Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Stefan Arentz]

Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
extension exist?

 S.

Re: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Colin S. Miller]

Stefan Arentz wrote:
> Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
> would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
> buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
> extension exist?
> 
>  S.

Stefan,
C-x b creates a list of open buffers.

The following code, in your init.el uses Ibuffer instead of buffer
for this, and makes it open in a new frame.

The frame is left open after you switch buffers, but that shouldn't
be a problem.

HTH,
Colin S. Miller


(require 'ibuffer)
(global-set-key [(control x) (control b)] 'ibuffer-list-buffers)
(define-key ibuffer-mode-map [return] 'ibuffer-visit-buffer-other-window)

(setq special-display-buffer-names
   '(
         ("*Ibuffer*"
          (modeline . nil) (unsplittable . nil)
          (top-toolbar-visible-p . nil) (menubar-visible-p . nil)
          (height . 10) (width . 70) (top . 0) (left . 444)
          (auto-raise-mode . t))
    ))


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Re: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Stefan Arentz]

"Colin S. Miller" <no-spam-thank-you@csmiller.demon.co.uk> writes:

> Stefan Arentz wrote:
> > Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
> > would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
> > buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
> > extension exist?
> >  S.
> 
> Stefan,
> C-x b creates a list of open buffers.
> 
> The following code, in your init.el uses Ibuffer instead of buffer
> for this, and makes it open in a new frame.
> 
> The frame is left open after you switch buffers, but that shouldn't
> be a problem.

Hm. Odd.

 Symbol's function definition is void: ibuffer-list-buffers

I do succesfully (require 'ibuffer) and I have the last version of that
package from http://www.shootybangbang.com/software/ibuffer.el.

I am on GNU Emacs 21.4.1 (i386-apple-darwin8.7.1). Should I try a 22
version?

 S.

Re: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Colin S. Miller]

Stefan Arentz wrote:
> "Colin S. Miller" <no-spam-thank-you@csmiller.demon.co.uk> writes:
> 
>> Stefan,
>> C-x b creates a list of open buffers.
>>
>> The following code, in your init.el uses Ibuffer instead of buffer
>> for this, and makes it open in a new frame.
>>
>> The frame is left open after you switch buffers, but that shouldn't
>> be a problem.
> 
> Hm. Odd.
> 
>  Symbol's function definition is void: ibuffer-list-buffers
> 
> I do succesfully (require 'ibuffer) and I have the last version of that
> package from http://www.shootybangbang.com/software/ibuffer.el.
> 
> I am on GNU Emacs 21.4.1 (i386-apple-darwin8.7.1). Should I try a 22
> version?
> 
>  S.

Stefan,

Oops.
I use Xemacs (21.4.19).
I thought this was comp.emacs.xemacs, not gnu.emacs.help,
so I didn't give a warning that it mightn't work.
XEmacs comes with a version of Ibuffer.

In XEmacs, the function ibuffer-other-window is a wrapper around
ibuffer.

A suitable (untested) definition is

(defun ibuffer-other-window ()
   "Like `ibuffer', but displayed in another window by default."
   (interactive "P")
   (ibuffer t))


Alternatively,

using this code, instead of the code in my previous post should
make the standard buffer-mode pop up a window.

(setq special-display-buffer-names
       '(
         ("*Buffer List*"
          (modeline . nil) (unsplittable . nil)
          (top-toolbar-visible-p . nil) (menubar-visible-p . nil)
          (height . 10) (width . 70) (top . 0) (left . 444)
          (auto-raise-mode . t))
))
(define-key Buffer-menu-mode-map [return] 'Buffer-menu-other-window)


HTH,
Colin S. Miller



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Re: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Hadron Quark]

Stefan Arentz <stefan.arentz@gmail.com> writes:

> Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
> would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
> buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
> extension exist?
>
>  S.

I use the bs stuff and the cyclebuffer stuff in emacs-goodies which
comes in ubuntu. 

In my .emacs :

;; buffers stuff
(global-set-key [(f8)] 'bs-show)
;; Cycle buffers #####################################
(autoload 'cyclebuffer-forward "cyclebuffer" "cycle forward" t)
(autoload 'cyclebuffer-backward "cyclebuffer" "cycle backward" t)
(global-set-key [?\C-x right] 'cyclebuffer-forward)
(global-set-key [?\C-x left] 'cyclebuffer-backward)

You wouldn't use alt-tab since that's generally the GUI desktop app
switcher.


-- 

Re: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Stefan Arentz]

Hadron Quark <hadronquark@gmail.com> writes:

> Stefan Arentz <stefan.arentz@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
> > would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
> > buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
> > extension exist?
> >
> >  S.
> 
> I use the bs stuff and the cyclebuffer stuff in emacs-goodies which
> comes in ubuntu. 

Excellent. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!

 S.

Re: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Hadron Quark]

Stefan Arentz <stefan.arentz@gmail.com> writes:

> Hadron Quark <hadronquark@gmail.com> writes:
>
>> Stefan Arentz <stefan.arentz@gmail.com> writes:
>> 
>> > Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
>> > would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
>> > buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
>> > extension exist?
>> >
>> >  S.
>> 
>> I use the bs stuff and the cyclebuffer stuff in emacs-goodies which
>> comes in ubuntu. 
>
> Excellent. This is exactly what I was looking for. Thanks!
>
>  S.

Glad to help : god knows I needed enough when I started with emacs
again.

Do try the (iswitchb-mode 1) in your .emacs too - I tried it today and
"C-x b" followed by any substring of a buffer name gets there quick too.

-- 

Re: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[B. T. Raven]

"Stefan Arentz" <stefan.arentz@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:87y7ss6ps0.fsf@kip.sateh.com...
>
> Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
> would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
> buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
> extension exist?
>
>  S.

iswitchb works for me. It is faster for switching between buffers than
using Alt-<tab> to switch between w32 processes. Also you can filter out
different classes of buffers (those starting with space character by
default). Just out of curiosity I opened enough files to force the
minibuffer to expand to multiple lines and everything continued to work as
expected. If you are working under w32 then you probably want to leave
Alt-<tab> alone so that you have rapid access to its running processes.
There is also a package called 'icicles' that is said to be very powerful.
I haven't needed anything more than iswitchb yet.

Ed

RE: Easier buffer navigtion (alt-tabbing?)

[Drew Adams]

    Is there a way that makes it easier to navigate through buffers? What I
    would really like is something like alt-tab to popup a list of recent
    buffer to quickly switch back and forth between them. Does such an
    extension exist?

This is a very frequently asked question. There are many different ways to
do this, and various Lisp libraries that offer different user interfaces.
You'll find information about them here:
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/SwitchingBuffers