Re: [RFC PATCH] Changes to pop-up source buffers

[Kyle Meyer]

Jack Kamm <address@hidden> writes:

> This patch changes some implementation details of
> org-src-switch-to-buffer and org-edit-src-exit, to more consistently use
> pop-to-buffer to open the source buffer, and quit-restore-window to
> close it. It also adds a new default option to org-src-window-setup.
> [...]

Thanks for working on this.  I am not much of a babel user and didn't
follow the recent org-edit-src-exit thread too closely, but in general I
think relying more on display-buffer-based functions is a good thing.

> Subject: [PATCH] org-src: use display-buffer, quit-restore-window for source
>  buffers

I suspect you left out the changelog entry because it's an RFC patch,
but I figured I'd note it just in case.  Also, it'd be nice to include a
shortened version of the motivation you gave above in the commit
message.

> -(defcustom org-src-window-setup 'reorganize-frame
> +(defcustom org-src-window-setup 'default
>    "How the source code edit buffer should be displayed.
>  Possible values for this option are:
>  
> +default            Use default `display-buffer' action.

Hmm, I dislike using "default" as a value for an option.  When it's used
to say "this is the default behavior for this option", it seems
shortsighted because that will be a bad name if the default value
changes.  But here it seems to instead mean "what a plain display-buffer
call would do".  I think it'd be good to choose another name to avoid
confusion.  Perhaps "plain" or "vanilla" or "pop[-to-buffer]" ...

I'm also not sure whether this patch should change the default.

> -other-frame        Use `switch-to-buffer-other-frame' to display edit buffer.
> -                   Also, when exiting the edit buffer, kill that frame.
> -
> -Values that modify the window layout (reorganize-frame, split-window-below,
> -split-window-right) will restore the layout after exiting the edit buffer."
> +                   window and the edit buffer. Restore windows after exiting.

convention nit: Please use two spaces after sentences in docstrings.

> -  (when (memq org-src-window-setup '(reorganize-frame
> -                                  split-window-below
> -                                  split-window-right))
> +  (when (eql org-src-window-setup 'reorganize-frame)

nit: eq would do here and would be more in line with the codebase:

  $ git grep "(eq " master | wc -l
  1739
  $ git grep "(eql " master | wc -l
  6

>  (defun org-src-switch-to-buffer (buffer context)
>    (pcase org-src-window-setup
> +    (`default (pop-to-buffer buffer))
>      (`current-window (pop-to-buffer-same-window buffer))
>      (`other-window
> -     (switch-to-buffer-other-window buffer))
> +     (pop-to-buffer buffer '(nil
> +                          ((reusable-frames . nil)
> +                           (inhibit-same-window . t)))))

The actions here and elsewhere have incorrectly specified alists.  It's
probably easier to see that this misbehaves with the below example:

    ;; extra parentheses, like above => ignores inhibit-same-window
    (display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*blah*")
                    '(display-buffer-same-window
                      ((inhibit-same-window . t))))
    ;; dropping the outer parentheses
    (display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*blah*")
                    '(display-buffer-same-window
                      (inhibit-same-window . t)))

This means the `other-window' case behaves the same as the `default'
case.

But stepping back, I don't see much point in switching to pop-to-buffer
here.  switch-to-buffer-other-window uses pop-to-buffer underneath, so
you should be able to use it directly and still get the
quit-restore-window behavior you're after.

>      (`split-window-below
> -     (if (eq context 'exit)
> -      (delete-window)
> -       (select-window (split-window-vertically)))
> -     (pop-to-buffer-same-window buffer))
> +     (let ((split-width-threshold)
> +        (split-height-threshold 0))
> +       (pop-to-buffer buffer '((display-buffer-reuse-window
> +                             display-buffer-pop-up-window)
> +                            ((reusable-frames . nil)
> +                             (inhibit-same-window . t))))))

Quickly testing, this has a slight change in behavior.  If there is
already a window below the current Org buffer window, the new source
window will be popped up below the _other_ window rather than the Org
buffer.  I think this could be fixed (and the code in general
simplified) by using display-buffer-below-selected.

>      (`split-window-right
> -     (if (eq context 'exit)
> -      (delete-window)
> -       (select-window (split-window-horizontally)))
> -     (pop-to-buffer-same-window buffer))
> +     (let ((split-width-threshold 0)
> +        (split-height-threshold))
> +       (pop-to-buffer buffer '((display-buffer-reuse-window
> +                             display-buffer-pop-up-window)
> +                            ((reusable-frames . nil)
> +                             (inhibit-same-window . t))))))

This has a similar change in behavior to what's described above (but
with "right" instead of "below").  In this case, though, I don't think
there's an existing display action that retains the original behavior,
so doing so would probably involve writing a custom display action
function.

> -    (`switch-invisibly (set-buffer buffer))
> +     (org-switch-to-buffer-other-window buffer))
> +    (`switch-invisibly (pop-to-buffer buffer '(display-buffer-no-window)))

You need a bit more to get it to not display the buffer.  Compare

  (display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*blah*")
                  '(display-buffer-no-window))

to

  (display-buffer (get-buffer-create "*blah*")
                  '(display-buffer-no-window
                    (allow-no-window . t)))