USA