Re: Point and Click does not work on Windows

[David Kastrup]

ArnoldTheresius <address@hidden> writes:

> Eluze wrote
>> 
>>> - Which one needs to be started into the background (like lilypad)?
>> what do you mean exactly? (I can start: lilypad "d:\data\ly\test\test.ly"
>> 
>> after finding a viable way textedit and it's prerequisites should be
>> documented clearer (in AU).
>> 
>
> *Well, let's to back to the roots.*
>
> There is the *problem* "after installation of Lilypond point-and-click does
> not work out of the box". (without installation of an 'integrated
> development environment', e.g. frescobaldi)
> I categorize this as 'bug'.
> I *located* the problems to the windows installer and the file
> lilypond-invoke-editor in the bin directory of the windows installation.
> Suggested *solution* is: changes in the installation script and in
> lilypond-invoke-editor

[...]

> Next *Problem*: "each time I click in the pdf a new tab is opened in my
> browser!" (Eluze, 2012-04-11, bugs/point and click implementation)
> Also testable: the commandline execution listed above does not return until
> lilypad is closed.
> I categorize this as 'usability or bug'.
> Related *Problem*: support additional editors (on windows)
> I categorize this as 'enhancement'.
> I *located*: in file scm/editor.scm is an assiciation list
> 'editor-command-template-alist'.
> Suggested *solution* is:

[...]

Welcome to LilyPond.  The classic mystery story revolves around the
question "Who dunnit?".  In contrast, our mystery stories tend to
revolve around the question "Who's gonna do it?".  Or even more of a
mystery, "How did anything ever get done?".

> *TODO:*
> Who has emacs, uedit32, gedit, jedit, syn, context, notepad++ and/or pspad
> installed on his windows computer?
>   Then correct the script lilypond-invoke-editor (see my mail form
> 2012-04-16), and make the command line check.
>   Does it open the editor, and will the command prompt be back immediately
> or only after closing the editor window.

This sort of task has two basic approaches:

a) do everything yourself

b) do whatever you feel is enough, then wait for users to complain about
   the rest

Approach b) has the slight disadvantage that "users" tend to take the
status quo for granted, will design the craziest of workarounds and
workflows, and tell everybody _else_ about them rather than reporting
back, giving you ulcers whenever you happen to chance upon such wisdom
when least expecting it.

Given the thoroughness you invested into thinking about this issue so
far, it's a safe bet that the least aggravating way to proceed is to
take care of it yourself as far as possible.  With regard to the
LilyPond installer, it may well be that you are leaving the core of your
expertise, so it might make sense to ask around for support with that.
But even though we manage to produce working binaries, a lot is due to
procedures once established and still working that are exercised not by
their original authors.

So it's important to distinguish between the kind of support for your
work that you'd like to see, and the kind of support that will make or
break what you are trying to accomplish.

> Are there other important methods known how to select the default
> editor in windows, and who they store this information (in the windows
> registry)?
>
> Who will (and can off course) initiate the modification to the
> installer and the lilypond-invoke-editor script?

The latter question seems of the make-or-break variety, indeed.

> *And finally:*
> I'll have a closer look to the documentation when the modifications for
> scm/editor.scm will be more clear.
> The global default (for all operating systems) seems to be:
> - Lilypond tries to evalute which editor you want to use - but the success
> will ever be limited, therfore

lilypond-invoke-editor, more likely, tries to evaluate this.

> - you can define the environment variable LYEDITOR to select the editor to
> use.
> - Set LYEDITOR to the short name of one of the predefined invoke editor
> syntax (e.g. emacs, gvim, lilypad - effectively listed in file
> scm/editor.scm) if this editor can be found by command line usage, i.e. its
> path is included in the search path.
> - Otherwise set LYEDITOR to qualify the full path name AND all additional
> options for the textedit launch.

That seems about right.

-- 
David Kastrup