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Archive-name: auto/comp.windows.x.motif/XMR-mode-2-3-available


XMR mode 2.3 is now available on archive.cis.ohio-state.edu for
anonymous ftp. See "Archive Information" in the README file below.

Ik
ik@ctt.bellcore.com

--------------------


What's New in Version 2.3
-------------------------

  - The resource completion/help has been extended to include the WCL
    resources and the constraint resources.

  - dm-xmr.el -- A set of Dmacros for XMR mode, which replaces the
    abbreviation stuff.

  - The display name is made optional -- it is looked up from DISPLAY.

  - Uncommenting region removes only the first `!'.

  - xmr-database.sh has been fixed not to generate such long lines.

  - Fixed a bug in the hierarchy parsing function that ignored the
    `wcPopups' links.

  - New features have been added:

    - to indent the current resource set or a region containing resource
      sets.

    - to rename the current object.

    - to search an object by name.

    - to aid in navigating the widget hierarchy -- parent, child, next
      sibling, or previous sibling.


Please send your comments or bug reports to ik@ctt.bellcore.com.


Archive Information
-------------------

Archive site: archive.cis.ohio-state.edu
XMR mode:     /pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/modes/xmr.tar.Z
Dmacro:       /pub/gnu/emacs/elisp-archive/packages/dmacro.tar.Z


General Usage
-------------

XMR mode is an emacs extension that is useful for editing X/Motif/WCL
resource files. Basically, it helps you to edit large resource files
which can become tedious and repetitive. It also provides an on-line
assistance by keeping track of the valid resources for each widget
class and providing access to the on-line documentation for each
widget class. XMR mode supports a limited amount of run-time
integration as well; however, used in conjunction with other emacs
features (e.g. compile, tags, etc.) you can easily create a fully
integrated environment.

The prescribed organization of the resource file is as follows:

  - Each widget's resource specifications must be grouped contiguously
    without any intervening blank lines. From here on, I'll refer to
    these resources collectively as the widget's resource set.

  - Each resource set must be separated by at least 1 blank line.

The package consists of the following files:

    README	     this file
    dm-xmr.el	     Dmacros for XMR mode
    man.el	     emacs interface to man (modified for XMR mode)
    xmr-database.el  contains widget specific information
    xmr-database.sh  generates xmr-database.el
    xmr-mode.el	     XMR mode extension to emacs

In order to load and use it, add something like the following lines to
your .emacs file:

    (setq load-path (cons "directory-containing-xmr-mode-stuff" load-path))
    (setq auto-mode-alist (cons '("\\.ad$" . xmr-mode) auto-mode-alist))
    (autoload 'xmr-mode "xmr-mode")

Summary of each major feature is as follows.

1. Dmacros and name completion. XMR mode contains a predefined set of
Dmacros for interactively specifying each widget class. (If you don't
know what the Dmacro package is, see below.)

For example, suppose you want to specify a resource set for the push
button widget. When, you type Ctrl-c-d (by default), you'll be
prompted for a widget class (Actually a Dmacro, but there is a Dmacro
for each widget class). Type a `?' to see what widget classes are
available. Then, type `push followed by RETURN and the following line
will be inserted:

    *<name>.wcClassName:	XmPushButton

You'll then be prompted for the widget's name. Type in `testButton'
and you'll get:

    *testButton.wcClassName:	XmPushButton

By typing Ctrl-J (by default) at the end of the line, you'll get:

    *testButton.wcClassName:	XmPushButton
    *testButton

Now you can continue to specify the widget's resource, and when you
are at the end of each line, instead of pressing RETURN, type Ctrl-J.

In addition to the Motif widget classes, there are Dmacros for other
high-level UI component such as the radio box, generic dialog box,
file menu, etc. So, for example, if you choose the "filemenu" Dmacro,
you'll see the resources which define a file menu and its children.

2. On-line help. XMR mode knows about which resources, including the
inherited resources and the constraint resources, are valid for each
widget class. Thus, when you're editing a widget's resource set, you
can query for the valid resources, provided that you've specified the
widget's class. In WCL (1.0x), this is done by specifying the resource
`wcClass', `wcClassName', or `wcConstructor'. If you are editing
non-WCL resource files, you can still get this help by including one
of these resources in the widget specification. (The resource manager
should simply ignore this entry. If not, just comment it out.)

For example, suppose you were't quite sure what resources were
available for the push button above:

    *testButton.wcClassName:	XmPushButton
    *testButton.

Typing Ctrl-c-h (by default) will list the valid resources;
Ctrl-c-Ctrl-h will list the valid resources, including the inherited
ones. Depending on whether the button's parent is a constraint widget
or not, you may or may not see constraint resources.

You have access to the on-line Motif man pages, provided that the man
pages have been installed on your system. When you enter the command
to bring up a man page, it prompts you for a widget class, which
defaults to the widget's class that you are currently editing.

In the above example, typing Ctrl-c-m and then RETURN will bring up
the man page for XmPushButton in another buffer.

3. Run-time integration. In order to run the application, you need not
leave the buffer containing the resource file. You just issue a
command and the application that you've specified will be run, which
is Mri by default.

4. Automatic indentation. When you're about to specify the resource
value, typing the tab key will automatically indent so that the point
will be beneath the previous line's resource value.

In addition, there are commands to format a resource set or a region
containing resource sets, in such a way that all resource values get
aligned (by default at column 40). The latter two commands are
especially useful after inserting a Dmacro, which may not indent the
resource values.

5. Navigation aid. XMR mode gives you the ability to quickly navigate
around the widget hierarchy. When you're editing a resource set, you
can jump to the widget's parent, its Nth child, or its next or
previous sibling in the hierarchy.

6. Miscellaneous. You can comment out a region of resource
specification or uncommand a commented region of resource
specification. Also, if you are editing a WCL resource file, you can
have the widget hierarchy displayed in another buffer. This is useful
if you want to see the actual widget hierarchy, which is often hard to
tell from just looking at the user interface. This feature may be
extended in the future so that you can use the displayed widget
hierarchy to navigate around.


What Dmacro is
--------------

[
  Name:        Dynamcic Macro
  Author:      Wayne Mesard, WMesard@Oracle.com

  Dynamic Macro ("DM") is a facility for inserting structured text in
  Emacs.  In addition to straight textual substitution (already available
  through Emacs' Abbrev mode) DM will insert time- and date-stamps, your
  name and user-id, the current file name, a file's contents, the results
  of a shell command and anything else you can think of.  It can prompt
  the user for strings.  It can also position the cursor within the
  expanded text, and indent the expansion in whatever way is appropriate
  to the current major mode.  DM will also allow you to bind dmacros to
  keys and automatically insert dmacros in new files.
]


Extending XMR mode
------------------

You can extend XMR mode in the following ways:

  - adding help information for other widget classes
  - modifying XMR mode to work with other widget sets

[ to be continued ... ]


Acknowledgements
----------------

Thanks to the following people's code/ideas:

    Gary Levine		Perl code (to be) used by xmr-database.sh
    Ernst Lippe		code to comment/uncomment region
    Eric Rose		man.el
    Andrew Wason	listres suggestion
    Larry Williamson	suggestions for improvement


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