Subject: Re: bug#36826: 26.1; request: add variable value editing feature to the *Help* buffer

From: "Basil L. Contovounesios" <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 29 Jul 2019 05:00:07 +0100

Lars Ingebrigtsen <[email-masked]> writes:

> ndame <[email-masked]> writes:
>
>> Bind the currently unused key 'e' to edit the variable's value, maybe
>> in a separate popup buffer if the value is complex. E.g. the user
>> presses e, the value pops up rendered in editable lisp format, the
>> user edits it in place, presses C-c C-c and the variable is set to the
>> new value.
>
> I think this sounds useful.  I'm often rooting around not quite sure
> what variable I'm looking for in the help buffers, and trying different
> values, and having a command to make this faster would be nice.  There's
> `customize-variable', but I...  just don't like it.  (And besides, not
> all variables are customisable...)

There's also M-x set-variable, which inserts the current value of the
variable when you type M-n.  Perhaps all that's needed is for
set-variable to also detect the variable described in the current *Help*
buffer, and offer it as one of the default variables to set, following
the value of variable-at-point (which is the current default).

-- 
Basil