44. Extended Page Handling Commands

The page commands are helpful in several different contexts. For example, programmers often divide source files into sections using the page-delimiter; you can use the pages-directory command to list the sections.

You may use the page commands to handle an address list or other small data base. Put each address or entry on its own page. The first line of text in each page is a `header line' and is listed by the pages-directory or pages-directory-for-addresses command.

44.1 Key Assignments

The current page commands are:

The new page handling commands all use C-x C-p as a prefix. This means that the key binding for mark-page must be changed. Otherwise, no other changes are made to the current commands or their bindings.

The extended page handling commands are:

44.2 Using the Page Commands

The page commands are helpful in several different contexts. For example, programmers often divide source files into sections using the page-delimiter; you can use the pages-directory command to list the sections.

You may change the buffer local value of the page-delimiter with the set-page-delimiter command. This command is bound to C-x C-p C-l. The command prompts you for a new value for the page-delimiter. Called with a prefix-arg, the command resets the value of the page-delimiter to its original value.

You may set several user options:

pages-directory-buffer-narrowing-p

Causes the pages-directory-goto command to narrow to the destination page.

pages-directory-for-adding-page-narrowing-p

Causes the add-new-page command to narrow to the new entry.

pages-directory-for-adding-new-page-before-current-page-p

Causes the add-new-page command to insert a new page before current page.

These variables are all true by default.

44.3 Address List or Small Database

You may use the page commands to handle an address list or other small data base. Put each address or entry on its own page. The first line of text in each page is a `header line' and is listed by the pages-directory or pages-directory-for-addresses command.

Specifically:

1. Begin each entry with a `page-delimiter' (which is, by default, `^L' at the beginning of the line).

2. The first line of text in each entry is the `heading line'; it will appear in the pages-directory-buffer which is constructed using the C-x C-p C-d (pages-directory) command or the C-x C-p d (pages-directory-for-addresses) command.

   The heading line may be on the same line as the page-delimiter or it may follow after. It is the first non-blank line on the page. Conventionally, the heading line is placed on the line immediately following the line containing page-delimiter.

3. Follow the heading line with the body of the entry. The body extends up to the next `page-delimiter'. The body may be of any length. It is conventional to place a blank line after the last line of the body.

For example, a file might look like this:

    FSF
    Free Software Foundation
    59 Temple Place - Suite 330
    Boston, MA 02111-1307  USA.
    (617) 542-5942
    gnu@prep.ai.mit.edu

    
    House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property,
    U.S. House of Representatives,
    Washington, DC  20515

    Congressional committee concerned with permitting or preventing
    monopolistic restrictions on the use of software technology.

    
    George Lakoff
    ``Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things:
    What Categories Reveal about the Mind''
    1987, Univ. of Chicago Press

    About philosophy, Whorfian effects, and linguistics.

     
    OBI   (On line text collection.)
    Open Book Initiative
    c/o Software Tool & Die
    1330 Beacon St, Brookline, MA 02146 USA
    (617) 739-0202 
    obi@world.std.com

In this example, the heading lines are:

    FSF
    House Subcommittee on Intellectual Property
    George Lakoff
    OBI (On line text collection.)

The C-x C-p s (sort-pages-buffer) command sorts the entries in the buffer alphabetically.

You may use any of the page commands, including the next-page, previous-page, add-new-page, mark-page, and search-pages commands.

You may use either the C-x C-p d (pages-directory-for-addresses) or the C-x C-p C-d (pages-directory) command to construct and display a directory of all the heading lines.

In the directory, you may position the cursor over a heading line and type C-c C-c (pages-directory-goto) to go to the entry to which it refers in the pages buffer.

You can type C-c C-p C-a (add-new-page) to add a new entry in the pages buffer or address file. This is the same command you use to add a new entry when you are in the pages buffer or address file.

If you wish, you may create several different directories, one for each different buffer.

`pages-directory-for-addresses assumes a default addresses file. You do not need to specify the addresses file but merely type C-x C-p d from any buffer. The command finds the file, constructs a directory for it, and switches you to the directory. If you call the command with a prefix arg, C-u C-x C-p d, it prompts you for a file name.

You may customize the addresses commands:

pages-addresses-file-name

Determines the name of the addresses file; by default it is "~/addresses".

pages-directory-for-addresses-goto-narrowing-p

Determines whether pages-directory-goto narrows the addresses buffer to the entry, which it does by default.

pages-directory-for-addresses-buffer-keep-windows-p

Determines whether pages-directory-for-addresses deletes other windows to show as many lines as possible on the screen or works in the usual Emacs manner and keeps other windows. Default is to keep other windows.

pages-directory-for-adding-addresses-narrowing-p

Determines whether pages-directory-for-addresses narrows the addresses buffer to a new entry when you are adding that entry. Default is to narrow to new entry, which means you see a blank screen before you write the new entry.

Call the pages-directory command from the buffer for which you want a directory created; it creates a directory for the buffer and pops you to the directory.

The pages-directory command has several options:

1. Called with a prefix arg, C-u C-x C-p C-d, the pages-directory prompts you for a regular expression and only lists only those header lines that are part of pages that contain matches to the regexp. In the example above, C-u C-x C-p C-d 617 RET would match the telephone area code of the first and fourth entries, so only the header lines of those two entries would appear in the pages-directory-buffer.

2. Called with a numeric argument, the pages-directory command lists the number of lines in each page. This is helpful when you are printing hardcopy.

3. Called with a negative numeric argument, the pages-directory command lists the lengths of pages whose contents match a regexp.

To configure this package, type:

  M-x customize-group RET pages RET

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