Smart Key Argument Selection

A prime design criterion of Hyperbole’s user interface is that you should be able to see what an operation will do before using it. The Assist Key typically shows you what a button or minibuffer menu item will do before you activate it. Hyperbole also displays the result of directly selecting an argument value with the Action Key, to provide feedback as to whether the correct item has been selected. A second press/click is necessary before an argument is accepted and processed.

Many Hyperbole commands prompt you for arguments. The standard Hyperbole user interface has an extensive core of argument types that it recognizes. Whenever Hyperbole is prompting you for an argument, it knows the type that it needs and provides some error checking to help you get it right. More importantly, it allows you to press the Action Key within an entity that you want to use as an argument. Hyperbole will copy the appropriate thing to the minibuffer as the argument. If you press (click with a mouse) the Action Key on the same thing again, e.g. within a list of possible completions, Hyperbole exits the minibuffer and uses the current argument. Thus, a double click registers a desired argument. Double-quoted strings, pathnames, mail messages, Info nodes, dired listings, buffers, numbers, completion items and so forth are all recognized at appropriate times. All of the argument types mentioned in the documentation for the Emacs Lisp interactive function are recognized. Experiment a little and you will quickly get used to this direct selection technique.

Wherever possible, standard Emacs completion is offered, as described in Completion in the GNU Emacs Manual. Remember to use {?} to see what your possibilities for an argument are if completions are not automatically shown to you. Once you have a list of possible completions on screen, press the Action Key twice on any item to enter it as the argument. If you are using the Vertico completion library with completions displayed in the minibuffer, selection of completions works the same as if they were displayed in a separate buffer as in standard Emacs.

Within the minibuffer itself, the Smart Keys are also context-sensitive. A press of the Action Key at the end of the argument line tries to accept the argument and when successful, exits the minibuffer. A press of the Assist Key at the end of the argument line displays matching completions for times when they are not automatically displayed or need updating. A press of the Action or Assist Key on part of the argument, deletes from point to the end of the line, expanding the set of available completions and redisplaying them.