bug#53776: Modeline indicator when using define-minor-mode

[goncholden via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>]

------- Original Message -------

On Friday, February 4th, 2022 at 2:38 PM, Stephen Berman <stephen.berman@gmx.net> wrote:

> On Fri, 04 Feb 2022 14:05:58 +0000 goncholden goncholden@protonmail.com wrote:
> > ------- Original Message -------
> >
> > On Friday, February 4th, 2022 at 1:35 PM, Stephen Berman
> > stephen.berman@gmx.net wrote:
> >
> > > On Fri, 04 Feb 2022 13:22:08 +0000 goncholden goncholden@protonmail.com wrote:
> > > > ------- Original Message -------
> > > >
> > > > On Friday, February 4th, 2022 at 1:02 PM, Stephen Berman
> > > > stephen.berman@gmx.net wrote:
> > > > > On Fri, 04 Feb 2022 11:55:45 +0000 goncholden via "Bug reports for GNU
> > > > > Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors" bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org wrote:
> > > > >
> > > > > > Have been using define-minor-mode and noticed that when setting the
> > > > > > modeline indicator, the text is appended with no space between other
> > > > > > modeline indicators. Is this how :lighter is supposed to work?
> > > > >
> > > > > Yes, the lack of a space is in the definition of `mode-line-modes':`
> > > > > (:propertize ("" minor-mode-alist)
> > > > > I guess the reason is that you can have multiple minor mode lighters and
> > > > > providing a space between each would complicate the definition of
> > > > > `mode-line-modes', so that's the job of the minor mode definition
> > > > > itself:
> > > > >
> > > > > > (define-minor-mode rich-minor-mode
> > > > > > "This is the docstring."
> > > > > > :lighter "rich"

> > > > > So you should do this: :lighter " rich"
> > > > >
> > > > > Steve Berman
> > > >
> > > > Because one can easily add minor-modes that exceed the mode-line mini-buffer,
> > > > is there any capability of making a hierarchical modeline indicator.
> > > >
> > > > e.g.
> > > >
> > > > Emacs-Lisp
> > > > company
> > > > Outl
> > > > Gon -> rich
> > > > -> gudin
> > > > -> cholden
> > >
> > > That would appear to require a multiline mode line, which is not
> > > possible with the current implementation. An alternative, which might
> > > be easier to implement (for someone who knows how, not me), would be to
> > > make the mode line horizontally scrollable. But maybe that's not so
> > > easy, since it seems so obviously useful, yet hasn't been implemented.
> >
> > > Steve Berman
> >
> > Much useful. Would we be able to include such proposition for emacs?
>
> It could certainly be a feature request. In fact, maybe this bug report
> can be repurposed as such as request, since the lack of a space in the
> minor mode lighter isn't a bug per se.
>
> Steve Berman

Anything I need to do on my part?