bug#44078: 26.3; `tabulated-list-mode': Use it in any mode and for part of a buffer

[Lars Ingebrigtsen <larsi@gnus.org>]

Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com> writes:

> But for `tabulated-list-mode' I think we need more than just to add a
> minor-mode version.  We really need a way to confine its effect to a
> part of a buffer.

Whenever I've done some work on tabulated-list-mode, I've been kinda
frustrated by its design.  You'd ideally just be able to have a
functional interface where you just call a function with all the data
(and some commands to apply to the data), and then everything would
work.  But instead it's a strange mixture of functional, buffer-local
data and updating functions.

A side effect of this is that the table isn't an "object" you can do
operations on -- there can only be one table per buffer, and it wants to
control the entire buffer.

So I'd welcome a more functional rewrite of tabulated-list-mode that
would constrain all actions to the area of the buffer where the table
is, and leave the rest of the buffer alone.  And stash the table data in
the table instead of using the buffer-local variables.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no