Overview

Alternatives to Emacs message.

• Quickstart
• Explanation
• function express
• function express*
• message alternatives
• macros
• Notes
• Bugs
• Compatibility and Requirements

Quickstart

(require 'express)
(express-install-aliases)
 
(express "important message")
 
(with-message-logonly
  (do-something-noisy))

Explanation

express.el provides alternatives to Emacs' built-in message function.

This library is generally only useful when programming in Emacs Lisp. However, some end-users may find it useful to control messaging, especially for the case of quietening chatty libraries in their ~/.emacs files (see message alternatives below).

The principal express function by default works differently from message in almost every respect.

The arguments to the familiar message function are a format string followed by any number of arguments which may be substituted into the format string. This flexible syntax obviates any arguments to control the behavior of message.

express, by contrast, takes as its first argument a preformatted value to display. Subsequent arguments control its behavior.

function express

The full argument spec for the express function is:

CONTENT &optional QUIET SECONDS NOCOLOR LOG NOTIFY POPUP

The docstring is included here:

Transiently and noticeably display CONTENT in the echo area.

CONTENT should be a pre-formatted if it is a string.

CONTENT will be coerced to a string if it is not a string.

Optional QUIET suppresses the bell, which is on by default.

Optional SECONDS determines the number of seconds CONTENT will be displayed before reverting to the previous content of the echo area. Default is express-message-seconds. If SECONDS is 0, or non-numeric, the message is not timed out, and remains visible until the next write to the echo area.

Optional NOCOLOR suppresses coloring the message with face held in the variable express-face.

Optional LOG enables logging of CONTENT for any non-nil value. If LOG is 'log-only, then CONTENT goes only to the *Messages* buffer and all other options are ignored.

Optional NOTIFY enables sending the message via the notifications system of the underlying OS. The default is nil. If NOTIFY is 'replace-echo, then the notification will be used instead of the echo area. For any other non-nil value, the notification will be used in addition to the echo area.

Optional POPUP enables sending the message via popup-tip from popup.el. The default is nil. If POPUP is 'replace-echo, then the popup will be used instead of the echo area. For any other non-nil value, the popup will be used in addition to the echo area.

The behavior of express is very different from message:

• String CONTENT must already be passed through format.

• Non-strings are accepted for CONTENT.

• The content is displayed with added color.

• The bell is rung.

• CONTENT is not written to the messages buffer (log).

• After display, the previous contents of the echo area are restored.

The following forms using message and express are equivalent:

(message "hello, %s" name)
 
(express (format "hello, %s" name) 'quiet 0 'nocolor 'log)

function express*

The variant function express* has identical functionality to express but takes CL-style arguments:

(express* "hello" :quiet 0)

message alternatives

The following functions provided by this library are drop-in alternatives to message which may be useful in an flet construct:

express-message-nolog
express-message-logonly
express-message-highlight
express-message-insert
express-message-notify
express-message-popup
express-message-temp
express-message-string

macros

The following macros modify the behavior of message within the enclosing expression:

express-with-message-nolog
express-with-message-logonly
express-with-message-highlight
express-with-message-insert
express-with-message-notify
express-with-message-popup
express-with-message-temp
express-with-message-string

For example, the following code would redirect messages from a very chatty library to the log:

(express-with-message-nolog
  (require 'very-chatty-library))

The same method may also be handy with defadvice:

(defadvice very-chatty-function (around very-chatty-redirect activate)
  (express-with-message-nolog
    ad-do-it))

Similarly, important messages may be redirected to a more visible form:

(defadvice an-important-function (around an-important-function activate)
  (express-with-message-notify
    ad-do-it))

Notes

Running express-install-aliases or setting the corresponding variable in customize will install convenience aliases outside the express- namespace. This is disabled by default.

The function express-message-noformat is also available, but it is not quite a drop-in replacement for message.

Some of the functions require the availability of notify.el, todochiku.el, or popup.el. In all cases, the function will degrade to an ordinary message if the external library is not present.

Bugs

message is a subr. Macros such as express-with-message-logonly will only affect calls to message from Lisp.

Compatibility and Requirements

GNU Emacs version 24.4           : yes, at the time of writing
GNU Emacs version 24.3           : yes
GNU Emacs version 23.3           : yes
GNU Emacs version 22.2           : yes, with some limitations
GNU Emacs version 21.x and lower : unknown

Uses if present: notify.el, popup.el, string-utils.el, todochiku.el