Creating Implicit Button Types
Implicit buttons leverage the same action types used by explicit and global buttons but each carries an additional implicit button type that defines the contexts in which it is active, e.g. major modes or surrounding text. Once an implicit button type definition is loaded into Hyperbole, the Action and Assist Keys automatically recognize all buttons of that type. The Action Key activates the buttons and the Assist Key summarizes their behavior and attributes. With a single definition, you can bring your text to life, activating implicit hyperbuttons in thousands of documents with no other effort.
There are three ways to create new implicit button types; the first two are meant to allow non-programmers to extend Hyperbole with simplified types.
Action Button Link Types
The first is very simple but can create only link buttons with a specific textual form, i.e. <action-type button-text>.
Implicit Button Link Types
The second is also limited to link buttons and requires regular expression knowledge; it allows for any string or regular expression button delimiters and regular expression or function link specifications.
Programmatic Implicit Button Types
The third requires ELisp programming knowledge but can create any implicit button type.
The sections below examine these three implicit button type creation techniques.