lynx-dev Opinions on importing a file into a TEXTAREA

[Kim DeVaughn]

Before I impliment the command to import a file directly into a
TEXTAREA (without the use of an editor), I'd like to solicit some
feedback on how that should work.

In all cases, extra lines/anchors will be added to accomodate the
length of the imported file, as needed.

When imported, the file can:

 1. Replace the TEXTAREA in its entirety, with the first line of
    the file becomming the first line of the TEXTAREA.

 2. Begin on the TEXTAREA line that the cursor is on when the cmd
    is invoked, replacing it, and all lines below it, with the
    file's contents.

 3. Be inserted in between the TEXTAREA line just above the cursor
    (if there is one), and the line that the cursor is on, at the
    time the cmd is invoked.  None of the original TEXTAREA lines
    are replaced.

 4. Be appended to the existing TEXTAREA lines, beginning with the
    first trailing blank line, irrespective of where the cursor is
    when the cmd is invoked.

 5. Be prepended to the existing TEXTAREA lines, again, irrespective
    of the initial cursor location.

 6. Be positioned in some other fashion ...?

In all cases, there will be a trailing blank line at the bottom of
the TEXTAREA, and with the other "gimee N new lines" cmd (to be
provided), one can add text below the TEXTAREA as it exists at the
time.

I personally favor 2), as it seems most logical to me.  3) might
seem a better choice, but to my mind, if one wants to insert text in
the middle of some existing TEXTAREA lines, they are better off to
do so with the aid of an editor (^Ve).  It is also likely in such
cases, that they will want to insert some additional whitespace above/
below the imported file, which would then require the use of an editor
anyway.

For anyone who suggests providing multiple choices, remember that
each choice would need to be a separate keybinding, since there is
currently no convenient way to specify a "choice flag" along with a
command.  And I am not about to try and provide any kind of "option
list" that one could select a method from, since the differences
really amount to nothing more than "syntactic sugar" (IMHO), given
that all formats can easily be had with editor usage.

As to usage, I would expect this feature to mostly be used when adding
a "canned" chunk of text, such as a signature block, or something along
those lines.

Anyway ... as I said above, I'm leaning heavily toward 2), but am open
to doing it some other way, if there is sufficient justification to do
so.

Comments ...?

/kim