File: page-ext.el.html

You may use these commands to handle an address list or other small data base.


; Summary

The current page commands are:

    forward-page C-x ]
    backward-page C-x [
    narrow-to-page C-x p
    count-lines-page C-x l
    mark-page C-x C-p (change this to C-x C-p C-m)
    sort-pages not bound
    what-page not bound

The new page handling commands all use C-x C-p as a prefix. This means that the key binding for mark-page must be changed. Otherwise, no other changes are made to the current commands or their bindings.

New page handling commands:

    pages-next-page C-x C-p C-n
    pages-previous-page C-x C-p C-p
    pages-search C-x C-p C-s
    pages-add-new-page C-x C-p C-a
    pages-sort-buffer C-x C-p s
    pages-set-delimiter C-x C-p C-l
    pages-directory C-x C-p C-d
    pages-directory-for-addresses C-x C-p d
       pages-directory-goto C-c C-c


; Using the page commands

The page commands are helpful in several different contexts. For example, programmers often divide source files into sections using the page-delimiter; you can use the pages-directory command to list the sections.

You may change the buffer local value of the page-delimiter with the set-page-delimiter command. This command is bound to C-x C-p C-l The command prompts you for a new value for the page-delimiter. Called with a prefix-arg, the command resets the value of the page-delimiter to its original value.

You may set several user options:

  The pages-directory-buffer-narrowing-p variable causes the
  pages-directory-goto command to narrow to the destination page.

  The pages-directory-for-adding-page-narrowing-p variable, causes the
  add-new-page command to narrow to the new entry.

  The pages-directory-for-adding-new-page-before-current-page-p variable
  causes the add-new-page command to insert a new page before current
  page.

These variables are true by default.

Additional, addresses-related user options are described in the next page of this file.


; Handling an address list or small data base

You may use the page commands to handle an address list or other small data base. Put each address or entry on its own page. The first line of text in each page is a header line and is listed by the pages-directory or pages-directory-for-addresses command.

Specifically:

  1. Begin each entry with a page-delimiter (which is, by default,
     ^L at the beginning of the line).

  2. The first line of text in each entry is the heading line; it
     will appear in the pages-directory-buffer which is constructed
     using the C-x C-p C-d (pages-directory) command or the C-x
     C-p d (pages-directory-for-addresses) command.

     The heading line may be on the same line as the page-delimiter
     or it may follow after. It is the first non-blank line on the
     page. Conventionally, the heading line is placed on the line
     immediately following the line containing page-delimiter.

  3. Follow the heading line with the body of the entry. The body
     extends up to the next page-delimiter. The body may be of any
     length. It is conventional to place a blank line after the last
     line of the body.

For example, a file might look like this:

    FSF
    Free Software Foundation
    51 Franklin Street, Fifth Floor
    Boston, MA 02110-1301 USA.
    (617) 542-5942
    gnu@gnu.org

    
    House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property,
    U.S. House of Representatives,
    Washington, DC 20515

    Congressional committee concerned with permitting or preventing
    monopolistic restrictions on the use of software technology.

    
    George Lakoff
    `Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things:
    What Categories Reveal about the Mind'
    1987, Univ. of Chicago Press

    About philosophy, Whorfian effects, and linguistics.

    
    OBI (On line text collection.)
    Open Book Initiative
    c/o Software Tool & Die
    1330 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02146 USA
    (617) 739-0202
    obi@world.std.com

In this example, the heading lines are:

    FSF
    House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property
    George Lakoff
    OBI (On line text collection.)

The C-x C-p s (pages-sort-buffer) command sorts the entries in the buffer alphabetically.

You may use any of the page commands, including the pages-next-page, pages-previous-page, pages-add-new-page, mark-page, and pages-search commands.

You may use either the C-x C-p d (pages-directory-for-addresses) or the C-x C-p C-d (pages-directory) command to construct and display a directory of all the heading lines.

In the directory, you may position the cursor over a heading line and type C-c C-c (pages-directory-goto) to go to the entry to which it refers in the pages buffer.

You can type C-c C-p C-a (pages-add-new-page) to add a new entry in the pages buffer or address file. This is the same command you use to add a new entry when you are in the pages buffer or address file.

If you wish, you may create several different directories, one for each different buffer.

pages-directory-for-addresses in detail

The pages-directory-for-addresses assumes a default addresses file. You do not need to specify the addresses file but merely type C-x C-p d from any buffer. The command finds the file, constructs a directory for it, and switches you to the directory. If you call the command with a prefix arg, C-u C-x C-p d, it prompts you for a file name.

You may customize the addresses commands:

  The pages-addresses-file-name variable determines the name of
  the addresses file; by default it is "~/addresses".

  The pages-directory-for-addresses-goto-narrowing-p variable
  determines whether pages-directory-goto narrows the addresses
  buffer to the entry, which it does by default.

  The pages-directory-for-addresses-buffer-keep-windows-p variable
  determines whether pages-directory-for-addresses deletes other
  windows to show as many lines as possible on the screen or works
  in the usual Emacs manner and keeps other windows. Default is to
  keep other windows.

  The pages-directory-for-adding-addresses-narrowing-p variable
  determines whether pages-directory-for-addresses narrows the
  addresses buffer to a new entry when you are adding that entry.
  Default is to narrow to new entry, which means you see a blank
  screen before you write the new entry.

pages-directory in detail

Call the pages-directory command from the buffer for which you want a directory created; it creates a directory for the buffer and pops you to the directory.

The pages-directory command has several options:

  Called with a prefix arg, C-u C-x C-p C-d, the pages-directory
  prompts you for a regular expression and only lists only those
  header lines that are part of pages that contain matches to the
  regexp. In the example above, C-u C-x C-p C-d 617 RET would
  match the telephone area code of the first and fourth entries, so
  only the header lines of those two entries would appear in the
  pages-directory-buffer.

  Called with a numeric argument, the pages-directory command
  lists the number of lines in each page. This is helpful when you
  are printing hardcopy.

  Called with a negative numeric argument, the pages-directory
  command lists the lengths of pages whose contents match a regexp.

Defined variables (22)

Defined functions (21)

Defined faces (0)