Re: How to get rid of the tool bar

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

On Sat, 18 Jan 2003 06:33:19 +1300, Kai Großjohann wrote:

> Zaphod Beeblebrox <kagyukid@despam.yahoo.com> writes:
> 
>> It's only some because I've not spent the time wading into the plethora
>> of stuff Emacs is capable of.  I couldn't make use of the information
>> in the NEWS file (I don't even use the menus at the top).
> 
> What does the NEWS file have to do with the menus at the top?

That's where I eventually found the NEWS file.

> 
>> All those references to lisp code assume knowledge I don't have and
>> don't help if I don't know where to use them.
> 
> The NEWS file is divided into sections.  You can just skip the Lisp
> stuff.  Here is the part about the toolbar.  I found it by searching for
> "tool" in the NEWS file.
> 
> /----
> | ** Tool bar support.
> |
> | Emacs supports a tool bar at the top of a frame under X.  For details
> | of how to define a tool bar, see the page describing Lisp-level |
> changes.  Tool-bar global minor mode controls whether or not it is |
> displayed and is on by default.  The appearance of the bar is improved |
> if Emacs has been built with XPM image support.  Otherwise monochrome |
> icons will be used.
> |
> | To make the tool bar more useful, we need contributions of extra icons
> | for specific modes (with copyright assignments). \----
> 
> It says that "tool-bar global minor mode" allows you to turn it off.

So it does.  Evidently, my eyes glazed over when I saw that Lisp-level
stuff and moved further down to the item definition stuff.


> What's a minor mode?  I do C-h i d m Emacs RET to open the Emacs manual,
> then type i for an index search, then "minor mode" as the search string.
>  This gives me a couple of false positives, but just hitting comma (as
> instructed) finally brings me to the node "(emacs)Minor Modes" which has

THAT's what is meant by 'more'.  I didn't think of it as more matches
but rather more of the stuff we'd been looking at. .. DUH.


[ ... ]

> So, M-x auto-fill-mode RET turns on (or off) auto fill mode.  So what is
> the command for turning on (or off) tool-bar mode?

and by extension, what do I put in the .emacs file?  Quite clear now
how Christopher White's suggestion works.

> 
>> My .emacs file doesn't have any define-key statements, so I was
>> reluctant to tinker with structures I don't understand.
> 
> What does the tool-bar have to do with define-key statements?

Well, perhaps foolishly, I noticed this

*** Tool bar item definitions

Tool bar items are defined using `define-key' with a prefix-key
`tool-bar'.  For example `(define-key global-map [tool-bar item1] ITEM)'
where ITEM is a list `(menu-item CAPTION BINDING PROPS...)'.


So, I thought I'd have to work out how to use that to do what I wanted
to.  It's obvious now that the tool bar item is not the tool bar
itself so I was, yet again, barking up the wrong tree.


I greatly appreciate your taking the time to point me in a more
sensible direction.  Delving into Emacs to me is a bit like looking at
the wires at the back of the control panel in a large aircraft.
There's no way I'll come to grips with all the things going on.  Emacs
is only my means to using the software I use every day which itself
takes a large effort to keep up with to a usable extent.  There's also
the need to spend quite some time reconfiguring each time there's a
new version of Linux.  Lots of new ideas aren't backward compatible
with earlier versions that I'd got used to, so it doesn't leave much
time to get into the amazing things Emacs itself is capable of.


best

Z