From: Mark Wooding <mdw@distorted.org.uk>
Date: Mon, 2 May 2022 11:52:20 +0000 (+0100)
Subject: dot/emacs, el/dot-emacs.el: New gadget to force window selection.
X-Git-Url: https://git.distorted.org.uk/~mdw/profile/commitdiff_plain/4ebbf6a71a9ddff39cdb512c3aa4c0bbe59578b2

dot/emacs, el/dot-emacs.el: New gadget to force window selection.

I'm fed up with Emacs `display-buffer', which seems carefully designed
to read my mind and choose the least convenient possible window display
a buffer in.

Introduce a new command `mdw-designate-window', bound to `C-c w SPC',
which marks a window as being the target for the next buffer shown by
`display-buffer' when its caller doesn't have a better plan.  This
leaves alone things like Magit popups, which already know that they want
to go at the bottom of the current window (and that's fine).
---

diff --git a/dot/emacs b/dot/emacs
index 3967646..220fdd4 100644
--- a/dot/emacs
+++ b/dot/emacs
@@ -766,6 +766,7 @@
   (global-set-key [?\C-c ?v ?i] 'vm-visit-imap-folder)
   (global-set-key [?\C-c ?v ?m] 'vm-visit-folder)
   (global-set-key [?\C-c ?v ?v] 'mdw-auto-revert)
+  (global-set-key [?\C-c ?w ? ] 'mdw-designate-window)
   (global-set-key [?\C-c ?w ?b] 'w3m-bookmark-view)
   (global-set-key [?\C-c ?w ?c] 'mdw-set-frame-colour)
   (global-set-key [?\C-c ?w ?d] 'mdw-divvy-window)
diff --git a/el/dot-emacs.el b/el/dot-emacs.el
index 8b4f8f8..c7849f3 100644
--- a/el/dot-emacs.el
+++ b/el/dot-emacs.el
@@ -644,6 +644,34 @@ Evil key bindings are defined in `mdw-evil-keymap-keys'."
 
 ;; Some hacks to do with window placement.
 
+(defvar mdw-designated-window nil
+  "The window chosen by `mdw-designate-window', or nil.")
+
+(defun mdw-designate-window (cancel)
+  "Use the selected window for the next pop-up buffer.
+With a prefix argument, clear the designated window."
+  (interactive "P")
+  (cond (cancel
+	 (setq mdw-designated-window nil)
+	 (message "Window designation cleared."))
+	(t
+	 (setq mdw-designated-window (selected-window))
+	 (message "Window designated."))))
+
+(defun mdw-display-buffer-in-designated-window (buffer alist)
+  "Display function to use the designated window."
+  (prog1 mdw-designated-window
+    (when mdw-designated-window
+      (select-window mdw-designated-window)
+      (switch-to-buffer buffer nil t))
+    (setq mdw-designated-window nil)))
+
+(setq display-buffer-base-action
+      (let* ((action display-buffer-base-action)
+	     (funcs (car action))
+	     (alist (cdr action)))
+	(cons (cons 'mdw-display-buffer-in-designated-window funcs) alist)))
+
 (defun mdw-clobber-other-windows-showing-buffer (buffer-or-name)
   "Arrange that no windows on other frames are showing BUFFER-OR-NAME."
   (interactive "bBuffer: ")