As an Emacs beginner, I am working on writing a minor mode. My current (naive) method of programming elisp consists of making a change, closing out Emacs, restarting Emacs, and observing the change. How can I streamline this process? Is there a command to refresh everything?
Eval-buffer reevaluates the code, but the minor mode's behavior does not seem to be updated, even if I turn it off and on again. Is there a command I can use in combination with this one to reload the minor mode?
dvcolgan
2010-10-26 02:38:30
Well, I assumed that minor modes worked similar to .emacs file modifications, but I'm clearly wrong. My next guess was that the .emacs would also have to be refreshed- no dice. Guess we'll both need to wait for someone who knows what they're talking about to swing by. Sorry for the wrong attempt.
Greg
2010-10-26 03:05:05
+8
A:
You might try using M-C-x (eval-defun), which will re-evaluate the top-level form around point. Unlike M-x eval-buffer or C-x C-e (exal-last-sexp), this will reset variables declared with defvar and defcustom to their initial values, which might what's tripping you up.
Sean
2010-10-26 06:09:11
+1
A:
It all depends on what you're writing and how you've written it. Toggling the mode should get you the new behavior. If you're using [define-minor-mode][1], you can add code in the body of the macro that keys off the mode variable:
(define-minor-mode my-minor-mode
"doc string"
nil
""
nil
(if my-minor-mode
(progn
;; do something when minor mode is on
)
;; do something when minor mode is off
)
But, another way to check it quickly would be to spawn a new Emacs from your existing one:
M-x shell-command emacs&
Trey Jackson
2010-10-26 06:10:15
+2
A:
Also try out C-u C-M-x which evaluates the definition at point and sets a breakpoint there, so you get dropped into the debugger when you hit that function.
M-x ielm is also very useful as a more fetaure-rich Lisp REPL when developing Emacs code.
Joakim Hårsman
2010-10-26 10:15:43