Questions about the speedbar

[Nick Roberts <nick@nick.uklinux.net>]

I would like to use the speedbar for displaying the value of variables when
debugging with `M-x gdba'. The speedbar uses its own frame which isn't a problem
with a graphical display but with a text terminal only one frame is visible at
any given time. This would be inconvenient for debugging as the user would have
to move back and forth between frames.

Can the speedbar be configured to work in the parent frame i.e just have its
own buffer?

Can a text terminal be configured so that two frames could be placed side by
side?

I suspect the answer to both questions is no. I only want a subset of the
speedbar's functionality: that of expanding or contracting a list when diving
in or out of an array or structure (I don't want to visit any files, nodes etc
from it). I could probably adapt some of the lisp functions in speedbar.el for
my needs. In the interests of reuse and so that I don't re-invent the wheel,
could someone familiar with this file direct me towards the most relevant
functions and suggest how they could be adapted to work in a buffer.

Rather hopefully,

Nick

PS For the interested: This would use GDB's variable objects as described in the
info manual under GDB/MI.