[Refdb-devel] Updated Emacs package, syntax highlighting, new name

[Michael S. <sm...@xm...>]

Attached is an update of the Emacs package, renamed it "refdb-mode".
You'll need to change the require statement in your .emacs to:

  (require 'refdb-mode)

And any variables you have set in your .emacs will need to be changed
to, or example:

  (setq refdb-database "DATABASE")

That is, just drop the "menu-" part from the variable name.

Syntax highlighting
-------------------
  The main change in this version is that it now indirectly does syntax
  highlighting. It works just by trying to put the output buffer into an
  appropriate mode based on output type. For example:

    - for XML output types, it puts the output buffer into nxml-mode if
      you have it, sgml-mode (psgml) otherwise

    - for HTML or DocBook SGML, sgml-mode (psgml)

    - for BibTeX, bibtex-mode

    - for RIS, ris-mode

      http://cvs.sourceforge.net/viewcvs.py/*checkout*/refdb/refdb/site-lisp/ris.el

Window splitting
----------------
  I added a new variable, refdb-split-for-getref-output-flag. Default it
  non-nil, meaning Emacs will split the current frame in order to show
  the output buffer; setting it to nil means Emacs will show the output
  buffer at full frame. You can either set it from the customization
  buffer, or manually in your .emacs like this:

    (setq refdb-split-for-getref-output-flag nil)

  QUESTION: Should I make the default value in the code non-nil instead?

Separate buffer for RefDB messages
----------------------------------
  stderr from refdbc now goes to a separate *refdb-messages* buffer,
  instead of getting mixed with output. I've added a "Show RefDB Message
  Log" menu and refdb-show-messages command you can use to see that.

Commands
--------
  Command equivalents for all menu items are now available.

    refdb-addref-on-region
    refdb-getref-by-author
    refdb-getref-by-title
    refdb-getref-by-keyword
    refdb-getref-by-id
    refdb-getref-by-citekey
    refdb-getref-by-advanced-search
    refdb-select-output-type
    refdb-select-database
    refdb-show-messages

  I guess we should maybe discuss coming up with a set of key bindings.

I've also added a little more code to have Emacs emit more messages
about what it's doing; e.g., 

    (message "Adding references in selected region to %s database..." refdb-database)
    (message (format "Getting datasets for author %s ..." author))

  etc.

I made a lot of changes, so it might have broken some things. Please try
and let me know.

Next up, I'll probably be trying out the data caching and completion
stuff I mentioned, and then on from there to dealing with processing
docs/generating output.

  --Mike