bug#44068: 28.0.50; Faulty uses of tabulated-list-format

[Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net>]

On Tue, 03 Nov 2020 05:27:30 +0200 Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> wrote:

>> From: Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net>
>> Cc: stefankangas@gmail.com,  44068@debbugs.gnu.org
>> Date: Mon, 02 Nov 2020 23:37:57 +0100
[...]
>> Assuming the patch doesn't introduce a bug, it's essentially a question
>> of aesthetics, and since Stefan K said it looks good to him, that's good
>> enough for me, but since you asked for such a change upthread
>> <83zh4ipbli.fsf@gnu.org>, I wanted to make sure you also accept the
>> result.
>
> Can you describe the result?  I don't think I have a clear idea what
> it will be.

There are two features the patch provides:

- All sortable columns in tabulated-list-mode derivatives that are wide
  enough to display a sort indicator when selected do so (sortable
  columns that are not wide enough include e.g. the first three in the
  Buffer-menu-mode table).  In contrast, currently, i.e. without the
  patch, all final sortable columns and some non-final ones that are
  wide enough do not display the sort indicator when selected.

- When a column (whether selected or not) is made narrower (by
  repeatedly typing `{') than the length of the column label in the
  header line, the label is truncated and displays a trailing ellipis,
  just like the data lines of such columns in the table (if such a
  narrowed column is sortable and selected, the the sort indicator is
  still displayed after the ellipis).  In contrast, currently, the
  column labels are not truncated, which can lead to misalignment
  between the header line and the data lines.  (However, even with the
  patch, misalignment can happen, because the data lines can be
  truncated to display nothing but the ellipis, while the header line
  labels always show at least the first letter of the label.  I think
  the display of the data lines here is questionable, but dealing with
  that is another issue.)

Steve Berman