Emacs: comfortable macro recording
A couple of weeks ago I discovered elmacro mode, which is exactly what I was searching for: it turns unreadable recorded emacs macros into editable emacs lisp code. I LOVE it.
However, both the default emacs macro interface as well as the elmacro interface were not comfortable enough to me. So, I came up with this rather long solution for my macro management:
If I want to record a macro, I press F6. Then I do whatever I'd like to record and when I'm done, I press F6 again. That's it. The code below takes care of all the horrible details: while recording a macro a red indicator will be shown in my mode line. The macro will be saved to disk. Another function with the same name with -repeat appended will be saved as well. Both will be evaluated so that I can use them immediately. The -repeat version allows me to run the macro repeatedly with an interactive menu. When I press a it will be repeated til EOF, when I press ENTER it will be executed once (which can be repeated, hence the name), when I press e I can enter another macro name (with completion) and when I press q the menu will be quit. The same function will be called when I press CTRL-F6, it will present the mentioned menu, so that I can also just execute the last recorded macro.
;; always enable emacro mode
(require 'elmacro) (elmacro-mode);; var must be global so it can be shared across functions
(setq my-macro-name “last-macro”);; ignore some certain events
(add-to-list ’elmacro-unwanted-commands-regexps "^(mouse.*)$") (add-to-list ’elmacro-unwanted-commands-regexps "^(my-start-or-stop-macro)$");; called when saving a macro
(defun my-get-macro-name() “Ask for a macro name, check for duplicates. If the given name is already
defined, ask again (and again until unique). If a buffer with the given name
exists, kill it (that is, the buffer is there but has not been saved or evaluated
yet). Return the name as string." (interactive) (let ((done nil) (name nil) (mbuf nil) (err ”")) (while (not done) (setq name (read-string (format "%s - enter macro name (last-macro): “ err) nil nil “last-macro”)) (if (fboundp (intern name)) (setq err (format “macro ‘%s is already defined” name)) (setq mbuf (format ”* elmacro - %s *" name)) (if (get-buffer mbuf) (with-current-buffer mbuf (kill-buffer mbuf))) (setq done t))) name));; interactive macro prompt with completion
(defun my-get-exec-macro-name() “Ask for a macro name to be executed” (interactive) (let ((macros ()) (N 1) (S nil) (T "")) (dolist (entry (cdr (assoc my-macro-file load-history ))) (setq S (cdr entry)) (setq T (symbol-name S)) (push (list T N) macros) (setq N (1+ N))) (completing-read “enter macro name: “ macros nil t nil)));; the heart of my elmacro stuff: starts macro recording or
;; stops it if emacs is already recording. This way I can
;; use 1 keybinding for start+stop
(defun my-start-or-stop-macro() “start macro or stop if started” (interactive) (if (eq defining-kbd-macro nil) (progn (elmacro-clear-command-history) (start-kbd-macro nil) (message “Recording macro. Finish with <shift-F6> …")) (progn (call-interactively ’end-kbd-macro) (setq my-macro-name (my-get-macro-name)) (elmacro-show-last-macro my-macro-name) (message “Recording done. Execute with <C-F6>, save or <C-x C-e> buffer…"))));; better than the default function
(defun my-exec-last-macro(&optional ARG) “execute last macro (or ARG, if given) repeatedly after every <ret>, abort with
C-g or q, and repeat until EOF after pressing a. If macro defun is known
(i.e. because you evaluated the elmacro buffer containing the generated
defun), it will be executed. Otherwise the last kbd-macro will be executed." (interactive) (let ((melm-count 0) (melm-all nil) (melm-abort nil) (melm-beg (eobp)) (melm-code (or ARG my-macro-name)))
(if (eobp)
(if (yes-or-no-p "(point) is at end of buffer. Jump to top?") (goto-char (point-min)))) (while (and (not melm-abort) (not (eobp))) (when (not melm-all) (message (concat (format “Executing last macro ‘%s (%d). Keys:\n” melm-code melm-count) "<enter> repeat once\n” “a repeat until EOF\n” “e enter macro name to execute\n” "<C-g> or q abort ..\n “)) (setq K (read-event)) (cond ((or (eq K ‘return) (eq K ‘C-f6)) t) ((equal (char-to-string K) “q”) (setq melm-abort t)) ((equal (char-to-string K) “a”) (message “Repeating until EOF”)(setq melm-all t)) ((equal (char-to-string K) “e”) (setq my-macro-name (my-get-exec-macro-name))) (t (setq melm-abort t)))) (if (not melm-abort) (progn (if (fboundp (intern melm-code)) (call-interactively (intern melm-code)) (call-interactively ‘call-last-kbd-macro)) (setq melm-count (1+ melm-count))))) (if (and (eq melm-count 0) (eq (point) (point-max))) (message "(point) is at end of buffer, aborted”) (message (format “executed ‘%s %d times” melm-code melm-count)))));; I use my own macro file, my-lisp is defined somewhere else
(setq my-macro-file (concat my-lisp "/macros.el”));; load if it exists
(if (file-exists-p my-macro-file) (load-file my-macro-file));; store the macro defun generated by elmacro-mode to disk
(defun my-macro-store() “store current macro to emacs config” (interactive) (copy-region-as-kill (point-min) (point-max)) (if (not (get-buffer “macros.el”)) (find-file my-macro-file)) (with-current-buffer “macros.el” (goto-char (point-max)) (newline) (insert ”;;") (newline) (insert (format ”;; elmacro added on %s” (current-time-string))) (newline) (yank) (newline) (save-buffer)) (switch-to-buffer nil) (delete-window));; add a repeating variant of the generated function,
;; evaluate and store both of them to disk
(defun my-macro-gen-repeater-and-save() “generate repeater and save the defun’s Runs when (point)
is at 0,0 of generated defun." (next-line) (goto-char (point-max)) (newline) (insert (format "(defun %s-repeat()\n” my-macro-name)) (insert " (interactive)\n") (insert (format " (my-exec-last-macro "%s"))\n" my-macro-name)) (newline) (eval-buffer) (my-macro-store));; so, always evaluate generated macro code, store it to disk and
;; close the temp buffer
(advice-add ’elmacro-show-defun :after ‘(lambda (&rest args) (my-macro-gen-repeater-and-save)));; workflow: shift-F6 … do things … shift-F6, enter a name, new
;; buffer with macro defun appears. C-x C-e evals it. C-F6 (repeatedly)
;; executes it.
(global-set-key (kbd "<f6>") ‘my-start-or-stop-macro) (global-set-key (kbd "<C-f6>") ‘my-exec-last-macro);; face used to indicate ongoing macro recording on the mode line
(defface rec-face ‘((t (:background “red” :foreground “white” :weight bold))) “Flag macro recording in mode-line” :group ‘my-mode-line-faces);; custom modeline including recording marker
(setq-default mode-line-format (list "%e" mode-line-front-space mode-line-mule-info mode-line-modified mode-line-remote " “ mode-line-buffer-identification ” “ mode-line-position ” (%m) “'(<span style="color: #8a2be2;">:eval</span> (propertize (<span style="color: #0000ff;">if</span> (eq defining-kbd-macro t) <span style="color: #ff0000;">"[REC]"</span>) 'face 'rec-face)) mode-line-end-spaces))</pre>