Re: etexshow and generation of cont-en.xlm (cont-XX.xml)?

From: Hans Hagen <pragma@wxs.nl>
To: mailing list for ConTeXt users <ntg-context@ntg.nl>
Subject: Re: etexshow and generation of cont-en.xlm (cont-XX.xml)?
Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2013 00:16:43 +0100	[thread overview]
Message-ID: <5147A05B.7000406@wxs.nl> (raw)
In-Reply-To: <CAFBQp-sbK0W_m-97v3SN4jXYzpxTNpb51s=Jhh+sk7VOSNVsDQ@mail.gmail.com>

On 3/18/2013 11:35 PM, Jonathan Barchi wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> I'm using the emacs package etexshow to provide a quick ConTeXt
> command reference in EMACS. This utility parses the interface file
> cont-en.xml (for english, in my case) and uses the contents to provide
> a basic dictionary of available commands.
>
> In the documentation for etexshow, there is a reference to being able
> to generate a complete interface description (the aforementioned xml
> file) like so:
>
> ";; There is still an xml-file shipped with this code. Usually you would
> ;; generate the xml-file with 'texexec'ing the file setupe.tex. Then you
> ;; will get the cont-en.xml file that can (could) be used as an input for
> ;; this etexshow. But for now, this won't work. It will work rsn."
>
> It is not clear whether that file (setupe.tex or setup.tex) is/was
> supposed to be shipped with etexshow or was supposed to be a part of
> context. I've searched and found a few references to this problem, but
> never a definitive answer, so if anyone knows the answer to these
> questions I would love to know!!
>
> 1. Is the referenced setup(e).tex a file that was previously shipped
> with ConTeXt - presumably mkii since the author refers to texexec - or
> would this be something the author would have included with etexshow
> itself?
>
> 2. Is the interface file, e.g. cont-en.xml, auto-generated from all of
> the defined macros in ConTeXt, or is that file hand-written as
> metadata to accompany the source-code definitions?

the xml file is the master file (but I admit that it's a bit behind)

if you only need the commands then the mult-def.lua files are better, 
also because they contain low level commands and primitives (it's what I 
use to generate files for scite where we have a rather advanced lexer)

> 3. Since self-documentation is a goal of the project, is it possible
> to generate something akin to the interface file that presents a
> snapshot of all commands known to context at a given time, for use in
> things like etexshow or other tools? If so, is it possible to do this
> with modules loaded to see what they additionally define?

we can add a --emacs to mtx-interfaces.lua if something other than xml 
is needed .. so, what does emacs need?

> Thanks in advance for any help! I'm hoping to use any information I
> get to update etexshow, if possible, and maybe update the ConTeXt
> support in AUCTEX as well. I think it would be really cool if AUCTEX
> could reach out at compile or run time and pull in macro definitions
> from the installed environment, for example.

Hans

-----------------------------------------------------------------
                                           Hans Hagen | PRAGMA ADE
               Ridderstraat 27 | 8061 GH Hasselt | The Netherlands
     tel: 038 477 53 69 | voip: 087 875 68 74 | www.pragma-ade.com
                                              | www.pragma-pod.nl
-----------------------------------------------------------------
___________________________________________________________________________________
If your question is of interest to others as well, please add an entry to the Wiki!

maillist : ntg-context@ntg.nl / http://www.ntg.nl/mailman/listinfo/ntg-context
webpage  : http://www.pragma-ade.nl / http://tex.aanhet.net
archive  : http://foundry.supelec.fr/projects/contextrev/
wiki     : http://contextgarden.net
___________________________________________________________________________________