Re: [Emacs-diffs] /srv/bzr/emacs/trunk r103444: * lisp/facemenu.el (list-colors-display): Use with-help-window (Bug#8048).

[martin rudalics <rudalics@gmx.at>]

 > IIUC what the intention is, it assumes that the user wants to fit the buffer to
 > the window and not vice versa.  In my case (dedicated window in a separate
 > frame), I do not want the buffer display to expand to fill the window.  Instead,
 > I want it to remain as compact as practical, and I then fit the frame to the
 > buffer.

We are talking about `with-output-to-temp-buffer' based macros here
which (1) erase the buffer, (2) fill it (in the body) with some text,
and (3) call `display-buffer'.  If you "fit the frame to the buffer" in
a separate fourth step, nothing would change for the particular case you
describe.  However, if you do something like

(let ((special-display-buffer-names special-display-buffer-names))
   (with-help-window buffer
     (with-current-buffer buffer
       (insert text)
       (setq special-display-buffer-names ...))))

and specify the frame's height for `special-display-buffer-names' from
the height of the buffer, things would change.  But you can still resize
the frame in a separate step.  The more annoying problem is how to
constrain the window splitting behavior.  Currently you can write

(let ((split-height-threshold split-height-threshold))
   (with-help-window buffer
     (with-current-buffer buffer
       (insert text)
       (setq split-height-threshold
	    (* (count-lines (point-min) (point-max)) 2)))))

thus modulating the window splitting behavior of `display-buffer'.  If
we display the buffer _before_ filling it, you can't do such things any
more.

 > Since there can be different user preferences and use cases, can you please
 > provide for those too when designing such a change (e.g. for the default case)?
 > IOW, let's not just assume that the window size is to be fixed and
 > predetermined, and that the buffer text should be fit to that window size.

martin