help.txt how-it-works.txt                                             salza.dk


                            How it works


This article describes how the editor works. How the internal mechanics work. 

The outline of the article will follow the internal flow from key press to
characters written on the display. 

The flow is:

      Keypress  ->  Handle input  ->  Execute action  ->  Paint buffer

==============================================================================
Keypress

In the editor, there is a function liq.editor/handle-input which takes a  
keypress as a string, like "a", "A" or "C-a" and "C-M-a" and modifies the  
editor data accordingly. This function works as a standardized interface for  
different kind of input mechanisms. The function is given as input for the 
input handlers, like liq.tty-input and liq.jframe-io. These input handlers 
read keypresses, transforms them and sends the result to the editor.

The reason the handle-input function is given as input to the input handler, 
is to completely separate input handling and the editor. Both ends can then be
tested independently!

In the tty-input case the main function liq.core/-main calls
liq.tty-input/input-handler with liq.editor/handle-input as argument.
The liq.tty-input/input-handler starts a loop, waiting for inputs. Each input
is transformed to the "a", "C-a" like format and send to
liq.editor/handle-input.

==============================================================================
Handle input

Through the liq.editor/handle-input function the editor receives the  
keypresses as strings in shapes like "a", "A", "C-a" etc. 

The main purpose of the handle-input function is to decide what action should
be executed. How the editor should be transformed.

The function checks different maps in order to check if one of the keys is 
matching the keypress. If so the corresponding value determines the action. 

The major-modes list on the current buffer contains some of these maps. 
Sometimes the value is a map itself. In that case the map is used as part of 
resolving the next keypress. This way keymaps can be nested to provide 
combinations like "c c p".

==============================================================================
Execute action

Many actions use the liq.editor/apply-to-buffer function. This function takes
another function that takes a buffer and returns a buffer. Many actions like
up, down, left, right etc. are defined by buffer -> buffer functions.

The buffer -> buffer functions are pure and easy to test.

==============================================================================
Paint buffers

Using the function liq.editor/set-output-handler an output handler can be set
for displaying buffers and providing information about the dimensions of the
output device.

The output handler is "injected" into the editor, again to separate concerns
and make testing easier.

When an action has been executed the liq.editor/paint-buffer calls the output
handler function with the current buffer as input.

See output-handler.txt for more details.