I am doing an eldoc sort of thing and I don't want my hint messages interfering with any other, probably more important, messages. I want to do it by seeing if there's anything at all displayed currently in the mini window and, if not, show my hint. I guess current-message should meet most of my needs, but I got curious and asked anyhow.
From: pinkanon pinkanon <pinkanon.pinkanon@yandex.com>
Cc: "43813@debbugs.gnu.org" <43813@debbugs.gnu.org>
Date: Mon, 05 Oct 2020 19:33:47 +0300
Even though it's still displayed in the mini window? So, after it's been rendered, it's basically gone then?
No, it isn't displayed then, the mini-window is cleared.
You can see in the doc string of minibuffer-message that it displays
the message for some time, or until some input event arrives. Then
the message is cleared.
Why do you need to get at the text shown by minibuffer-message? For
what purpose? That function specifically exists to show temporary
messages, so the text is ephemeral, it goes away as soon as the user
types something.