[texhax] Fragile command problem?

[Toby Cubitt]

I should also have said...[see below]

Toby Cubitt wrote:
> I have a series of macros defined as:
> 
> \def\sref at type#1{%
>    \expandafter\expandafter\expandafter%
>    \sref@@type\csname r@#1\endcsname}
> \def\sref@@type#1#2{\sref@@@type#1[]}
> \def\sref@@@type{\@ifnextchar[%]
>    {\sref@@@@type}{\sref@@@@type[]}}
> \def\sref@@@@type[#1]#2[]{#1}
> 
> (I guess it's probably possible to collapse this down to one or two 
> macros once I can get them working correctly.) The \r@#1 commands expand 
> to something of the form {[type]a}{b}, and I want \sref at type{#1} to 
> return the "type".

The \r@#1 commands sometimes expand to something of the form {a}{b}
instead, hence the whole \@ifnextchar stuff.


> This works fine until I try to use it inside \edef or
> (more importantly for my purposes) inside \csname...\endcsname. E.g. 
> assuming \r at ref expands as just described,
> 
>    \def\sref at tmpa#1{\sref at type{ref}}
> 
> throws an "Argument of \sref@@type has an extra }" error, followed by a 
> "TeX capacity exceeded" error. On the other hand, the line
> 
>    \expandafter\ifx\csname \sref at type{ref}@yaddayadda\endcsname\relax
> 
> throws "Missing \endcsname inserted" followed by "Extra \endcsname". I 
> vaguely gather that this might be a problem with the command being 
> fragile (due to the \@ifnextchar?), therefore requiring the command 
> definition to be protected and any \edef to be replaced by 
> \protected at edef or some such. But naively protecting the macros doesn't 
> work, and I still don't understand how to achieve what I need: a way to 
> use the "type" part of r@#1 inside a \csname...\endcsname in order to 
> construct a new command sequence from it.