From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: "Drew Adams" Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: RE: C-x C-f in two frames -> "user minibuffer while in Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 08:10:07 -0700 Message-ID: References: <7eoe9f2duj.fsf@ada2.unipv.it> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1120750678 13466 80.91.229.2 (7 Jul 2005 15:37:58 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 7 Jul 2005 15:37:58 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Jul 07 17:37:52 2005 Return-path: Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DqYRG-0002Ya-5T for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 07 Jul 2005 17:37:22 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DqYSc-000266-Nq for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 07 Jul 2005 11:38:46 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1DqYLf-00058z-0K for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 07 Jul 2005 11:31:35 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1DqYLe-00057X-64 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 07 Jul 2005 11:31:34 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1DqYHv-0002Q7-Q9 for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 07 Jul 2005 11:27:43 -0400 Original-Received: from [141.146.126.230] (helo=agminet03.oracle.com) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_3DES_EDE_CBC_SHA:24) (Exim 4.34) id 1DqY7Q-0005Ab-SS for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 07 Jul 2005 11:16:53 -0400 Original-Received: from agminet03.oracle.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by agminet03.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.7/Switch-3.1.7) with ESMTP id j67FA9mU016228 for ; Thu, 7 Jul 2005 10:10:09 -0500 Original-Received: from rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com [138.1.186.50]) by agminet03.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.7/Switch-3.1.7) with ESMTP id j67FA9Iu016215 for ; Thu, 7 Jul 2005 10:10:09 -0500 Original-Received: from rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.4/Switch-3.1.0) with ESMTP id j67FA8GF024331 for ; Thu, 7 Jul 2005 09:10:08 -0600 Original-Received: from dradamslap (dradams-lap.us.oracle.com [130.35.177.126]) by rgmsgw301.us.oracle.com (Switch-3.1.4/Switch-3.1.0) with SMTP id j67FA7MA024325 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=RC4-MD5 bits=128 verify=NO) for ; Thu, 7 Jul 2005 09:10:08 -0600 Original-To: X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.6604 (9.0.2911.0) In-Reply-To: <7eoe9f2duj.fsf@ada2.unipv.it> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1506 Importance: Normal X-Brightmail-Tracker: AAAAAQAAAAI= X-Whitelist: TRUE X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:27830 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:27830 > Has anyone come up with any ways the recursive commands could be > better, or is it pretty much accepted that there's nothing that could > be done to improve them? one idea is to modify `mode-line-format' to indicate presence, level, or stack contents, of recursion. presence: R level: RRR (or maybe R3) stack contents: (find-file find-file find-file) alternatively, borrow something from the recursive editing indicator (normally square braces around the major and minor mode info). One problem is that such mode-line changes are not very noticeable. Now that we can easily change the mode-line face, that could be used to draw more attention to a recursive edit. Face change, especially background, is more noticeable than simply adding/changing mode-line text, and if the color-change is well chosen, it need not be intrusive/annoying. I do something similar: change the minibuffer (not the mode-line) background. Library `oneonone.el' (http://www.emacswiki.org/elisp/oneonone.el) sets up a dedicated minibuffer frame, and that frame's background is changed dynamically to indicate the current state. There are 3 states: normal (inactive), awaiting user input (active), and isearch (searching). There is no state specifically for recursive edit (but there could be); recursive edit is reflected by the "active" state. "Active" essentially means "not top-level". See http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/Dedicated_Minibuffer_Frame for an explanation and screenshots. Whenever you are in a recursive edit, not only does the mode-line indicate this (by surrounding the mode name with brackets, as usual: []), but the minibuffer frame background color is also changed to indicate the "active" mode. You normally only see this color minibuffer when Emacs is expecting input, so, if you continue to see it, it acts as a clue to look for the brackets in the mode-line that indicate a recursive edit. HTH, Drew.