Temporary code folding for navigation

Temporary code folding for navigation

[Illya Bomash]

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Hi everyone,  

When I use org-mode, I really like org-goto: it puts me in a temporary buffer that has an overview of my file (with all the details folded away), thereby showing me the structure of the file at a glance, and lets me easily get to a particular place, using simple keys for navigation or using isearch within this temporary buffer.

I’d love to have something similar for source code, e.g. Python files:

Press a key to temporarily put me in a buffer with only the outline of my code;
Put me in a mode where I can use single keystrokes to navigate to the different locations in my code.

Do you know of any existing modes or packages that work this way?

There are a few code-outline modes that exist, but I don’t want this on the screen all the time…only when I want to jump someplace new. Hideshow is close, but it’s not meant as a “temporary” mode, and it doesn’t do anything to make navigation easier.

Any tips would be appreciated! Thanks!

Best,
Illya




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Re: Temporary code folding for navigation

[Thorsten Jolitz]

Illya Bomash <ibomash@gmail.com> writes:

> When I use org-mode, I really like org-goto: it puts me in a temporary buffer
> that has an overview of my file (with all the details folded away), thereby
> showing me the structure of the file at a glance, and lets me easily get to a
> particular place, using simple keys for navigation or using isearch within
> this temporary buffer.
>
> I’d love to have something similar for source code, e.g. Python files:

navi-mode.el (in combination with outshine.el and outorg.el) might give
you exactly what you want, see this article on Worg 

,-----------------------------------------------------------
| http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/org-outside-org.html
`-----------------------------------------------------------

There are screencasts available on youtube, e.g. 

,--------------------------------------------
| Modern conventions for Emacs Lisp files 
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqE6YxlY0rw
`--------------------------------------------

to give you an idea what its all about.

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten

Re: Temporary code folding for navigation

[Illya Bomash]

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Hi Thorsten, thanks! This looks very much in line with what I was looking for!

From what I can tell, outshine won’t just use the function definitions themselves to define structure — it specifically uses commented org-mode header lines for structure?

What I had in mind originally would just use the function definitions themselves as navigation headers (sort of like making a temporary buffer from the current imenu or ECB data), but doing it by header levels instead could be a useful way to go about it…. I’ll give it a shot!

Best,
Illya

> navi-mode.el (in combination with outshine.el and outorg.el) might give
> you exactly what you want, see this article on Worg  
>  
> ,-----------------------------------------------------------
> | http://orgmode.org/worg/org-tutorials/org-outside-org.html
> `-----------------------------------------------------------
>  
> There are screencasts available on youtube, e.g.  
>  
> ,--------------------------------------------
> | Modern conventions for Emacs Lisp files  
> | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqE6YxlY0rw
> `--------------------------------------------
>  
> to give you an idea what its all about.
>  
> --  
> cheers,
> Thorsten
>  



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Re: Temporary code folding for navigation

[Thien-Thi Nguyen]

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() Illya Bomash <ibomash@knewton.com>
() Wed, 24 Apr 2013 15:49:22 -0400

   What I had in mind originally would just use the function definitions
   themselves as navigation headers (sort of like making a temporary
   buffer from the current imenu or ECB data), but doing it by header
   levels instead could be a useful way to go about it…. I’ll give it a
   shot!

If hideshow is close to what you want, and you succeed in hacking some
"temporary hideshow" feature, please consider contributing it to Emacs.

-- 
Thien-Thi Nguyen
GPG key: 4C807502

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Re: Temporary code folding for navigation

[Thorsten Jolitz]

Illya Bomash <ibomash@knewton.com> writes:

Hi Illya,

> From what I can tell, outshine won’t just use the function definitions
> themselves to define structure — it specifically uses commented
> org-mode header lines for structure?

outshine.el is enhanced outline-minor-mode and responsable for the file
structuring and outline-navigation and structure editing.

I think what you want is navi-mode.el,build on top of outshine and
occur-mode. You can think of an *Navi* buffer as an permanent *Occur*
buffer associated with an original buffer, with predefined headline and
(mode-specific) keyword searches. For Emacs Lisp, I defined the
following set of keyword searches:

,-------------------------------------------
| [KEY] : [SEARCH]
| ================
|                         a : ALL
|                         f : FUN
|                         v : VAR
|                         x : OBJ
|                         b : DB
|                         F : defun
|                         V : defvar
|                         C : defconst
|                         G : defgroup
|                         U : defcustom
|                         A : defadvice
|                         M : defmarcro
|                         D : defface
|                         S : defstruct
|                         L : defclass
|                         K : global-set-key
|                         T : add-to-list
|                         Q : setq
|                         H : add-hook
|                         O : hook
|                         X : lambda
|                         R : require
`-------------------------------------------

thus if you type 'a' in a *Navi* buffer associated to an Emacs Lisp
buffer, all definitions will be used to define structure (and only the
definitions). 'f' is a bit more specific, it shows 'function'
definitions in a broader sense (functions, macros...). And 'F' only
shows '(defun ...) matches. 

If you want to use (outshine) headlines to define structure, just type
'1', '2', ...,'8' in the *Navi* buffer, and the headlines up to that
level will be shown. 

You combine headline with keyword searches by using 'C-1 F' or 'C-3 v'
for example. 

Note that keyword-searches are customizable ('navi-key-mappings' and
'navi-keywords'), and that by default all ASCII printing characters are
bound to 'navi-generic-command', thus there are a lot of free one-key
bindings left you can use to define your own keyword searches
(mode-specific). 

> What I had in mind originally would just use the function definitions
> themselves as navigation headers (sort of like making a temporary
> buffer from the current imenu or ECB data), but doing it by header
> levels instead could be a useful way to go about it…. I’ll give it a
> shot!

As mentioned above, when the original (Emacs Lisp) buffer has
outline-minor-mode with outshine extensions activated, you only have to
type 'F' in the associated *Navi* buffer and you get the function
definitions as navigation headers and nothing else.

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten