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From: mark@cogent.UUCP (Captain Neptune)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: A proposal for a standardized key handling method
Message-ID: <250@cogent.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 4-Aug-87 04:07:17 EDT
Article-I.D.: cogent.250
Posted: Tue Aug  4 04:07:17 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 5-Aug-87 05:28:36 EDT
Reply-To: mark@cogent.UUCP (Mark Steven Jeghers)
Distribution: world
Organization: Cogent Software Solutions, Stockton, CA
Lines: 55
Keywords: termcap arrow-keys user-definable


Lots of discussion goes on here regarding the problem of "XYZ" terminal
that has some arrow keys or function keys that need to somehow be made
useful under uEmacs.  I have the same concerns.  I like uEmacs a lot,
but it's limited use of termcap (or terminfo depending on who you are)
leaves keyboard definitions out of the picture.  I do NOT like stretching
fingers for ^P and ^N to go up and down.  I have arrow keys for crying out
loud!  Well...several postings have shown this hack and that hack which let
me get a few extra keys in via some funny bindings.  I'll probably use one
of the suggested hacks for now, but I'll feel uneasy having non-standard
source code, and the hack will probably not be too elegant, and it most
certainly will not cover all (or even most!) of the possibilities.

To this end, I would like to see some discussion instigated regarding how
uEmacs could be revised to support a greater variety of keyboard scenarios.
An ideal arrangement would allow functions within termcap/terminfo to be
detected (e.g. uEmacs says "Ahah!  This is a 'kf1', which is 'terminfo' for
function key 1!") and translated via a user-defined table (in a file) to
some key binding (e.g. the 'kf1' is translated to M-Q, so Func.Key 1
adjusts paragraphs).  This table could also allow a raw string to take
the place of a termcap/terminfo item, so that oddball keys could be put
to use, even if termcap/terminfo doesn't know about those keys (this would
be a much more portable way to handle all those extra keys on a UnixPC
without the end user having to hack the code and have a one-of-a-kind
version of uEmacs.

In summary, here's what such a file might look like:
(field 1 = capability of raw string from kbd,
 field 2 = key binding to xlat into,
 field 3 = comment)

kf1:M-Q:   f1 = format paragraph
kf2:^S:    f2 = search
kf3:^X-^S: f3 = save
kf4:^X-^C: f4 = exit
\033]A:^P: our unique UP arrow key
\033]B:^N: our unique DOWN arrow key
\033]C:^F: our unique FORWARD arrow key
\033]D:^B: our unique BACKWARD arrow key

Would this not be reasonably portable, yet allow the end user to set
themselves up as needed?  Probably a terminfo vs. termcap flag would
be needed to decide, for example, whether 'kf1' or 'k1' should be used.

It's just a rough idea for starters.  I don't claim that it's the
ultimate answer, but I hope it will stimulate discussions which would
encourage the inclusion of such a feature in future versions.
-- 
+----------------------------------------------------------------------------+
|     Mark Steven Jeghers: the terrorist smuggling CIA weapons to Libya      |
|                                                                            |
|     {ihnp4,cbosgd,lll-lcc,lll-crg}|{dual,ptsfa}!cogent!mark                |
|                                                                            |
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