2 Using MMM Mode for Mason: An Overview
3 =====================================
5 Since many users of MMM Mode use it for Mason <www.masonhq.com>, and
6 since the Mason submode class is the most complex one supplied, a
7 few comments regarding its usage are in order. Even if you don't
8 use Mason, this file may be of interest to you as an example of MMM
9 usage and possible problems.
11 INSTALLATION AND LOADING
13 For general installation and information, see the README file and
14 the texinfo documentation. The submode class for Mason components
15 is called `mason' and is automatically loaded from `mmm-mason.el'
16 the first time it is used.
20 If you want to have mason submodes automatically in all Mason files,
21 you can use `mmm-mode-ext-classes-alist'; the details depend on what
22 you call your Mason components and what major mode you use. Some
23 example elements of `mmm-mode-ext-classes-alist' follow, with
24 comments on the corresponding naming scheme.
26 (html-mode "\\.html\\'" mason) ;; Any .html file in html-mode
27 (hm--html-mode nil mason) ;; Any buffer in hm--html-mode
28 (sgml-mode nil mason) ;; Any buffer in sgml-mode
29 (nil "\\.\\(mason\\|html\\)\\'" mason) ;; All .mason and .html files
30 (nil "\\.m[dc]\\'" mason) ;; All .md and .mc files
31 (nil "\\`/var/www/mason/" mason) ;; Any file in the directory
32 (nil nil mason) ;; All buffers.
34 In order for any of these to work, you must set `mmm-global-mode' to
35 a non-nil value, such as `t' or `maybe' (the two of which mean
36 different things; see the documentation). This can be done with a
37 line in .emacs such as the following:
39 (setq mmm-global-mode 'maybe)
41 If you use an extension for your Mason files that emacs does not
42 automatically place in your preferred HTML Mode (be it html-mode,
43 sgml-html-mode, hm--html-mode, or whatever), you will probably want
44 to associate that extension with your HTML Mode (this is a feature
45 of emacs, not MMM Mode). An example is shown below.
47 (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.mason\\'" . html-mode))
49 This also goes for "special" Mason files such as autohandlers and
50 dhandlers. The code below tells emacs to use html-mode for files
51 named `autohandler' and `dhandler'.
53 (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\(auto\\|d\\)handler\\'" . html-mode))
55 An alternate solution is to change the names of your autohandlers
56 and dhandlers so that emacs recognizes them as HTML automatically.
57 Similar code can be used to recognize all files in a given directory
62 There are certain problems with CPerl mode in submode regions. (Not
63 to say that the original perl-mode would do any better--it hasn't
64 been much tried.) First of all, the first line of a Perl section
65 is usually indented as if it were a continuation line. A fix for
66 this is to start with a semicolon on the first line. The insertion
67 key commands do this whenever the Mason syntax allows it.
73 In addition, some users have reported that the CPerl indentation
74 sometimes does not work. This problem has not yet been tracked
75 down, however, and more data about when it happens would be helpful.
79 Some people have reported problems using PSGML with Mason. Adding
80 the following line to a .emacs file should suffice to turn PSGML off
81 and cause emacs to use a simpler HTML mode:
83 (autoload 'html-mode "sgml-mode" "HTML Mode" t)
85 Earlier versions of PSGML may require instead the following fix:
87 (delete '("\\.html$" . sgml-html-mode) auto-mode-alist)
88 (delete '("\\.shtml$" . sgml-html-mode) auto-mode-alist)
90 Other users report using PSGML with Mason and MMM Mode without
91 difficulty. If you don't have problems and want to use PSGML, you
92 may need to replace `html-mode' in the suggested code with
93 `sgml-html-mode'. (Depending on your version of PSGML, this may not
94 be necessary.) Similarly, if you are using XEmacs and want to use
95 the alternate HTML mode `hm--html-mode', replace `html-mode' with
98 One problem that crops up when using PSGML with Mason is that even
99 ignoring the special tags and Perl code (which, as I've said,
100 haven't caused me any problems), Mason components often are not a
101 complete SGML document. For instance, my autohandlers often say
107 in which case the actual components contain no doctype declaration,
108 <html>, <head>, or <body>, confusing PSGML. One solution I've found
109 is to use the variable `sgml-parent-document' in such incomplete
110 components; try, for example, these lines at the end of a component.
113 %# sgml-parent-document: ("autohandler" "body" nil ("body"))
114 %# sgml-doctype: "/top/level/autohandler"
117 This tells PSGML that the current file is a sub-document of the file
118 `autohandler' and is included inside a <body> tag, thus alleviating
119 its confusion, and also instructs it where to find the doctype
120 declaration (assuming your top-level autohandler has one). This
121 alleviates most problems for me. I admit to not understanding PSGML
122 internals very well, so YMMV.