code.delx.au - gnu-emacs-elpa/blob - packages/wconf/README.org

   1 * wconf
   2 ** About
   3 =wconf= is a minimal window configuration manager for [[http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/][GNU Emacs]].  Its
   4 goal is to have several window configurations easily available, to
   5 switch between them, and to save them to disk and later restore them.
   6
   7 For example, I might have a default "workspace" for miscellaneous stuff,
   8 and then I might have workspaces "UI", "MT", "DB" for a classic 3-tier
   9 application.
  10
  11 Can double as a "boss" key; not that you would ever use something like
  12 that yourself.
  13 ** Using the Package
  14 Make sure the files are in your =load-path=, and either =(require
  15 'wconf)= or make sure its autoloads are known to Emacs --- if you have
  16 installed from a package archive, that should take care of both.
  17
  18 Here is an example from my configuration to show you the intended use of
  19 =wconf=.
  20 #+begin_src emacs-lisp
  21 (add-hook 'desktop-after-read-hook      ;so we have all buffers again
  22           (lambda ()
  23             (wconf-load)
  24             (wconf-switch-to-config 0)
  25             (add-hook 'kill-emacs-hook
  26                       (lambda ()
  27                         (wconf-store-all)
  28                         (wconf-save))))
  29           'append)
  30
  31 (global-set-key (kbd "C-c w s") #'wconf-store)
  32 (global-set-key (kbd "C-c w S") #'wconf-store-all)
  33 (global-set-key (kbd "C-c w r") #'wconf-restore)
  34 (global-set-key (kbd "C-c w R") #'wconf-restore-all)
  35 (global-set-key (kbd "C-c w w") #'wconf-switch-to-config)
  36 (global-set-key (kbd "C-<prior>") #'wconf-use-previous)
  37 (global-set-key (kbd "C-<next>") #'wconf-use-next)
  38 #+end_src
  39 After =desktop= has restored all file buffers from my last session,
  40 =wconf-load= will get its stored configs from =wconf-file= (defaults to
  41 =<YOUREMACSDIR>/wconf-window-configs.el=), and I want it to immediately
  42 switch to the first configuration.  Then we hook into killing emacs to
  43 store and save all our configurations in that same file.  The global key
  44 bindings expose those commands that I consider useful in day-to-day
  45 work.
  46 ** Concepts
  47 The main idea is +stolen from+ inspired by =workgroups=.  We keep a list
  48 of configuration pairs.  Each such pair consists of an /active/
  49 configuration (what you see when you switch to this slot of the list),
  50 and a /stored/ one (what you have in the back, and maybe save to disk at
  51 some point).  In =workgroups= parlance, these are the working and base
  52 configs.
  53
  54 At each point in time there is (at most) one configuration current.  You
  55 can explictly store and restore the current active configuration to/from
  56 the stored one, or do likewise for all configurations.  For example, you
  57 might decide that you have a carefully hand-crafted set of
  58 configurations that you always want to start from, but that you do not
  59 wish to change this setup, except when doing so explicitly.  That's
  60 easy: just remove the =(wconf-store-all)= call from the above hook
  61 function.
  62
  63 A nice feature of =wconf= is that it does not alter any hooks or
  64 settings outside its own small world, and I intend to keep it that way.
  65 This implies that the currently active configuration is only updated
  66 explicitly, via one the functions/commands in the package.
  67 ** Rationale, and Other Packages
  68 I used https://github.com/tlh/workgroups.el for several years.  It is a
  69 great package, which offers a lot of additional features besides the
  70 core business of managing window configs.  It also has some
  71 shortcomings, is somewhat complex (at 79k), and I occasionally
  72 experienced minor glitches.  Most importantly, it has been unmaintained
  73 for roughly 4 years now.
  74
  75 https://github.com/pashinin/workgroups2 promises to pick up where
  76 workgroups left, and is actively maintained.  The main difference, as I
  77 understand it, is the desire to restore "special" buffers as well (help,
  78 info, org-mode agendas, notmuch mail, you name it).  Finally trying it,
  79 it did not provide a lot of benefit for my personal needs, but added
  80 still more complexity.  The functionality that I want should not require
  81 179k of elisp.
  82
  83 Nowadays (at least since the GNU Emacs 24.4 release), there are proper
  84 lisp-reader (de)serializations for both frame and window configurations,
  85 and =window.el= and =frameset.el= provide functions to deal with them
  86 (relatively) comfortably.  Desktop already (re)stores a single
  87 configuration.  That's when I decided that it's time to roll my own:
  88 build something light on top of what's already there, in order to
  89 provide persistent switchable configurations.
  90 ** Notes, TODO
  91 I only use a single fullscreen frame all the time.  An earlier version
  92 of this package stored configurations as whole framesets, without any
  93 effort to deal with the multiple-frames case.  It has now changed to
  94 deal with window configurations in a single frame only.  This is much
  95 better defined, simpler, and no longer suffers from annoying flickering
  96 effects.
  97
  98 Calling the package commands from different frames inside a single
  99 session may or may not result in the behavior you want.  In the latter
 100 case, feel free to open an issue and describe what happens and what you
 101 expected/wanted to happen.  I explicitly do /not/ guarantee that the
 102 code will change to suit your wishes --- but if minor changes could
 103 render it more generally useful, I am all ears.
 104
 105 I am thinking about some rescaling options to deal with restoring on
 106 frames of different sizes (possible due to a different screen size).
 107 Filtering options for what is generally (re)stored (and how) might be a
 108 pleasant side effect.  Don't hold your breath.