bug#10191: dired-query (in dired-aux.el) fails for certain help-char's, Emacs 23 and 24

[Christopher Genovese]

Whether this is a bug or a ... misunderstanding may be a matter of opinion
because it goes to the nature of help-char. But the problem is easily
fixed in any case.

The function dired-query fails for certain settings of help-char; this occurs

during the execution of other dired commands (e.g., dired-do-rename-regexp)
without a clear trace of the problem for the user.

For example, I set my help-char to ?\M-\C-h, which works fine in general. 
But despite looking like a character, ?\M-\C-h does not satisfy #'characterp, which causes

the problem. Technically perhaps, help-char should be a character but from the user's point
of view, both of these should qualify.  While help-event-list can handle this,
using help-char with such a value works in all the other cases I've seen.

The failure occurs at the following sexp in dired-query (the same code in 23 and 24
despite significant differences in the functions between the two versions):

; original

(if help-form
    (format " [Type yn!q or %s] "

            (key-description
             (char-to-string help-char)))

  " [Type y, n, q or !] ")

When (characterp help-char) is nil, as in my case, char-to-string raises an error.

Because I find it highly desirable to allow "characters" like ?\M-\C-h for help-char,
I think this is a bug worth fixing.

Here is a minimal fix for the offending sexp, not my first choice but an easy change:

; minimal fix
(if (and help-form (characterp help-char))

    (format " [Type yn!q or %s] "
            (key-description

             (char-to-string help-char)))
  " [Type y, n, q or !] ")

Here's a simple fix for the offending sexp that gives better feedback:

; simple fix

(if help-form
    (format " [Type yn!q or %s] "

            (key-description
             (cond

              ((characterp help-char)
               (char-to-string help-char))

              ((eventp help-char)
               (append (event-modifiers help-char)

                       (list (event-basic-type help-char))))
              (t

               "your help char"))))
  " [Type y, n, q or !] ")

Because key-description does not abbreviate symbolic forms of
key modifiers, this gives output like "<control> <meta> h".
For nicer output, the following more elaborate fix could work,
although this may be too much for the purpose.

; more (too?) elaborate fix with nicer output
(if help-form

    (format " [Type yn!q or %s] "
            (cond

             ((characterp help-char)
              (key-description (char-to-string help-char)))

             ((eventp help-char)
              (let* ((modifiers

                      (reverse (event-modifiers help-char)))
                     (base

                      (event-basic-type help-char))
                     (mod->str '((meta . "M-")

                                 (control . "C-")
                                 (shift . "S-")

                                 (super . "s-")
                                 (hyper . "H-")

                                 (alt . "A-")
                                 (double . "double-click ")

                                 (triple . "triple-click ")
                                 (drag . "drag ")

                                 (click . "click ")))
                     (modstring  (lambda (mod)

                                   (cdr (assoc mod mod->str)))))
                (apply 'concat

                 (reverse
                  (cons

                    (if (characterp base)
                        (key-description (char-to-string base))

                      (symbol-name base))
                   (mapcar modstring modifiers))))))

             (t
              "your help char"))) 

  " [Type y, n, q or !] ")


Thanks,

  Chris