Deffering redisplay in COMINT

[Michael Mauger]

I don't believe this is possible, but I figured I'd run it past the brain 
trust....

In sql-interactive-mode, a derivative of comint, I will submit a SELECT 
statement that returns many very long rows (2000+ characters per line).  The 
redisplay fireworks that follow are impressive but slow.   As text streams to 
the buffer with `auto-hscroll-mode' enabled the screen flashes as it redraws 
the buffer with more lines of data and scrolled horizontally in different 
places until all the data stream is complete.  

I have figured out how to turn off horizontal scrolling with a 
`comint-preoutput-filter-function' and a `pre-command-hook' for the duration of 
SQL command so the redisplay is limited to a slow march straight down the page 
without the intervening horizontal scrolling but the column number in the mode 
line going crazy.  I've also discovered that if I switch to another buffer so 
that the SQL buffer is not displayed and then switch back, the SQL buffer is 
populated very quickly.  (That is, Emacs can fetch the results quickly, it just 
can't redraw it quickly a couple of hundred times)

So what I'm asking: Is there a way (say by setting `inhibit-redisplay' to t) 
for the duration of the comint command and then restoring redisplay when I am 
at the prompt at the end.  The trick that I use for `auto-hscroll-mode' won't 
work because I don't find out about the completion until the user causes an 
event.  I understand also that I don't want to universally block redisplay in 
case I switch to another buffer while the comint command is running and I want 
to interact with another buffer (i.e., I want to inhibit redisplay in that 
buffer only--buffer-local inhibit-redisplay).  Looking at comint.el and based 
on my understanding of how processes are handled, I don't believe that it is 
easy to do because I don't know when the output is complete.  (I've noticed in 
my disable auto-hscroll-mode code that the comint-preoutput-filter-function 
will get called a couple of hundred times with chunks of the output.  I'm 
probably getting a redisplay after
 each chunk.)  

My only thought is that I could route the output to a temp buffer until I see 
the prompt at the end of a chunk (ala the comint redirection code, a very 
non-Emacs 20+ way of doing things), and then move the output to the original 
buffer.  Essentially buffering the output until it's complete.  Thoughts?  Am I 
missing an obvious hook?  (pre-command isn't it, it fires only on input, unless 
I can feed input to it to force it when done)

Am I SOL?