Re[1]: non self-insert-command buffers

[Eric M. Ludlam]

>>> Sam Steingold <address@hidden> seems to think that:
>Some Emacs modes (dired, occur, arc, many others), usually in read-only
>buffers, do not bind single characters like "a", "b" &c to anything
>useful (they are bound to `self-insert-command' or to `undefined',
>depending on whether `make-keymap' or `make-sparse-keymap' was used).
>You get beeps for any key except for some selected ones.
>It would seem that some common bindings
>should be in place there:
>        q       quit-window
>        x       kill-this-buffer
>        g       revert (mode-specific re-create)
>        h       describe-mode
>maybe some others.
>Why not add a function
>
>(defun make-read-only-keymap (&optional name)
>  (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap name)))
>    (define-key "q" 'quit-window)
>    (define-key "x" 'kill-this-buffer)
>    (define-key "h" 'describe-mode)
>    map))
>
>and use it instead of
> `make-keymap' (like in dired.el for `dired-mode-map') and
> `make-sparse-keymap' (like in replace.el for `occur-mode-map')?
>
>comments?
>
>[I raised this issue with RMS several years ago]

I like this idea in that it would make it easier to add consistency
between these types of modes.

Since keymaps can contain parents, perhaps it would be as simple as
providing a global keymap for non-text modes (modes marked 'special).
It would be up to the maintainer to inherit from it.

See `set-keymap-parent'.

In speedbar, I used a special function for compatibility between many
versions of Emacs, but I don't think that is necessary here.

Now you just need to figure out what all those modes could agree on.
(I suspect rebinding `x' is out of the question though.)

Eric

-- 
          Eric Ludlam:                 address@hidden, address@hidden
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