Re: suggested feature -- console-mode frame title sets Xterm title

[Martin Pool <mbp@sourcefrog.net>]

On 14 Oct 2003, Miles Bader <miles@lsi.nec.co.jp> wrote:
> Martin Pool <mbp@sourcefrog.net> writes:
> > Some people like to have information in the title bar that won't fit
> > in their modeline.
> 
> I'm confused -- is there actually any question that this is a useful
> feature?  

That was what I thought Eli was asking.  Maybe I misunderstood his
question.

> I'm constantly annoyed by `full screen' programs in terminal
> emulators that _don't_ update the titlebar; it's a very useful feature,
> above and beyond the mode-line.

That's how I feel.

> > > How about if we have an option that would cause Emacs to either use
> > > the F<num> names (default) or the new names you implemented.  If it
> > > uses F<num>, that name will be displayed on the mode line, as today;
> > > otherwise, the name will be displayed in the xterm's title and be
> > > removed from the mode line.
> > 
> > OK.
> > 
> > Should this be a separate variable, or just controlled by
> > tty-frame-use-title?  Should it be on by default?
> 
> That seems silly; why not just do _both_?  The `Fn' notation doesn't
> take up much room in the mode-line, and is simply _different_
> information that the actual title.  They're both handy.  So why not
> introduce the concept of a `frame index' and display F%d of that in the
> mode-line on terminals (hell some people might want to display it in X
> too -- it's just a generally handy concept, given that the emacs frame
> commands tend to cycle through frames in order).  [I _think_ this is
> the last possibility you suggested in your original post]

Yes, that's what I was getting at.  For the sake of discussion let's
use the term 'frame index'.  

This even makes sense in terms of the 21.3 manual, which half implies
that this already exists:

   Each frame has a number to distinguish it.  If your terminal can
   display only one frame at a time, the selected frame's number N appears
   near the beginning of the mode line, in the form `FN'.

The problem is in the next paragraph: 

    `FN' is actually the frame's name.  You can also specify a
    different name if you wish, and you can select a frame by its
    name.  Use the command `M-x set-frame-name <RET> NAME <RET>' to
    specify a new name for the selected frame, and use `M-x
    select-frame-by-name <RET> NAME <RET>' to select a frame according
    to its name.  The name you specify appears in the mode line when
    the frame is selected.

'F%d' would no longer be the frame's name.

Suppose we added a select-frame-by-index function?  

People would still be able to select-frame-by-name, but the names they
use would be those produced by frame-title-format or set-frame-name,
and never F%d.

Doing this would remove the ugliness of hiding
mode-line-frame-identification on window-system frames.

You could even put the frame index into the frame-title.

-- 
Martin