I'm trying to implement user command aliases with a customizable prefix for my package. I wrote two nested macros to accomplish this. The trs-defalias-from-suffix macro returns the correct value as if an alias was created, but none exists when I search for it with M-x. However, when I manually execute the macroexpand output with C-x C-e, the code works. It creates an alias.
That shouldn't be possible, AFAIK. Also, there is probably a better way to accomplish my goal.
I would like to know how to make the macros work, and/or a better way to make the customizable-prefix aliases.
The goal is to take the original function
trs-refile
and make an alias with a different prefix, for example "foobar-"
foobar-refile
If this seems like a strange goal, it's because I want a short prefix, but need to change "trs-" to something longer to be accepted by MELPA.
#+begin_src elisp
(setq trs-alias-prefix "foobar") ; an example value, because I didn't include the defcustom code.
(defun trs-alias-oldname (suffix)
"Reconstruct original function name from SUFFIX."
(make-symbol (concat "trs-" suffix)))
(defun trs-alias-newname (suffix)
"Make new function name from SUFFIX."
(make-symbol (concat trs-alias-prefix "-" suffix)))
(defun trs-alias-name-list (suffix)
"Make a list of new and old function names from SUFFIX."
(list (trs-alias-newname suffix) (trs-alias-oldname suffix)))
(defmacro trs-defalias-from-names (newname oldname)
"Make a defalias with NEWNAME and OLDNAME."
`(defalias ',newname ',oldname))
(defmacro trs-defalias-from-suffix (suffix)
"Make a defalias from SUFFIX."
(let ((trs-alias-name-list (trs-alias-name-list suffix)))
`(trs-defalias-from-names ,(car trs-alias-name-list) ,(nth 1 trs-alias-name-list))))
(trs-defalias-from-suffix "refile")
(trs-defalias-from-suffix "refile-up")
(trs-defalias-from-suffix "delete-this-buffer-and-file")
(trs-defalias-from-suffix "store-link-fold-drawer")
(trs-defalias-from-suffix "dired-zinks")
(trs-defalias-from-suffix "duplicate-heading-to-other-window")
(trs-defalias-from-suffix "region-ends-n-newlines")
(macroexpand '(trs-defalias-from-suffix "refile")) ; this returns the same as below
(defalias (quote leo-refile) (quote trs-refile)) ; this works
#+end_src
These are similar questions, and might already contain the answer: How to give a list as arguments to a macro in elisp? elisp macro to write a function?
Before I dive deeper into learning macros, however, I'd appreciate knowing that I'm headed in the right direction.
