diff --git a/MODES b/MODES new file mode 100644 index 0000000..01cc3ca --- /dev/null +++ b/MODES @@ -0,0 +1,26 @@ +This document is designed to be a quick (and incomplete) description of how +modes work, how you might create one yourself, etc. + +1. What are modes? + +Pmacs uses modes to determine what actions can be applied to a buffer, which +keys should apply which actions, how the buffer should be highlighted, how the +buffer should be indented, and any other per-buffer configuration. The default +mode ("Fundamental") provides the base functionality which all other modes +inherit. + +All modes are loaded and installed in application.py. It would be nice if there +was a configuration file where you could add your own modes, but there isn't. +Loading a module involves the following: + + # mandatory; modename should be lowercase + self.modes[modename] = package.ModeClass + + # specify full paths which should use this mode + self.mode_paths['/some/full/path'] = 'modename' + # specify filenames (i.e. .bashrc) which should use this mode + self.mode_basenames['filename'] = 'modename' + # specify file extensions (i.e. .txt) which should use this mode + self.mode_extensions['.junk'] = 'modename' + # specify executable name in comment (i.e. bash from #!/usr/bin/bash) + self.mode_detection['junk'] = 'modename'