Re: [AUCTeX] Re: help write a function?

[Ralf Angeli]

* Leon (2006-07-23) writes:

> Ralf Angeli <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> * Leon (2006-07-22) writes:
>>
>>> I'd like to write a function say `LaTeX-help-at-point' that would use
>>> latex-doc-command, latex-doc-environment and latex-doc-package to
>>> generate help based on the context. i.e:
>>>
>>> if it's \usepackage{XXX} call latex-doc-package; if \XXX, call
>>> latex-doc-command; if \begin{XXX}, call latex-doc-environment.
>>
>> Like `C-c ?' (aka `TeX-doc') in AUCTeX?
>
> Very slow.

On a kpathsea-based TeX system?  With the teTeX system I have here it
is quite fast.  And it's searching for files only the first time you
call it in an Emacs session.

> It opens external help files. And ... 

That's where most of the package documentation is stored.  For
standard LaTeX and Texinfo commands it also uses info-based
documentation if available.

>> In which way is this better than `TeX-doc'?  I'd rather like to
>> improve this than some external package.
>
> Not very convenient when you just want to look at the syntax of the
> command. Latex-doc opens a buffer in emacs for a short description of
> the command.

No wonder, latex-doc uses its own set of descriptions extracted from
Ktexmaker2's LaTeX reference (at least that's what the source says).
It would be nice if AUCTeX had something like this as well.  I don't
know how the descriptions were generated, but it would certainly help
if there were a freely usable and machine-readable database of LaTeX
commands.  Perhaps we will get something like this when LaTeX
(package) authors will be using a standardized way of documenting
macros and environments the description of which can then be extracted
and put into such a database automatically ...

-- 
Ralf