I doubt that this is going to win me any friends either in the Emacs community or the TeX one, but I have a hack that achieves this. The only caveat (for your situation) is that I don't use AucTeX so have no idea how it would work with that. When I edit a .tex, I load in the file below. This allows me to set some options depending on what output/engine I want to use.
There's a few bits of junk in there as well, but most of it is focussed on this issue. It works by rewriting the commands tex-file and tex-view-file so that they can be modified according to options set by choosing an output type (which is actually more refined than just the output type) for the file.
So I just do M-x set-tex-output-type xe and I get my file compiled using xelatex.
;(server-start) ;(load "xdvi-search.el") (setq latex-block-names '("theorem" "corollary" "proof" "lemma" "defn" "thm")) ;(setq tex-dvi-view-command ; (if (eq window-system 'x) "xdvi" nil)) ;(setq tex-dvi-print-command "dvips -Pmirkti *") (setq tex-alt-dvi-print-command "dvips * -ta4 -o") (defcustom tex-output-type "pdf" "*Default output type for TeX jobs." :type '(radio (const :tag "Postscript" "ps") (const :tag "Postscript (rv)" "psrv") (const :tag "PDF" "pdf") (const :tag "PDF (rv)" "pdfrv") (const :tag "Dvi" "dvi") (const :tag "Dvi (draft)" "dvid") (const :tag "XeLaTeX" "xe") (const :tab "LuaLaTeX" "lua") (const :tag "HTML" "html") (const :tag "XHTML" "xhtml") (const :tag "MathML" "xml") (const :tag "OpenOffice" "sxw") (const :tag "maruku" "maruku")) :group 'tex-run) (defcustom tex-ext-alist '(("ps" . "ps") ("psrv" . "ps") ("pdf" . "pdf") ("pdfrv" . "pdf") ("dvi" . "dvi") ("dvid" . "dvi") ("xe" . "pdf") ("lua" . "pdf") ("html" . "html") ("xhtml" . "xhtml") ("xml" . "xml") ("sxw" . "sxw") ("maruku" . "xhtml")) "*alist of eventual file extensions") (defcustom tex-command-alist '(("pdf" . "pdflatex") ("pdfrv" . "pdflatex") ("ps" . "latex") ("psrv" . "latex") ("dvi" . "latex") ("dvid" . "latex") ("xe" . "xelatex") ("lua" . "lualatex") ("html" . "mk4ht") ("xhtml" . "mk4ht") ("xml" . "mk4ht") ("sxw" . "mk4ht") ("maruku" . "maruku") ) "*alist for processing file into various types of output") (defcustom tex-start-options-alist '(("pdf" . "\\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("pdfrv" . "\\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("ps" . "\\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("psrv" . "\\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("dvi" . "\\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("dvid" . "-src-specials \\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("xe" . "\\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("lua" . "\\\\nonstopmode\\\\input") ("html" . "htlatex") ("xhtml" . "xhlatex") ("xml" . "mzlatex") ("sxw" . "oolatex") ("maruku" . "-m itex2mml") ) "*alist for options that preceed the filename") (defcustom tex-end-options-alist '(("pdf" . "") ("pdfrv" . "") ("ps" . "") ("psrv" . "") ("dvi" . "") ("dvid" . "") ("xe" . "") ("lua" . "") ("html" . "\"html,3,frames\"") ("xhtml" . "\"html,3,frames\"") ("xml" . "\"html,3,frames\"") ("sxw" . "\"html,3,frames\"") ("maruku" . "") ) "*alist for options that postceed the filename") (defcustom tex-post-command-alist '(("pdf" . "") ("pdfrv" . "") ("ps" . "dvips * -ta4 -o 2> /dev/null") ("psrv" . "dvips * -ta4 -o 2> /dev/null") ("dvi" . "") ("dvid" . "") ("xe" . "") ("lua" . "") ("html" . "") ("xhtml" . "") ("xml" . "") ("sxw" . "") ("maruku" . "") ) "*alist for post-processing commands") (defcustom tex-mid-ext-alist '(("ps" . "dvi") ("psrv" . "dvi") ("pdf" . "") ("pdfrv" . "") ("dvi" . "") ("dvid" . "") ("xe" . "") ("lua" . "") ("html" . "") ("xhtml" . "") ("xml" . "") ("sxw" . "") ("maruku" . "") ) "*alist of mid-point file extensions if we do a two-stage process") (defcustom tex-view-commands-alist ; (cond ; ((eq window-system 'x) '(("pdf" . "xpdf") ("pdfrv" . "xpdf") ("ps" . "gv -ad=~/.gv_spartan_right.dat") ("psrv" . "gv -ad=~/.gv_spartan_right_rv.dat") ("dvi" . "xdvi") ("dvid" . "xdvi") ("xe" . "xpdf") ("lua" . "xpdf") ("html" . "firefox") ("xhtml". "firefox") ("xml". "firefox") ("sxw". "ooffice2") ("maruku" . "firefox") ) ; (t ; '(("pdf" . "pdftotext * | cat -s") ; ("ps" . "ps2ascii * | cat -s") ; ("dvi" . "dvips * | ps2ascii | cat -s") ; ("html". "lynx") ; ("xhtml". "lynx") ; ("xml". "lynx") ; ("sxw". "false")) ; ))) "*alist for viewing the various types of output") ;(defcustom tex-dvi-to-ps-command ; "dvips * -ta4 -o 2> /dev/null" ; "*Command for conversion from dvi to ps." ; :type 'string ; :group 'tex-run) (defun tex-font-lock-type-alist '(("pdf" . "") ("pdfrv" . "") ("ps" . "") ("psrv" . "") ("dvi" . "") ("dvid" . "") ("xe" . "") ("lua" . "") ("html" . "") ("xhtml" . "") ("xml" . "") ("sxw" . "") ("maruku" . "markdown-mode-font-lock-keywords") ) "*alist for modifying font-lock defaults") (modify-syntax-entry ?\\ "." tex-mode-syntax-table) (defun set-tex-main-file () "Set 'tex-main-file' to something appropriate from the current buffer." (interactive) (make-variable-buffer-local 'tex-main-file) (setq tex-main-file (expand-file-name (car (find-file-read-args "(La)TeX main file name for buffer: " nil)))) ) (defun set-tex-output-type () "Set the 'tex-output-type'." (interactive) (setq newtype (completing-read "TeX Output Type: " tex-ext-alist nil t) ) (if (not (equal newtype "")) (setq tex-output-type newtype) ) ) (defun template () "Insert template.tex at the appropriate place." (interactive) (insert-file-contents "~/tex/papers/useful/template.tex") ) (defun end-document () "Insert end-of-document commands at the point." (interactive) (insert "\\bibliography{arxiv,articles,books,misc}\n\n\\end{document}\n\n") ) (defun find-end-document () "Skips to the end of the current document." (interactive) ; (goto-char (point-min)) (search-forward "\\end{document}") ) (defun my-tex-file () "Modify \\[tex-file] to take into account the desired output type." (interactive) (let ((tex-command (concat (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-command-alist)) " " (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-start-options-alist)) " \* " (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-end-options-alist))))) (tex-file) ) (if (< 0 (length (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-post-command-alist)))) (let ((tex-mid-file (tex-append tex-print-file (concat "." (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-mid-ext-alist)))))) (if (not (file-exists-p tex-mid-file)) (error "No appropriate file could be found") (tex-send-command (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-post-command-alist)) tex-mid-file) ) ) ) ) (defun my-tex-view () "Modify \\[tex-view] to take into account the desired output type." (interactive) (let* ((tex-suffix (concat "." (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-ext-alist)))) (tex-view-command (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-view-commands-alist))) (view-file-name (tex-append tex-print-file tex-suffix)) test-name) (if (and (not (equal (current-buffer) tex-last-buffer-texed)) (buffer-file-name) ;; Check that this buffer's printed file is up to date. (file-newer-than-file-p (setq test-name (tex-append (buffer-file-name) (concat "." (cdr (assoc tex-output-type tex-ext-alist))))) (buffer-file-name))) (setq view-file-name test-name)) (if (not (file-exists-p view-file-name)) (error "No appropriate file could be found to view.") (if (tex-shell-running) (tex-kill-job) (tex-start-shell)) (tex-send-command tex-view-command view-file-name t)))) (define-key tex-mode-map "\C-c\C-n" 'find-end-document) (define-key tex-mode-map "\C-c\C-d" 'end-document) (define-key tex-mode-map [remap tex-file] 'my-tex-file) (define-key tex-mode-map [remap tex-view] 'my-tex-view) (define-key tex-shell-map [remap tex-file] 'my-tex-file) (define-key tex-shell-map [remap tex-view] 'my-tex-view) (defadvice server-visit-files (around save-buffers last activate) "Try to emulate gnuclient behaviour with emacsclient. Works only for visiting one buffer at a time." (let* ((filen (car (car (ad-get-arg 0)))) (buf (get-file-buffer filen)) (this-buf-modified-p nil)) ;;; the following is copied from server-visit-files, with ;;; a modification for the `verify-visited-file-modtime' test (if (and buf (set-buffer buf)) (if (file-exists-p filen) ;;; if the file has changed on disk, reload it ;;; using `find-file-noselect' (if (not (verify-visited-file-modtime buf)) (progn (find-file-noselect filen) ;;; if user answered `no', reset modtime anyway ;;; so that server-visit-files doesn't realize ;;; the difference: (set-visited-file-modtime))) ;;; if file exists no longer, we let server-visit-files ;;; deal with that t) (setq buf (find-file-noselect filen))) (setq this-buf-modified-p (buffer-modified-p buf)) (set-buffer buf) (set-buffer-modified-p nil) ad-do-it (set-buffer-modified-p this-buf-modified-p))) (require 'markdown-mode) (defun markdown-font-locks () "Set the font lock to that of markdown mode." (interactive) (set (make-local-variable 'font-lock-defaults) '(markdown-mode-font-lock-keywords)) (set (make-local-variable 'font-lock-multiline) t) (setq font-lock-mode-major-mode nil) (font-lock-fontify-buffer) )
