GNU bug report logs - #1503
feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines

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Message #5 received at submit <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: "Peter Mao" <peter.mao <at> gmail.com>
To: bug-gnu-emacs <at> gnu.org
Subject: feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines
Date: Fri, 5 Dec 2008 22:43:18 -0800

I realize this requires tweaking of the C-code, but I'm not awesome
enough to do it myself:

Can emacs be given the gift of a header-line that word wraps, so that
the header can be more than one line tall?  I imagine the same could
go for the mode line, but I don't have a clear need for that right
now.  I know that the fringes can occupy > 1 column, so it seems like
an oversight if the header and mode lines are restricted to 1 line.

I've written a minor mode for reading/sorting physics abstracts from
the physics arXiv.  The mode either lists subdirectories directly
under the current directory, or recursively lists all subdirectories
of the pwd.  Either way, the list could potentially be longer than the
width of the screen, making some directory names unviewable.  A
multiline header would make it perfect.

I thought of putting that text in the buffer, but that makes it much
harder to update the text.

Peter Mao

Message #10 received at 1503 <at> emacsbugs.donarmstrong.com (full text, mbox):

From: martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at>
To: 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1503: feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines
Date: Sat, 06 Dec 2008 11:49:10 +0100

> Can emacs be given the gift of a header-line that word wraps, so that
> the header can be more than one line tall?  I imagine the same could
> go for the mode line, but I don't have a clear need for that right
> now.  I know that the fringes can occupy > 1 column, so it seems like
> an oversight if the header and mode lines are restricted to 1 line.
>
> I've written a minor mode for reading/sorting physics abstracts from
> the physics arXiv.  The mode either lists subdirectories directly
> under the current directory, or recursively lists all subdirectories
> of the pwd.  Either way, the list could potentially be longer than the
> width of the screen, making some directory names unviewable.  A
> multiline header would make it perfect.
>
> I thought of putting that text in the buffer, but that makes it much
> harder to update the text.

At the moment, we can't do that because the fact that a header-line
occupies exactly one line of text is hardwired into many lower-level
primitives.  In principle, what you want could be accomplished by the
routines below, but this will certainly have wrinkles (Emacs is not
really good at handling zero-length overlays).

martin


(defvar my-overlay (make-overlay (point-min) (point-min)))

(defun my-move (window start)
  (move-overlay my-overlay start start))

(add-hook 'window-scroll-functions 'my-move nil t)

(defun my-text (text)
  (overlay-put
   my-overlay 'before-string (propertize text 'face 'header-line)))

(my-text "a first line\nand another one\nand a third one\n")

Message #15 received at 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
To: martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at>
Cc: 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1503: feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2021 08:53:45 -0700

martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at> writes:

>> Can emacs be given the gift of a header-line that word wraps, so that
>> the header can be more than one line tall?  I imagine the same could
>> go for the mode line, but I don't have a clear need for that right
>> now.  I know that the fringes can occupy > 1 column, so it seems like
>> an oversight if the header and mode lines are restricted to 1 line.
>>
>> I've written a minor mode for reading/sorting physics abstracts from
>> the physics arXiv.  The mode either lists subdirectories directly
>> under the current directory, or recursively lists all subdirectories
>> of the pwd.  Either way, the list could potentially be longer than the
>> width of the screen, making some directory names unviewable.  A
>> multiline header would make it perfect.
>>
>> I thought of putting that text in the buffer, but that makes it much
>> harder to update the text.
>
> At the moment, we can't do that because the fact that a header-line
> occupies exactly one line of text is hardwired into many lower-level
> primitives.

Could those primitives be changed to support this use-case?

I'm not very interested in a multi-line mode-line myself, but I can see
many uses for a multi-line header line.

Message #18 received at 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
Cc: rudalics <at> gmx.at, 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1503: feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines
Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2021 19:46:03 +0300

> From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
> Date: Wed, 20 Oct 2021 08:53:45 -0700
> Cc: 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
> 
> >> I thought of putting that text in the buffer, but that makes it much
> >> harder to update the text.
> >
> > At the moment, we can't do that because the fact that a header-line
> > occupies exactly one line of text is hardwired into many lower-level
> > primitives.
> 
> Could those primitives be changed to support this use-case?

Of course.  It's just a lot of work, and will probably have a long
tail (because many places assume that without stating the assumption
clearly enough for you to catch it).

Message #21 received at 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
Cc: 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1503: feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 11:06:08 +0200

>>> Can emacs be given the gift of a header-line that word wraps, so that
>>> the header can be more than one line tall?  I imagine the same could
>>> go for the mode line, but I don't have a clear need for that right
>>> now.  I know that the fringes can occupy > 1 column, so it seems like
>>> an oversight if the header and mode lines are restricted to 1 line.
>>>
>>> I've written a minor mode for reading/sorting physics abstracts from
>>> the physics arXiv.  The mode either lists subdirectories directly
>>> under the current directory, or recursively lists all subdirectories
>>> of the pwd.  Either way, the list could potentially be longer than the
>>> width of the screen, making some directory names unviewable.  A
>>> multiline header would make it perfect.
>>>
>>> I thought of putting that text in the buffer, but that makes it much
>>> harder to update the text.
>>
>> At the moment, we can't do that because the fact that a header-line
>> occupies exactly one line of text is hardwired into many lower-level
>> primitives.
>
> Could those primitives be changed to support this use-case?
>
> I'm not very interested in a multi-line mode-line myself, but I can see
> many uses for a multi-line header line.

IIUC the OP would be better served with a separate buffer for listing
these subdirectories shown above the window of his buffer.  To glue them
together, the two windows could be put into an atomic window.  Omitting
all decorations for that separate buffer, it would not be discernible
from a header line.

So if you see any use for a multi-line header line, please give me
details where a specification via 'header-line-format' would be
preferable to one that puts that stuff into a separate buffer.

martin

Message #24 received at 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
To: martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at>
Cc: 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1503: feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 09:34:11 -0700

martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at> writes:

> IIUC the OP would be better served with a separate buffer for listing
> these subdirectories shown above the window of his buffer.  To glue them
> together, the two windows could be put into an atomic window.  Omitting
> all decorations for that separate buffer, it would not be discernible
> from a header line.
>
> So if you see any use for a multi-line header line, please give me
> details where a specification via 'header-line-format' would be
> preferable to one that puts that stuff into a separate buffer.

One benefit of the header line is that it always stays in place, whereas
with a buffer you never know where it might end up.  Or is there a way
to force a buffer in place with the same strong guarantee?

We also might not want users to switch to that buffer, as it would be
more annoying than useful (e.g. headers in tabulated-list-mode).  AFAIU,
with a regular buffer you will always be able to switch to them with
`other-window'.

I was also going to say that with header-line-format you get horizontal
scrolling automatically, but it turns out that you don't.  In any case,
it seems like this feature shouldn't be too hard to add.  (I remember
now that I added code to fix that in one of my packages.)

Message #27 received at 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org (full text, mbox):

From: martin rudalics <rudalics <at> gmx.at>
To: Stefan Kangas <stefan <at> marxist.se>
Cc: 1503 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: Re: bug#1503: feature request: multiline header (and mode) lines
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2021 19:18:41 +0200

> One benefit of the header line is that it always stays in place, whereas
> with a buffer you never know where it might end up.  Or is there a way
> to force a buffer in place with the same strong guarantee?

Why not?  Have you ever seen windows deliberately change places on a
frame?  Atomic windows are glued together like a window and its mode
lines.

> We also might not want users to switch to that buffer, as it would be
> more annoying than useful (e.g. headers in tabulated-list-mode).  AFAIU,
> with a regular buffer you will always be able to switch to them with
> `other-window'.

That's what the 'no-other-window' parameter is for.  With the slight
difference that with a window you can turn it off temporarily.

> I was also going to say that with header-line-format you get horizontal
> scrolling automatically, but it turns out that you don't.  In any case,
> it seems like this feature shouldn't be too hard to add.  (I remember
> now that I added code to fix that in one of my packages.)

XEmacs has it, IIRC.

martin

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