Re: M-x compile should tell its status (a little bit better)..

[Kevin Rodgers <ihs_4664@yahoo.com>]

Richard Stallman wrote:

>     Right know when starting compile it shows "Compiling" in the mode line.
>     When i started several compilations in parallel i found it confusing that
>     i could not find out if one of them has already finished. Execpt by
>     switching to that buffer and looking at its mode line...
>     So how about to change compile to reflect that info in its mode name so
> 
> Could you say more precisely what change you have in mind
> in the mode line contents?

I think the idea is not to change the mode line, but to change the mode name

so that the status is apparent from `M-x list-buffers'.  I think the following
provides the desired effect, but it's just for illustration:


(defvar compilation-mode-name nil)

;; change `after' to `before', to avoid stomping on compilation-handle-exit:
(defadvice compilation-sentinel (after mode-name activate)
   "Set `mode-name' instead of `mode-line-process' to reflect the PROCess status."
   (let ((buffer (process-buffer (ad-get-arg 0)))
	(status (process-status (ad-get-arg 0))))
     (when (buffer-live-p buffer)
       (save-excursion
	(set-buffer buffer)
	;; save the original mode name:
	(unless compilation-mode-name
	  (set (make-local-variable 'compilation-mode-name) mode-name))
	;; construct a mode name from the original plus the status:
	(setq mode-name
	      (format "%s:%s)" compilation-mode-name status))
	;; remove redundant status from the mode line:
	(setq mode-line-process nil)))))

(defadvice compile-internal (after compilation-sentinel activate)
   "Call `compilation-sentinel' to set `mode-name'."
   (compilation-sentinel (get-buffer-process compilation-last-buffer)
			"started"))

-- 
Kevin Rodgers