bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

[Dani Moncayo]

severity: minor

Recipe from emacs -Q:
1. Maximize the Emacs (graphical) frame.
2. Type: M-x a u t o - <SPC> <SPC>

I observe that the first <SPC> creates a *Completions* buffer with the
completion candidates formatted in 3 columns, whereas the second <SPC>
reformat those candidates so that the full with of the window is used
(6 columns in my case).

Why the first <SPC> didn't use the full width of the window?  I think it should.


In GNU Emacs 24.2.50.1 (i386-mingw-nt6.1.7601)
 of 2012-10-10 on DANI-PC
Bzr revision: 110500 lekktu@gmail.com-20121010155949-32ouh3o4qooiybaj
Windowing system distributor `Microsoft Corp.', version 6.1.7601
Configured using:
 `configure --with-gcc (4.7) --no-opt --enable-checking --cflags
 -I../../libs/libxpm-3.5.8/include -I../../libs/libxpm-3.5.8/src
 -I../../libs/libpng-1.4.10 -I../../libs/zlib-1.2.6
 -I../../libs/giflib-4.1.4-1/include -I../../libs/jpeg-6b-4/include
 -I../../libs/tiff-3.8.2-1/include
 -I../../libs/libxml2-2.7.8-w32-bin/include/libxml2
 -I../../libs/gnutls-3.0.16/include
 -I../../libs/libiconv-1.14-2-mingw32-dev/include'

Important settings:
  value of $LANG: en_US.UTF8
  locale-coding-system: cp1252
  default enable-multibyte-characters: t

-- 
Dani Moncayo

bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

[Stefan Monnier]

> I observe that the first <SPC> creates a *Completions* buffer with the
> completion candidates formatted in 3 columns, whereas the second <SPC>
> reformat those candidates so that the full with of the window is used
> (6 columns in my case).

> Why the first <SPC> didn't use the full width of the window?

I think it's because when the text is first laid out, we don't know yet
the dimensions of the window where it will be displayed (actually, that
window doesn't even exist yet), so we assume a default 80-columns.

For the second time, the *Completions* buffer is already displayed in
a window, so the dimensions are available.

> I think it should.

Agreed, which means first display the buffer and then fill it.


        Stefan

bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

[martin rudalics]

 >> I observe that the first <SPC> creates a *Completions* buffer with the
 >> completion candidates formatted in 3 columns, whereas the second <SPC>
 >> reformat those candidates so that the full with of the window is used
 >> (6 columns in my case).
 >
 >> Why the first <SPC> didn't use the full width of the window?
 >
 > I think it's because when the text is first laid out, we don't know yet
 > the dimensions of the window where it will be displayed (actually, that
 > window doesn't even exist yet), so we assume a default 80-columns.
 >
 > For the second time, the *Completions* buffer is already displayed in
 > a window, so the dimensions are available.
 >
 >> I think it should.
 >
 > Agreed, which means first display the buffer and then fill it.

I thought Tabulated List mode would handle that now.

martin

bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

[Stefan Monnier]

>> Agreed, which means first display the buffer and then fill it.
> I thought Tabulated List mode would handle that now.

Not sure how it could: the mode has no impact on when the buffer is
displayed, and *Completions* doesn't use tabulated list mode (last
I checked).


        Stefan

bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

[martin rudalics]

 >>> Agreed, which means first display the buffer and then fill it.
 >> I thought Tabulated List mode would handle that now.
 >
 > Not sure how it could: the mode has no impact on when the buffer is
 > displayed, and *Completions* doesn't use tabulated list mode (last
 > I checked).

Maybe it should.  IIUC the idea of Tabulated List mode is to handle the
problem described here.

martin

bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

[Stefan Monnier]

>>>> Agreed, which means first display the buffer and then fill it.
>>> I thought Tabulated List mode would handle that now.
>> Not sure how it could: the mode has no impact on when the buffer is
>> displayed, and *Completions* doesn't use tabulated list mode (last
>> I checked).
> Maybe it should.  IIUC the idea of Tabulated List mode is to handle the
> problem described here.

I don't see how Tabulated List Mode would help here.


        Stefan

bug#12618: 24.2.50; Formating of completion candidates in the *Completions* buffer

[martin rudalics]

 >> Maybe it should.  IIUC the idea of Tabulated List mode is to handle the
 >> problem described here.
 >
 > I don't see how Tabulated List Mode would help here.

I thought the purpose of Tabulated List mode was to crowd a buffer with
multicolumn entries separated by tabs that could be adjusted according
to the width of a window showing the buffer.  Apparently I was wrong.

martin