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

[David Kastrup]

Ralf Angeli <address@hidden> writes:

> * 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.

C-h S works for me.

> 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 ...

But package authors _are_ using a standardized way of documenting
macros and environments, the ltxdoc format.

-- 
David Kastrup, Kriemhildstr. 15, 44793 Bochum