comparison lispref/tips.texi @ 38043:3577e0c41a1e

Give advice about how to default position args and region args.

38042:cafa56a542ab

@item
An error message should start with a capital letter but should not end
with a period.

@item
Many commands that take a long time to execute display a message that
says @samp{Operating...} when they start, and change it to
@samp{Operating...done} when they finish.  Please keep the style of
these messages uniform: @emph{no} space around the ellipsis, and
@emph{no} period at the end.

@item
Try to avoid using recursive edits.  Instead, do what the Rmail @kbd{e}
command does: use a new local keymap that contains one command defined
to switch back to the old local keymap.  Or do what the

38043:3577e0c41a1e

@item
An error message should start with a capital letter but should not end
with a period.

@item
In @code{interactive}, if you use a Lisp expression to produce a list
of arguments, don't try to provide the ``correct'' default values for
region or position arguments.  Instead, provide @code{nil} for those
arguments if they were not specified, and have the function body
compute the default value when the argument is @code{nil}.  For
instance, write this:

@example
(defun foo (pos)
  (interactive
   (list (if @var{specified} @var{specified-pos})))
  (unless pos (setq pos @var{default-pos}))
  ...)
@end example

@noindent
rather than this:

@example
(defun foo (pos)
  (interactive
   (list (if @var{specified} @var{specified-pos}
             @var{default-pos})))
  ...)
@end example

@noindent
This is so that repetition of the command will recompute
these defaults based on the current circumstances.

You do not need to take such precautions when you use interactive
specs @samp{d}, @samp{m} and @samp{r}, because they make special
arrangements to recompute the argument values on repetition of the
command.

@item
Many commands that take a long time to execute display a message that
says something like @samp{Operating...} when they start, and change it to
@samp{Operating...done} when they finish.  Please keep the style of
these messages uniform: @emph{no} space around the ellipsis, and
@emph{no} period after @samp{done}.

@item
Try to avoid using recursive edits.  Instead, do what the Rmail @kbd{e}
command does: use a new local keymap that contains one command defined
to switch back to the old local keymap.  Or do what the