Re: recentf.el and listing recently visited files

[Klaus Berndl]

On 17 Mar 2003, Klaus Berndl wrote:

>  On Mon, 17 Mar 2003, Javier Oviedo wrote:
>  
> >  Sandip,
> >  
> >  Thanks for your reply. I tried your functions but they don't seem handle
> >  the cases that I want covered.
> >  
> >  What I have noticed is that when I close emacs, the recentf-list
> >  updates....the list gets written. I noticed a undesirable behavior with
> >  this. Let say that I have two emacs session open. In one I open foo.c and
> >  in the other I open bar.c (both happen to be in the same directory). When
> >  I close the session with foo.c I then see foo.c added to the
> >  recentf-list. I then close the second session with bar.c and I see bar.c
> >  written to the list but I no longer see foo.c. It seems to have been
> >  deleted from the list.
> >  
> >  First, I think that once a file is written, it should be saved. Is it
> >  possible to have the list update as soon as any file is opened in any
> >  emacs window? Once the list has updated, any emacs window should be able
> >  to now see the new recently visited file.
>  
>  Yes, recentf.el works not well in scenarios where more than one
>  Emacs-instance is opened - in such a scenario always that one "wins" (means
>  overwrites the recentf-file) which is closed at last.
>  
>  recentf.el is designed to work well with one emacs-instance - IMHO a
>  scenario which you should follow. IMHO there are not really many reasons
>  why to use more than one Emacs instance because you can use several frames
>  and for command-line using you can use gnuclient etc....
>  
>  To handle a recent-file-list correct with more than one independent
>  Emacs-instances could be done as follows: After every new file opening this
>  must be written down to the file and every emacs-instance has to react to
>  this event - could be done maybe with the mechanisms of
>  auto-revert-mode....in general it seems to so easy...
                                           ^^
                                   I meant NOT
>  
>  BTW: I suppose that you meant in your first posting not "Emacs windows" but
>  "Emacs instances", right?!
>  
>  Klaus
>  
> >  Do you functions handle this case?
> >  
> >  Thanks for your help.
> >  
> >  
> >  "Sandip Chitale" <sandipchitale@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >  b607d812.0303141643.761485a5@posting.google.com">news:b607d812.0303141643.761485a5@posting.google.com...
> > > Javier,
> > >
> > > I had hacked the recentf.el so that it takes into account
> > > the file-name-history variable. Thus all files opened using
> > > the find-file (and it's variants) also get added to the
> > > recent files list.
> > >
> > > My changes were top of the following version of recentf.el :
> > >
> > > ;; Author: David Ponce <david@dponce.com>
> > > ;; Created: July 19 1999
> > > ;; Keywords: customization
> > >
> > > Here are the changed defuns:
> > >
> > > (defun recentf-add-file (filename)
> > >   "Add or move FILENAME at the beginning of `recentf-list'.
> > > Does nothing if FILENAME matches one of the `recentf-exclude' regexps."
> > >   (let ((filename (expand-file-name filename)))
> > >     (when (recentf-include-p filename)
> > >       (setq recentf-list (cons filename (delete filename recentf-list)))
> > >       (setq file-name-history (cons filename (delete filename
> >  file-name-history)))
> > >       (setq recentf-update-menu-p t))))
> > > :
> > > :
> > > (defun recentf-find-file (filename)
> > >   "Edit file FILENAME using `find-file'.
> > > If FILENAME is not readable it is removed from `recentf-list'."
> > >   (if (file-readable-p filename)
> > >       (progn
> > > (find-file filename)
> > > (setq file-name-history (cons filename file-name-history))
> > > )
> > >     (progn
> > >       (message "File `%s' not found." filename)
> > >       (setq recentf-list (delete filename recentf-list))
> > >       (setq recentf-update-menu-p t))))
> > > :
> > > :
> > > (defun recentf-add-file (filename)
> > >   "Add or move FILENAME at the beginning of `recentf-list'.
> > > Does nothing if FILENAME matches one of the `recentf-exclude' regexps."
> > >   (let ((filename (expand-file-name filename)))
> > >     (when (recentf-include-p filename)
> > >       (setq recentf-list (cons filename (delete filename recentf-list)))
> > >       (setq file-name-history (cons filename (delete filename
> >  file-name-history)))
> > >       (setq recentf-update-menu-p t))))
> > >
> > > HTH,
> > > sandip
> > >
> > > "Javier Oviedo" <email_joviedo@yahoo.com> wrote in message
> >  news:<b4ta0u$t55$1@tilde.itg.ti.com>...
> > > > Hello all:
> > > >
> > > > I really like recentf.el and use it quite frequently. I do however
> > > > have
> >  a
> > > > few questions:
> > > > 1. Would it be possible to make entries timeout after some period of
> >  time?
> > > > After a few days or something like that, the list would drop files.
> > > >
> > > > 2. How does the recentf-list update? Is it possible to have
> > > >    recentf-list
> > > > update whenever a new file is opened regardless of which emacs window it
> >  is
> > > > opened in?
> > > >
> > > > Example: I have one emacs window open. I then open a second emacs
> > > > window
> >  for
> > > > some temporary work. I would like the recentf-list to update and show
> >  the
> > > > file(from second window) in the original window list. Is this
> > > > possible?
> > > >
> > > >
> > > >
> > > > Thanks In Advance.

-- 
Klaus Berndl                    mailto: klaus.berndl@sdm.de
sd&m AG                         http://www.sdm.de
software design & management    
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