Re: skeleton.el _ versus @

[Joe Kelsey]

On Mon, 2003-03-24 at 12:05, Stefan Monnier wrote:
> > My contention is that the use of @ as a backup to _ in setting
> > skeleton-point is incorrect.  When a skeleton contains both @ and _
> > markers, obviously the _ should be used to set the skeleton-point and
> > the @ should be used to set skeleton-positions when the skeleton is used
> > in simple insertion mode.
> 
> The current code allows the following trick:
> 
>       "fun f (" @ ")" \n "{" \n _ \n "}"

The actual skeleton you wanted is

(nil "fun f (" @ ")" \n "{" \n _ \n "}")

You did not include the INTERACTOR.

> such that selecting a region and calling the skeleton will
> put the region in the body of the function (because of the _)
> and point will be put at the right place for you to enter the
> arglist (because of the @).

This is using skeletons in "region" mode.  I am not changing region
mode, or at least I can modify the @ behavior so that it works in region
mode this way.

> Your suggestion would break such usage.
> Could you describe concrete cases where your suggestion would
> be helpful ?

mmm-mode uses skeletons to insert multi-mode regions.  A multi-mode
region is, for example, a section of Javascript embedded in an .html
page.  mmm-mode allows dynamic switching between html-mode and c++-mode
depending on the position of the point.

A multi-mode region is defined by a front-tag, the body and a back-tag. 
Therefore skeletons look like

(nil  "<script language=\"JavaScript\">" @ "\n" _ "\n" @ "</script>" @)

where the @'s mark the front-tag and back-tag begin and end points and
the _ marks the position of the point after insertion so that you can
begin editing there.

However, I can imagine using an mmm-mode skeleton in region mode where I
want to wrap the front-tag and back-tag around some existing text.  In
that case, *I* want the point to end up at the beginning of the region,
i.e., at the _ and *not* at the @.  This is clearly a case of
conflicting goals.

A better skeleton for your purposes would be one which prompted the user
for each of the function arguments using the recursive prompting mode of
skeleton input.  Consider this skeleton:

("function name: " "fun " str " (" (read-string "first argument: ")
( "next argument: " ","  \n > str) resume: ")" \n "{" \n _ \n "}")

It prompts for the funstion name, then reads the first argument, then
enters a subskeleton prompting for each successive argument.  When you
type ^G to the subskeleton, it proceeds to resume:, finishing the
argument list and the function wrapper.  Of course, some work is left to
be done to get the indentation right...

My transformation of your skeleton removes the need for @ to substitute
for _.

I think that maybe skeleton.el could do with some examples.  There are a
lot of complex examples in progmodes/sh-script.el for people to look at.

/Joe