[PATCH] show: config option to register aliases for views

[Yuya Nishihara]

On Sat, 1 Jul 2017 20:12:42 -0700, Gregory Szorc wrote:
> On Wed, Jun 28, 2017 at 8:33 AM, Yuya Nishihara <yuya at tcha.org> wrote:
> > On Sun, 25 Jun 2017 22:26:52 -0700, Gregory Szorc wrote:
> > > # HG changeset patch
> > > # User Gregory Szorc <gregory.szorc at gmail.com>
> > > # Date 1498454437 25200
> > > #      Sun Jun 25 22:20:37 2017 -0700
> > > # Node ID 6546ab6d7a9aaa4266d1decf3da1501153be796b
> > > # Parent  ef46d432e2e4cfecafb1faa4765254bf0650d4ef
> > > show: config option to register aliases for views
> > >
> > > As part of using `hg show` in my daily workflow, I've found it slightly
> > > annoying to have to type full view names, complete with a space. I've
> > > locally registered an alias for "swork = show work."
> > >
> > > I think others will have this same complaint and could benefit from
> > > some automation to streamline the creation of aliases. So, this
> > > commit introduces a config option that allows `hg show` views to be
> > > automatically aliased using a given prefix. e.g. a value of "s"
> > > will automatically register "swork" and "sbookmarks." Multiple
> > > values can be given for ultimate flexibility. This arguably isn't
> > > needed now. But since we don't register aliases if there will be
> > > a collision and we're bound to have a collision, it makes sense to
> > > allow multiple prefixes so specific views can avoid collisions by
> > > using different prefixes.
> >
> > I think this change is okay. (I don't queue it now just because it's late.)
> >
> > Somewhat related to this, I've lost why we decided to make "hg show <cmd>"
> > at the cost of managing sub-sub commands. If we want a shorter command
> > name,
> > I think "hg work" is even better.
> 
> A big reason is that `hg help show` can be a gateway to all available
> views, thus fostering understanding. Also, `hg show` is guaranteed to be
> read-only, so any command under it is safe to run. That means we shouldn't
> scare people away from running `hg show` like other commands would.

I think that could also be achieved by naming all commands as 'show-<x>'
(plus aliases e.g. 'show-stack|stack' if needed), and adding help topic
'show'. I don't mean it is better than the gateway command. I'm just afraid
of reinventing fullstack command dispatcher for 'show' subcommands.