Re: Emojis with quail - but only some

Stefan Monnier via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor
<[email protected]> writes:

> I suggest you look at `f90-mode-abbrev-table` in `lisp/progmodes/f90.el`
> for an example of an abbrev table which does something similar, tho for
> a different purpose (using the backquote character instead of the colon
> character to start the abbrevs).
>
> Another approach would be to use `completion-at-point-functions`.

Thanks for those hints.

I'm not unhappy with the result of my experiment, though.  This is the
most recent version:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp
(declare-function quail-input-method quail)

(defun my-:-start-emoji-maybe ()
  "Insert a colon (:) and begin typing an emoji starting with \":\".
This temporarily enables the \='emoji\=' input method.
Typing another \":\" directly after invoking this command prompts for an
emoji to insert (this calls `emoji-search').
The intended usage is to bind this command to [:] in mode maps."
  (interactive)
  (let ((default-input-method           'emoji)
        (default-transient-input-method 'emoji))
    (activate-transient-input-method)
    (let ((events
           ;; `quail-input-method' runs until input is complete
           ;; or terminated and returns a list of character events
           (quail-input-method ?:)))
      (dolist (e events) (when (integerp e) (insert e)))
      (set-transient-map
       (let ((map (make-sparse-keymap)))
         (define-key map [?:]
                     (lambda () (interactive)
                       (delete-char -1)
                       (call-interactively #'emoji-search)
                       (when-let* ((keys (quail-find-key (char-before)))
                                   ((consp keys)))
                         (message "%S" keys)
                         (sit-for 1))))
         map)))))
#+end_src

While this approach may seem unconventional, is it fundamentally flawed?
A main goal is to avoid duplicating emoji definitions in my
configuration (and, incidentally, I wanted to understand how input
methods function).


Thank you,

Michael.