Scel

SuperCollider/Emacs interface

Installation requirements

For the HTML help system, you will need emacs-w3m support.

Installation (default)

By default emacs-lisp files are installed in

$prefix/share/emacs/site-lisp

SuperCollider files are put in

$prefix/share/SuperCollider/Extensions/scide_scel

The only thing you need to do is loading the sclang interface in your ~/.emacs:

(require 'sclang)

For the HTML help system to fully function also add

(require 'w3m)

Installation (detailed)

Put all *.el files in emacs' load-path. e.g. if you put them in ~/emacs/, add the following lines to ~/.emacs (or whatever your init file is called):

(add-to-list 'load-path "~/emacs")
(require 'sclang)

for the HTML help system to fully function also add

(require 'w3m)

now put all *.sc files in sclang's library path, e.g. if you put them in a non-standard location, such as ~/SuperCollider/Emacs, add the following to ~/.config/SuperCollider/sclang_conf.yaml (Linux) or ~/Library/Application Support/SuperCollider/sclang_conf.yaml (macOS):

includePaths:
    [~/SuperCollider/Emacs]

(note normally this is not needed as they are put into sclang's library path during installation with scons).

Usage

In order to automatically start sclang when invoking emacs, use the following command line:

$> emacs -sclang

you're now ready to edit, inspect and execute sclang code!

Getting help

Inside an sclang-mode buffer (e.g. by editing a .sc file), execute

C-h m

and a window with key bindings in sclang-mode will pop up.

C-x C-h lets you search for a help file

C-M-h opens or switches to the Help browser (if no Help file has been opened, the default Help file will be opened).

E copies the buffer, puts it in text mode and sclang-minor-mode, to enable you to edit the code parts to try out variations of the provided code in the help file. With C-M-h you can then return to the Help browser and browse further from the Help file.

C-c C-e allows you to edit the source of the HTML file, for example if you want to improve it and commit it to the repository.

To enable moving around in the help file with arrow keys add the following in your ~/.emacs:

(eval-after-load "w3m"
 '(progn
 (define-key w3m-mode-map [left] 'backward-char)
 (define-key w3m-mode-map [right] 'forward-char)
 (define-key w3m-mode-map [up] 'previous-line)
 (define-key w3m-mode-map [down] 'next-line)))

This ensures that the arrow keys are just for moving through the document, and not from hyperlink to hyperlink, which is the default in w3m-mode.

Customization

To fine-tune the installation from within emacs' graphical customization interface, type:

M-x sclang-customize

In particular, you will have to customize `sclang-runtime-directory'.

Server control

In the post buffer window, right-click on the server name; by default the two servers internal and localhost are available. You will get a menu with common server control operations.

To select another server, step through the server list by left-clicking on the server name.

Servers instantiated from the language will automatically be available in the mode line.