Re: printscreen button should NOT print, or print after prompt

[Kevin Rodgers]

Miguel Frasson wrote:
> In GNU Emacs 21.3.1 (i386-redhat-linux-gnu, X toolkit, Xaw3d scroll bars)
>  of 2003-10-27 on daffy.perf.redhat.com
> configured using `configure  --host=i386-redhat-linux 
--build=i386-redhat-linux --target=i386-redhat-linux-gnu --program-prefix= 
--prefix=/usr --exec-prefix=/usr --bindir=/usr/bin --sbindir=/usr/sbin 
--sysconfdir=/etc --datadir=/usr/share --includedir=/usr/include --libdir=/usr/lib 
--libexecdir=/usr/libexec --localstatedir=/var --sharedstatedir=/usr/com 
--mandir=/usr/share/man --infodir=/usr/share/info --with-gcc --with-pop 
--with-sound'
...
> Most emacs users that I have talked about this problem aggree that hitting
> accidentally the print screen buttom prints the buffer WITHOUT prompting
> is really annoying. I have lost a lot of paper and pacience in this way,
> and so a lot of people for sure. If developers don't want just unbind the
> print buttom (the best solution), a simple yes-no confirmation would not
> harm a printing friendly user. Just a y-n confirmation is not enough,
> because printing is always expensive. There is the "Print Buffer" menu
> item for that.

If I start emacs-21.3 with the -q and --no-site-file command line options,
`C-h k` tells me <print> is undefined.  Perhaps you or Redhat have bound it
in site-start.el, default.el, or ~/.emacs.

> I have solved globally binding [print] to some message in my .emacs.

I recommend using advice for this:

(defadvice print-buffer (around confirm activate)
  "Request confirmation when called interactively."
  (if (or (not (interactive-p))
          (yes-or-no-p (format "Print %s buffer? " (current-buffer))))
      ad-do-it))

> Amazing how this unfortunate "feature" resisted so long...

The Emacs maintainers might consider adding a confirm-print option.

--
Kevin Rodgers