[Openmcl-devel] support for International keyboards

[Andrew Shalit]

Does anyone remember what MCL did?  I recall that we did have a  
solution, but I don't recall what it was.

Escape currently works as a preface key to indicate meta, right?  It  
did just now when I tried it, so I'll assume it works consistently.   
How about if we just add a switch that controls the meaning of the  
option key.  We ship with the current mapping (option = meta), but we  
allow people to turn that off, so the option key returns to its normal  
Macintosh purpose, leaving escape as the way to indicate meta.



On Apr 6, 2009, at 11:00 PM, Jeremy Jones wrote:

> The Clozure CL IDE doesn't work well with international keyboards
> (e.g. http://trac.clozure.com/openmcl/ticket/182).  We believe that
> most of these problems are caused by the way CCL processes the option
> key.  Currently, the option key is used as the meta modifier for
> editor commands.  Making the option key work like it does in most Mac
> applications should fix most of these problems with international
> keyboards.  The question then becomes, how should we indicate meta for
> editor commands?  Below are some various options for dealing with
> this.  Let us know which you would prefer:
>
> 1.  Keep the option key as meta except when it conflicts with commonly
> used keystrokes for each locale.
>
> This would require getting a list of common option key sequences
> necessary for each locale.  It also means that the subsumed editor
> commands will have different, or no keystroke equivalents.
>
> 2.  Never use the option key for anything but it's intended use on  
> the Mac.
>
> This has the advantage of implementation simplicity.  However, in this
> case how should meta be indicated?
>
> 2a.  Meta is indicated by typing escape first.
>
> This is simple, and is the default for some types of Emacs.
>
> 2b.  Meta is indicated by the command key.
>
> This raises the question of what to do with conflicting menu-key  
> equivalents.
>
> 2b1.  Make none of the menus have command key equivalents.
>
> 2b2.  Give the user the choice of what the various command/key
> combinations do.  Some could be menu equivalents, and some could be
> bound to editor commands.
>
> This is flexible, but it might be confusing and difficult to manage.
>
>
> 2a is the simplest, complete solution.  2b1 is also simple and
> complete.  We could certainly make user preferences for some of these
> options.  Are there any other ideas?  Which choices would people
> prefer?
>
> Thanks,
>
> Jeremy
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