Re: Nicer confirmation prompt for package.el

[Kaushal Modi]

On Sat, Mar 18, 2017, 8:52 AM Lele Gaifax <address@hidden> wrote:

Hi all,

when a transaction involves different operations, current
`package-menu--prompt-transaction-p' shows prompts like

  Delete package ‘x’; and Upgrade these 2 packages (y, z)?

or

  Delete package ‘x’; Install package ‘y’; and Upgrade these 2 packages (w, z)?

that IMHO are a bit inelegant.

I actually like the current message, as the actions Delete, Install and Upgrade are capitalized. The user's attention is drawn to the fact that those 3 different actions are going to happen.  The semi-colons are used so that those actions can be capitalized, I think. 

I hacked it to the following definition

  (defun package-menu--prompt-transaction-p (delete install upgrade)
    "Prompt the user about DELETE, INSTALL, and UPGRADE.
  DELETE, INSTALL, and UPGRADE are lists of `package-desc' objects.
  Either may be nil, but not all."
    (y-or-n-p
     (concat
      (when delete "Delete ")
      (package-menu--list-to-prompt delete)
      (if (and delete install)
          (if upgrade ", install " " and install ")
        (when install "Install "))
      (package-menu--list-to-prompt install)
      (if (and upgrade (or install delete))
          " and upgrade "
        (when upgrade "Upgrade "))
      (package-menu--list-to-prompt upgrade)
      "? ")))

that shows instead

  Delete package ‘x’ and upgrade these 2 packages (y, z)?

or

  Delete package ‘x’, install package ‘y’ and upgrade these 2 packages (w, z)?

What do you think?

This is another option where the actions are not capitalized, and so you can replace the semi-colons with commas. But I really miss the Oxford Commas here; below I have added those before the "and":

    Delete package ‘x’, and upgrade these 2 packages (y, z)?

    Delete package ‘x’, install package ‘y’, and upgrade these 2 packages (w, z)?

So my order of preference:

1. Current (no change) - Focus on the actions that are going to happen by capitalizing them. 

2.  Use of Oxford commas

--

Kaushal Modi