0

I want to advise org-edit-special so that a function runs before Emacs enters org-src-mode. I am not particularly tied to org-edit-special. If there is a hook like org-src-mode-hook (but that triggers before org-src-mode runs, that would be perfect.

So I have the following code:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (defun my-function () (message "bingo!")) (add-function :before (org-edit-special) #'(lambda () (my-function))) #+END_SRC

When I C-c C-c this block, I get user-error: No special environment to edit here. Can you see the mistake?

Improve this question
3
  • Please say what you mean by "to work". What do you expect, and what do you see instead? Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 17:52
  • Drew thanks. I have added more to my post. Please let me know if you have additional questions. Best -Adam Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 18:25
  • 1
    (org-edit-special) is the result of calling the function org-edit-special - that's probably not what you want. Also, you should probably use advice-add (see the manual), not add-function. Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 20:26

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
1

You port the defadvice approach from your own answer to nadvice.el like so:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (define-advice org-edit-special (:before (&optional arg) my-big-advice) (message "bingo!")) #+END_SRC

define-advice is largely analogous to the older defadvice.

Improve this answer
11
  • Thanks @phils - I find this topic extremely confusing, in particular because there appears to be no consensus in the documentation on how to get this done. Can you speak to the advantages/disadvantages of each approach? What is the benefit of using nadvice.el versus the one I outlined above? And how about the approach that NickD mentioned, using advice-add? Also, in your code, if the optional args are not needed, do you still include the parentheses? I.e., (define-advice org-edit-special (:before () my-big-advice) (message “bingo!”)) Commented Apr 27, 2020 at 8:05
  • I'll just add that as nil and () are the same thing in elisp, you could indeed use (). Commented Apr 27, 2020 at 11:22
  • Using nadvice.el tends to be strongly recommended nowadays. Instances of old advice in Emacs core and in ELPA tend to get re-written. It's probably best to get familiar with nadvice. Using the define-advice macro is the easiest way to port old advice for the most part, and personally I think it's the most readable of the options provided by the nadvice library (certainly if you're familiar with the old advice library); so if it suits your purpose then I would suggest using it. Entirely up to you, though. Commented Apr 27, 2020 at 11:35
  • @phils I just tested this out (define-advice org-edit-special (:before () my-big-advice) (message "bingo!")). After evaluating, with point on an R src block, I ran org-edit-special and received the following error: Wrong number of arguments: (lambda nil (message "bingo!")), 1. Any ideas? Commented Apr 27, 2020 at 20:59
  • @Adam I just meant that if it was valid to use nil then, in those cases, you could alternatively use () because the two things are the same. My impression is that nadvice requires you to state the argument list, because it uses it -- so if it's not empty then you can't say that it is without breaking calls to the function. In the case of org-edit-special, per the code in the answer, the appropriate value is (&optional arg). Commented Apr 27, 2020 at 22:10
0

I figured it out. Here is the correct form:

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp (defun my-function () (message "bingo!")) (defadvice org-edit-special (before my-big-advice activate) (my-function)) #+END_SRC

And here is a good tutorial on advising functions for anyone else who runs into this.

Looking at our revised code from left-to-right: defadvice is self-explanatory. org-edit-special is the function we are advising. before means we want our advice to happen first. my-big-advice is the name of our advice (we could have called this foo-bar if we wanted). And activate tells Emacs to make this work now.

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    defadvice is the old way of advising functions and although AFAIK not deprecated (yet?), it's probably a good idea to use the new mechanisms in new code. See the manual. Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 22:54
  • @NickD This works for me without issue on Emacs 26.3. But if you would like to propose your own revised and updated code, please feel free. Commented Apr 26, 2020 at 23:57

Start asking to get answers

Find the answer to your question by asking.

Ask question

Explore related questions

See similar questions with these tags.