Re: Getting column position accounting for overlays

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Yuri D'Elia <wavexx@thregr.org>
> Date: Wed, 5 Aug 2015 20:44:19 +0200
> 
> On 05/08/15 17:21, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
> >> I would almost have expected something to extract the visualized string
> >> between two points, like `buffer-substring' but iterating through
> >> overlays; but couldn't find any (did I miss it?)
> > 
> > The overlay strings are directly accessible via 'overlay-get', so why
> > would anyone need the feature you expected to exist?
> 
> I don't think we're on the same line of thought.

That's why I asked to describe your use case.  I'm afraid I still
don't think I understand it.

> The usage scenario is pretty simple: assume a terminal display.
> I want to determine the current /visual/ column at point.

Yes, but why do you need that?  What do you intend to do with the
value?

And does the solution I suggested fulfill your needs?

> The second part is a consequence: if I want to have a string of the
> current line as seen by the user, I have to manually iterate through
> overlays, handle 'display manually and reassemble the line myself.
> There's no buffer-substring equivalent that gives me the string "with
> 'display overlays" between two points.

Indeed, there is not, AFAIK.

But you originally asked only for the dimensions of the text on the
screen, not about the text itself.