102 lines
3.9 KiB
Org Mode
102 lines
3.9 KiB
Org Mode
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#+TITLE: pip-frame.el
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pip-frame.el allows displaying a floating Emacs frame with Emacs
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buffers in [[https://github.com/ch11ng/exwm][EXWM]] (and possibly other) environments.
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* Why?
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[[https://github.com/ch11ng/exwm][EXWM]], an Emacs window manager, supports floating windows, placed above
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the tiled windows. But this doesn’t apply to Emacs buffers, there is
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no way known to me to display an Emacs buffer in a floating window.
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Having floating Emacs buffers looking like Picture-In-Picture is still
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useful. Imagine you start a long compilation and do other work in the
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meantime. You must poll the compilation status regularly. Maybe the
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compilation fails early and you don’t notice it until the next polling
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interval. Or you run an upgrade and forget about it, only to discover
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a couple of hours later that the upgrade has hung on an interactive
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question. With a PIP frame displaying the compilation and upgrade
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buffers, you always know what’s happening.
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People often use secondary monitors for such overviews. But this is
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often overkill. It’s often hard to use all the space on contemporary
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wide or even very wide monitors. I typically run Emacs with two
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windows side by side, focusing mostly on the left one. The area close
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to the right bottom screen corner is the least one used and it’s a
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good place to place a PIP frame there. And it’s often better than
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connecting a secondary monitor.
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In theory, it’s possible to create such a window in a standard Emacs
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frame. But having a corner window is impractical, considering
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applications changing window layouts (e.g. [[http://www.gnus.org][Gnus]]). And if workspaces
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are used, e.g. [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Tab-Bars.html][Emacs tabs]], the window is still hidden when working in
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a different workspace. Similar problems are experienced when using
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tiling window managers other than EXWM.
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** Screenshot
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This is an example of an Emacs buffer displayed in a PIP frame using
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this utility:
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#+ATTR_HTML: :alt An Emacs frame with a PIP frame
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[[./screenshot.jpg]]
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* How?
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** Commands
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The PIP frame is created using =M-x pip-frame-add-buffer= command. You
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can use the command repeatedly to add more buffers to the PIP frame.
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A buffer can be removed from the PIP frame using
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=M-x pip-frame-remove-buffer= command. If the last buffer is removed
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from the PIP frame, the frame is deleted. The frame can also be
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deleted any time using =M-x pip-frame-delete-frame=.
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If the frame obscures anything important, you can move it elsewhere
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with =M-x pip-frame-move=.
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There are no key bindings. Feel free to add them to your
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configuration if needed. But these commands are not very frequent and
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tools such as [[https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Icomplete.html][Icomplete mode]] or [[https://github.com/nonsequitur/smex][smex]] are likely to serve better than
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tons of key shortcuts.
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** Customization
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Use =M-x customize-group RET pip-frame RET= to customize pip-frame.el.
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Some customization examples:
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- To place the PIP frame to right top rather than to right bottom:
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#+begin_src elisp
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(setq pip-frame-parameters '((left . 0.9) (top . 0.1)))
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#+end_src
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- To better distinguish the PIP frame from the rest of the screen (the
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frame is intentionally kept out of EXWM hands and no window manager
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borders are displayed), you can show it in inverse colors:
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#+begin_src elisp
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(setq pip-frame-face-attributes '((:inverse-video . t)))
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#+end_src
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Or with a different background:
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#+begin_src elisp
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(setq pip-frame-face-attributes '((:background . "light gray")))
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#+end_src
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- To add internal borders to the PIP frame and make it resizable with
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a mouse:
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#+begin_src elisp
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(setq pip-frame-parameters (append pip-frame-parameters
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'((drag-internal-border . t)
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(internal-border-width . 20))))
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#+end_src
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-----
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/To Petr./
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