emacs Semantic/senator : autocomplete for external lib's - emacs

It seems this forum is more alive than mailing list : http://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/forum.php?forum_name=cedet-semantic.
I would like repost my quest from a week ago from there:
First hi to all who contribute to this great package as CEDET :D .
Without much hussle I am able to get working most of the CEDET futures, but when it comes to senator / semantic things get more tought :\ .
Parsing local files are fine.
I don't use EDE not to get things more complicated.
I use the 1.0.6 git trunk version, for compability with ECB.
First is the rumble about the emacs core / cedet git-trunk hussle. How do I check that current installation is running the latter ? ( I have done some .emacs modificaitons see below) .
I generally cannot get the proper autocomplete working for external libs - in this case the OGRE3D project, which all are in the /usr/include/OGRE. I suppose I have added to 'search path' include properly, semantic-describe-c-env. sees them added properly.
2.a What are the basic commands to the semantic parser ? , that is I need to force it to parse the desired includes.
Once I saw semantic parsing the OGRE files in the 'idle time'. Still the autocomplete does not work ( OGRE:RAY is not recongized as a type).
senator-completition-menu-pop gives some non-matching 'c**p'
2.b I know there are customize-group options for semantic, tough their description say little to me.
From the other post:
"Yes, there is a setup cost. You can use semanticdb.sh to pre-parse your
code, but if you never open every file, you might end up with Emacs
having such a huge data structure it gets larger that your machine can
handle. If your project is small, this shouldn't be a problem."
Well this might be, if that would parse OGRE.
here's my .emacs:
.emacs at pastebin.com

Here's what I got on the mailing list, hope that it would help someone , thaks to Eric Ludlam :D :
======================
1. First is the rumble about the emacs core / cedet git-trunk hussle. How do I check that current installation is running the latter ? ( I have done some .emacs modificaitons see below) .
After emacs start, use:
M-x cedet-version RET
and look for the 1.1 version from CEDET/bzr.
I just tried this and noticed not everything has the right version
number. Interesting. I'll have to look into that.
Anyway, the next thing to try is:
M-x locate-library RET cedet RET
and make sure it points where you think it should.
2. I generally cannot get the proper autocomplete working for external libs - in this case the OGRE3D project, which all are in the /usr/include/OGRE. I suppose I have added to 'search path' include properly, semantic-describe-c-env. sees them added properly.
If you enable global-semantic-decoration-mode you can right-click on
header files, and it will give you some options, such as showing where
it things the header is, and showing if it has been parsed yet or not.
2.a What are the basic commands to the semantic parser ? , that is I need to force it to parse the desired includes.
You can use the include menu to force a header to be parsed, or visit
said include. If it can't find it, you can add OGRE to your path from
there too.
If you vist your header, you can use the senator menu to force a file to
reparse, or use:
C-u M-x bovinate RET
to do it.
Once I saw semantic parsing the OGRE files in the 'idle time'. Still the autocomplete does not work ( OGRE:RAY is not recongized as a type). senator-completition-menu-pop gives some non-matching 'c**p'
Autocomplete can fail for many reasons. The best way to find out why is:
M-x semantic-analyze-debug-assist RET
at a place you want to do completion. It will tell you about your
header files, symbols, and the like. It could be your preprocessor
symbols need some setup.
For large complex library headers, sometimes it is just a matter of
having the right pre-processor symbols setup in Semantic so that the
right bits of the headers get parsed for symbols. You'd have to visit a
header where a symbol you want to complete is, and see if it was parsed.
Using:
M-x boviante RET
will dump the symbol table.
2.b I know there are customize-group options for semantic, tough their description say little to me.
From the other post:
"Yes, there is a setup cost. You can use semanticdb.sh to pre-parse your code, but if you never open *every* file, you might end up with Emacs having such a huge data structure it gets larger that your machine can handle. If your project is small, this shouldn't be a problem." Well this might be, if that would parse OGRE.
I doubt parsing the includes is the problem here. I think there is just
something new in the ogre headers we'll have to deal with.
Eric
===================================

Related

Customizing Org Mode variables--where is the documentation?

I've been using Org-mode a few months, and as I customize Emacs, I'm having a lot of difficulty finding documentation on how to specifically customize various variables.
Example: I've successfully set up archiving, but want to customize the org-archive-save-context-info variable to reduce the info that's archived along with the task. I do not want to do this per-file, but in my config file. Despite my best efforts, I don't see documentation on syntax and parameters for customizing this.
I do see some documentation when I customize the variable in the Emacs UI--but I'm looking for documentation so I can see syntax and parameters for customizing this myself via a config file. I can learn it backwards this way (via 'easy customization'): customize a variable, see what Emacs wrote to the config, try tweaking that, etc.
[EDIT] I'm talking about info below the task that appears after archiving, like this:
:PROPERTIES:
:ARCHIVE_TIME: 2018-09-10 Mon 11:24
:ARCHIVE_FILE: ~/Dropbox/logs/capture.org
:ARCHIVE_OLPATH: Tasks
:ARCHIVE_CATEGORY: capture
:ARCHIVE_TODO: DONE
:END:
Is this intentional? Do I just need to 'know ELisp' first? Is the intention that you use the Emacs point-and-click UI to customize things like this? Happy to RTFM if I could find the FM.
Is the intention that you use the Emacs point-and-click UI to customize things like this?
It's certainly intended that you would use the customize interface if you don't know elisp (and you might well choose to use it even if you do).
Do I just need to 'know ELisp' first?
Yes, you'll need at least some familiarity with elisp in order to understand the documentation and be able to write your own config changes. This is because elisp is the configuration language for Emacs, and so the documentation is written in that context. (It wouldn't make sense for basic lisp concepts to be explained and repeated in every piece of documentation which used them.)
That said, many people get by just copying and pasting from config examples -- and you're likely to pick up the basics this way, even if you don't fully understand them. If you're serious about Emacs, though, spending some time to learn about elisp will be hugely beneficial to you in future.
I can learn it backwards this way (via 'easy customization'): customize a variable, see what Emacs wrote to the config, try tweaking that, etc.
That's an entirely reasonable thing to do.
FWIW C-hv org-archive-save-context-info is actually very clear if you have the background understanding.
This variable can be a list of any of the following symbols:
time The time of archiving.
file The file where the entry originates.
ltags The local tags, in the headline of the subtree.
itags The tags the subtree inherits from further up the hierarchy.
todo The pre-archive TODO state.
category The category, taken from file name or #+CATEGORY lines.
olpath The outline path to the item. These are all headlines above
the current item, separated by /, like a file path.
That tells you that you might use the following in your config file:
(setq org-archive-save-context-info '(time file todo))
Happy to RTFM if I could find the FM.
You can start learning about elisp in the "Emacs Lisp Intro" manual, which you should find near the top of the Info directory, or jump to directly with C-hig (eintr) RET. Type h from there if you need to learn how to use the Info reader.

Emacs being laggy and creating 0 byte files in working directory

I've Emacs setup for Verilog, SystemVerilog and UVM.
I use auto-complete, solarize theme and verilog-mode as add-ons.
I need to work on C once in a while, however with C Emacs feels very laggy (takes a while for auto-complete suggestions) and it creates bunch of 0 byte files in my working directory (with names containing symbols -- not letters).
I'm not sure about the cause or how to debug and solve the issue. I would appreciate if someone can help me with finding and solving this issue.
[EDIT]: I understand this can be lacking in information, however right now I'm not sure what type of information I should be providing, I will provide information as required
[EDIT2]:
I've commented following portion of init file and my c editing is working well, What part of loading auto-complete can cause these?
The problems I was facing:
1. Creating random symbol files with 0 bytes of size in working directory (name would look like ?/??UR...)
2. Laggy: takes a while for character to show up when typed
;; This section is required to enable autocomplete and verilog dictionary
;;(add-to-list 'load-path "/home/user/.emacs.d/")
;;(require 'auto-complete-config)
;;(add-to-list 'ac-dictionary-directories "/home/user/.emacs.d//ac-dict")
;;(ac-config-default)
;;ac-modes - mojor modes ac can run on
;;(add-to-list 'ac-modes 'verilog-mode 'c-mode)
;;toggle auto complete in all buffers
;;(global-auto-complete-mode t)
I understand this can be lacking in information, however right now I'm not sure what type of information I should be providing, I will provide information as required
That's the right attitude, and yes, you sensed correctly that the problem description is currently too broad for people to be able to help (unless you are lucky and find someone who recognizes the same combination of setups etc.).
The first step is to isolate the cause of the problem, at least to one (instead of 3) feature that you are using. IOW, break down your "setup for Verilog, SystemVerilog and UVM" which uses "auto-complete, solarize theme and verilog-mode as add-ons", so that you can report that the problem is only in using, say, auto-complete. Or is only in the combination of, say, theme solarize with verilog-mode.
IOW, at the highest level this is no different from any other debugging scenario.
As it stands now, you are, in effect, telling us that you have this big sack of stuff and you want someone to guess what is going on.
To narrow the problem, recursively bisect your init file, commenting out bigger and bigger chunks, until you know what part(s) of it are really causing the problem. Comment out 1/2, then 3/4, then 7/8,... You can use command comment-region to comment or (with prefix arg C-u) uncommment the selected text.
Once you have a better idea of what is causing the problem, report back here with the refined problem statement and the additional info you've learned.
At that point you will also want to specify what you mean by this or that being "laggy". You will hopefully be able to give others a recipe to reproduce the effect you see, and you will be able to describe better what you expected to see, but didn't.

Emacs calc minibuffer blank face---how to debug?

When running emacs calc, typing a prefix key, say 'm', followed by '?' is supposed to show all mode-related commands in the minibuffer as a kind of quick help facility.
For several years I have noticed that this quit working for me. When I hit the '?' the minibuffer flashes the help for a small fraction of a second, then goes blank. I can sometimes see parts of the help text rendered but ususally it blanks too fast to see it.
This does not happen when I run emacs -Q to skip my init file, so it is something in the init file that is the cuplprit.
My init file is quite large. I would like to put something like '(exit)' in different places in my init file to stop processing the init file and see if I can pin down what is causing the problem.
(1) What is the right way to do this?
(2) Anybody else see this problem with the minibuffer in calc?
Good question. The answer is simple: recursively bisect your init file.
Do that by commenting out 1/2 of it, then 3/4, then 7/8,... This is a binary search, and it is very quick, even though it might not seem that way at first. It is systematic, and essentially blind (thoughtless).
To comment out a block of text, use command comment-region. To uncomment a block of text, use C-u with the same command.
Trust me - in no time at all, you will have identified the culprit code, no matter how big your init file is. And if you load other libraries from your init file, and doing the exercise above shows that the culprit code is in one of those libraries, then do the same thing with (a copy of) that library code: recursively bisect it.
After several hours of trying to narrow down the problem, I found the culprit.
When key-chord-mode is set on in calc, the key help facility displays the symptoms I mentioned above.
Would like to keep key-chord enabled globally and disable it in calc-mode, but turning it off in the calc-mode-hook turns it off for all modes. Any ideas?
Anyway, I am closer to figuring out this long-term irritant.

How to generate and set up annotation for Ocaml in Emacs?

I am writing a compiler in Ocaml with Emacs. I am told that with -annot a file .annot could be generated while compiling, which could help Emacs to show the type of my code. But it is odd that no .annot is generated after running this makefile. Could anyone tell me what is wrong with that?
Also, once i have got .annot, do I need to set up anything (for instance .emacs?) so that my Emacs read it and show the type of my code?
Thank you very much!
Edit1: after make clean and make, I have got the .annot... But I still do not know how to make use of this .annot in Emacs.
Edit2: actually it is necessary to follow this link, copy the files in a local folder, then update .emacs. Then when a .ml is edited in Emacs, C-c C-t returns its type from .annot.
Regarding your emacs inquiry --I don't use emacs--, this is from the man-pages for ocamlc,
-annot Dump detailed information about the compilation (types, bindings, tail-calls, etc). The information for file src.ml is put into file src.annot. In case of a type error, dump all the information inferred by the type-checker before the error. The src.annot file can be used with the emacs commands given in emacs/caml-types.el to display types and other annotations interactively.
There are also other tools from the thread I mentioned previously.
As for the Makefile not creating the .annot files, I made a mock directory and successfully had .annot files created. I also don't see anything wrong with your Makefile. You may want to clean the directory and try again, or switch to another way to build your tool like ocamlbuild --which would require minimal setup, although, I haven't used it with menhir.
I will also note that -annot is new since OCaml 3.11.0, and prior the flag was -dtypes.

Emacs recursive project search

I am switching to Emacs from TextMate. One feature of TextMate that I would really like to have in Emacs is the "Find in Project" search box that uses fuzzy matching. Emacs sort of has this with ido, but ido does not search recursively through child directories. It searches only within one directory.
Is there a way to give ido a root directory and to search everything under it?
Update:
The questions below pertain to find-file-in-project.el from MichaƂ Marczyk's answer.
If anything in this message sounds obvious it's because I have used Emacs for less than one week. :-)
As I understand it, project-local-variables lets me define things in a .emacs-project file that I keep in my project root.
How do I point find-file-in-project to my project root?
I am not familiar with regex syntax in Emacs Lisp. The default value for ffip-regexp is:
".*\\.\\(rb\\|js\\|css\\|yml\\|yaml\\|rhtml\\|erb\\|html\\|el\\)"
I presume that I can just switch the extensions to the ones appropriate for my project.
Could you explain the ffip-find-options? From the file:
(defvar ffip-find-options
""
"Extra options to pass to `find' when using find-file-in-project.
Use this to exclude portions of your project: \"-not -regex \\".vendor.\\"\"")
What does this mean exactly and how do I use it to exclude files/directories?
Could you share an example .emacs-project file?
I use M-x rgrep for this. It automatically skips a lot of things you don't want, like .svn directories.
(Updated primarily in order to include actual setup instructions for use with the below mentioned find-file-in-project.el from the RINARI distribution. Original answer left intact; the new bits come after the second horizontal rule.)
Have a look at the TextMate page of the EmacsWiki. The most promising thing they mention is probably this Emacs Lisp script, which provides recursive search under a "project directory" guided by some variables. That file begins with an extensive comments section describing how to use it.
What makes it particularly promising is the following bit:
;; If `ido-mode' is enabled, the menu will use `ido-completing-read'
;; instead of `completing-read'.
Note I haven't used it myself... Though I may very well give it a try now that I've found it! :-)
HTH.
(BTW, that script is part of -- to quote the description from GitHub -- "Rinari Is Not A Rails IDE (it is an Emacs minor mode for Rails)". If you're doing any Rails development, you might want to check out the whole thing.)
Before proceeding any further, configure ido.el. Seriously, it's a must-have on its own and it will improve your experience with find-file-in-project. See this screencast by Stuart Halloway (which I've already mentioned in a comment on this answer) to learn why you need to use it. Also, Stu demonstrates how flexible ido is by emulating TextMate's project-scoped file-finding facility in his own way; if his function suits your needs, read no further.
Ok, so here's how to set up RINARI's find-file-in-project.el:
Obtain find-file-in-project.el and project-local-variables.el from the RINARI distribution and put someplace where Emacs can find them (which means in one of the directories in the load-path variable; you can use (add-to-list 'load-path "/path/to/some/directory") to add new directories to it).
Add (require 'find-file-in-project) to your .emacs file. Also add the following to have the C-x C-M-f sequence bring up the find-file-in-project prompt: (global-set-key (kbd "C-x C-M-f") 'find-file-in-project).
Create a file called .emacs-project in your projects root directory. At a minimum it should contain something like this: (setl ffip-regexp ".*\\.\\(clj\\|py\\)$"). This will make it so that only files whose names and in clj or py will be searched for; please adjust the regex to match your needs. (Note that this regular expression will be passed to the Unix find utility and should use find's preferred regular expression syntax. You still have to double every backslash in regexes as is usual in Emacs; whether you also have to put backslashes before parens / pipes (|) if you want to use their 'magic' regex meaning depends on your find's expectations. The example given above works for me on an Ubuntu box. Look up additional info on regexes in case of doubt.) (Note: this paragraph has been revised in the last edit to fix some confusion w.r.t. regular expression syntax.)
C-x C-M-f away.
There's a number of possible customisations; in particular, you can use (setl ffip-find-options "...") to pass additional options to the Unix find command, which is what find-file-in-project.el calls out to under the hood.
If things appear not to work, please check and double check your spelling -- I did something like (setl ffip-regex ...) once (note the lack of the final 'p' in the variable name) and were initially quite puzzled to discover that no files were being found.
Surprised nobody mentioned https://github.com/defunkt/textmate.el (now gotta make it work on Windows...)
eproject has eproject-grep, which does exactly what you want.
With the right project definition, it will only search project files; it will ignore version control, build artifacts, generated files, whatever. The only downside is that it requires a grep command on your system; this dependency will be eliminated soon.
You can get the effect you want by using GNU Global or IDUtils. They are not Emacs specific, but they has Emacs scripts that integrate that effect. (I don't know too much about them myself.)
You could also opt to use CEDET and the EDE project system. EDE is probably a bit heavy weight, but it has a way to just mark the top of a project. If you also keep GNU Global or IDUtils index files with your project, EDE can use it to find a file by name anywhere, or you can use `semantic-symref' to find references to symbols in your source files. CEDET is at http://cedet.sf.net
For pure, unadulterated speed, I highly recommend a combination of the command-line tool The Silver Searcher (a.k.a. 'ag') with ag.el. The ag-project interactive function will make an educated guess of your project root if you are using git, hg or svn and search the entire project.
FileCache may also be an option. However you would need to add your project directory manually with file-cache-add-directory-recursively.
See these links for info about how Icicles can help here:
find files anywhere, matching any parts of their name (including directory parts)
projects: create, organize, manage, search them
Icicles completion matching can be substring, regexp, fuzzy (various kinds), or combinations of these. You can also combine simple patterns, intersecting the matches or complementing (subtracting) a subset of them