When the user drops something from another application over Emacs,
Emacs will try to insert any text and open any URL that was dropped.
If text was dropped, then it will always be inserted at the location
-of the mouse pointer when the drop happened, or saved in the kill ring
-if insertion failed (which can happen if the buffer is read-only). If
-it was an URL, then Emacs tries to call an appropriate handler
-function by first matching the URL against regexps defined in
-@code{dnd-protocol-alist}, and then against @code{browse-url-handlers}
-and @code{browse-url-default-handlers}, and failing that, inserting
-the URL as plain text.
+of the mouse pointer where the drop happened, or saved in the kill
+ring if insertion failed, which could happen if the buffer was
+read-only. If a URL was dropped instead, then Emacs will first try to
+call an appropriate handler function by matching the URL against
+regexps defined in the variable @code{dnd-protocol-alist}, and then
+against those defined in the variables @code{browse-url-handlers} and
+@code{browse-url-default-handlers}. Should no suitable handler be
+located, Emacs will fall back to inserting the URL as plain text.
@defvar dnd-protocol-alist
This variable is a list of cons cells of the form
@w{@code{(@var{pattern} . @var{action})}}. @var{pattern} is a regexp
that URLs are matched against after being dropped. @var{action} is a
-function that is called with two arguments should a URL being dropped
+function that is called with two arguments, should a URL being dropped
match @var{pattern}: the URL being dropped, and the action being
-performed for the drop (one of the symbols @code{copy}, @code{move},
-@code{link}, @code{private} or @code{ask}).
+performed for the drop, which is one of the symbols @code{copy},
+@code{move}, @code{link}, @code{private} or @code{ask}.
+
+If @var{action} is @var{private}, then it means the program that
+initiated the drop wants Emacs to perform an unspecified action with
+the URL; a reasonable action to perform that case is to open the URL
+or copy its contents into the current buffer. Otherwise, @var{action}
+has the same meaning as the @var{action} argument to
+@code{dnd-begin-file-drag}.
@end defvar
@cindex drag and drop, X
@cindex drag and drop, other formats
- Emacs implements drag-and-drop for text and URLs individually for
-each window system, and does not by default support the dropping of
-anything else. Code that wishes to support the dropping of content
-types not supported by Emacs can utilize the X-specific interface
-described below:
+ Emacs implements receiving text and URLs individually for each
+window system, and does not by default support receiving other kinds
+of data as drops. To support receiving other kinds of data, use the
+X-specific interface described below:
@vindex x-dnd-test-function
@vindex x-dnd-known-types
- When a user drags something from another application over Emacs on
-the X Window System, that other application expects Emacs to tell it
-if Emacs can handle the data that was dragged. The variable
-@code{x-dnd-test-function} is used by Emacs to determine what to
-reply. The default value is @code{x-dnd-default-test-function} which
-accepts drops if the type of the data to be dropped is present in
-@code{x-dnd-known-types}. You can customize
-@code{x-dnd-test-function} and/or @code{x-dnd-known-types} if you want
-Emacs to accept or reject drops based on some other criteria.
+ When a user drags something from another application over Emacs
+under the X Window System, that other application expects Emacs to
+tell it if Emacs understands the data being dragged. The function in
+the variable @code{x-dnd-test-function} is called by Emacs to
+determine what to reply to any such inquiry. The default value is
+@code{x-dnd-default-test-function}, which accepts drops if the type of
+the data to be dropped is present in @code{x-dnd-known-types}.
+Changing the the variables @code{x-dnd-test-function} and
+@code{x-dnd-known-types} can make Emacs accept or reject drops based
+on some other criteria.
@vindex x-dnd-types-alist
- If you want to change the way Emacs handles drop of different types
-or add a new type, customize @code{x-dnd-types-alist}. This requires
-detailed knowledge of what types other applications use for drag and
-drop.
-
- Those data types are typically implemented as special data types an
-X selection provided by the other application can be converted to.
-They can either be the same data types that are typically accepted by
-@code{gui-set-selection}, or they can be MIME types, depending on the
-specific drag-n-drop protocol being used. Plain text may be
-@code{"STRING"} or @code{"text/plain"}, for example.
+ If you want to change the way Emacs receives drops of different data
+types, or enable it to understand a new type, change the variable
+@code{x-dnd-types-alist}. Doing so correctly requires detailed
+knowledge of what data types other applications use for drag and drop.
+
+ These data types are typically implemented as special data types
+that can be obtained from an X selection provided by the other
+application. In most cases, they are either the same data types that
+are typically accepted by @code{gui-set-selection}, or MIME types,
+depending on the specific drag-and-drop protocol being used. For
+example, the data type used for plain text may be either
+@code{"STRING"} or @code{"text/plain"}.
@vindex x-dnd-direct-save-function
However, @code{x-dnd-types-alist} does not handle a special kind of
-drop sent by a program which wants Emacs to save a file in a location
-Emacs must determine by itself. These drops are handled via the
-variable @code{x-dnd-direct-save-function}, which should be a function
-that accepts two arguments. If the first argument is non-@code{nil},
-then the second argument is a string describing the name (with no
-leading directory) that the other program recommends the file be saved
-under, and the function should return the complete file name under
-which it will be saved. Otherwise, the file has already been saved,
-and the second argument is the complete name of the file. The
-function should then perform whatever action is appropriate (i.e.,
-open the file or refresh the directory listing.)
+drop sent by a program that wants Emacs to tell it where to save a
+file in a specific location determined by the user. These drops are
+instead handled by a function set as the value of the variable
+@code{x-dnd-direct-save-function}, which should accept two arguments.
+If the first argument is non-@code{nil}, then the second argument is a
+string describing the name (with no directory name) that the other
+program recommends that the file should be saved under, and the
+function should return the full file name under which it should be
+saved. After the function completes, Emacs will ask the other program
+to save the file under the name that was returned, and if the file was
+successfully saved, call the function again with the first argument
+set to a non-@code{nil} value and the second argument set to the file
+name that was returned. The function should then perform whatever
+action is appropriate (i.e., opening the file or refreshing a
+directory listing.)
@cindex initiating drag-and-drop
On capable window systems, Emacs also supports dragging contents
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