how to programmatically call M-x functions in Edwin for MIT-Scheme?

Question

I'm using the Edwin editor with MIT-scheme, and because the default font size is so small, I do M-x set-font and then choose

-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--24-240-75-75-m-150-iso8859-1

to make the font bigger. This works fine, but when I try to put

(set-font "-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--24-240-75-75-m-150-iso8859-1")

in my ~/.edwin, it complains about Unbound variable: set-font.

In emacs, interactive functions from M-x can usually be straightforwardly called programmatically in Elisp, but apparently not so here. I tried reading more about how to customize Edwin by looking at the manual with `info mit-scheme-user', but the Edwin chapter specifically says

This manual does not discuss customization of Edwin.

How do I call set-font programmatically?

Answer 1

Apparently, Edwin commands are not procedures, and cannot be called directly in Scheme code. However, a simple fix enables this, simply wrap it with the ref-command macro:

`((ref-command set-font) "-adobe-courier-bold-r-normal--24-240-75-75-m-150-iso8859-1")`

Source: A 1997 mailing list thread with this exact same question

Edwin commands aren't procedures (unlike GNU Emacs). An Edwin command is a special object with an unusual name. If you want to invoke a command from a program you must use the REF-COMMAND macro. For example, to start a shell buffer as if you had typed "M-x shell": ((ref-command shell) #t)