popwin.el

popwin is a popup window manager for Emacs which makes you free from the hell of annoying buffers such like *Help*, *Completions*, *compilation*, and etc.

Take an example. When you complete file names during find-file, the (annoying) *Completions* buffer will appear in a newly splitted window. You might understand the necessity of the window, but you may wonder why the window still remains after completion...

popwin resolves there problems. Windows of such temporary buffers will be shown as a popup window, and you can close them smoothly by typing C-g in anytime.

Screenshots

Before Popup Window	After Popup Window

Installation

Melpa

This package is on MELPA, you can install it from there! (recommended)

Manually

Install popwin.el into your load-path directory. If you have install-elisp or auto-install, you may install popwin.el like:

;; install-elisp
(install-elisp "https://raw.github.com/m2ym/popwin-el/master/popwin.el")
;; auto-install
(auto-install-from-url "https://raw.github.com/m2ym/popwin-el/master/popwin.el")

And then add the following code into your .emacs:

(require 'popwin)
(popwin-mode 1)

popwin is tested under GNU Emacs 22 or later.

Basic Usage

Special buffers, for example *Help*, specified in popwin:special-display-config will be shown in a popup window. You can close the popup window by typing C-g or selecting other windows.

By default, *Help*, *Completions*, *compilation*, and *Occur* buffers will be shown in a popup window. Try M-x find-file and type TAB TAB. You may see a popup window at the bottom of the frame.

File Name Completion

Let me show other examples.

M-x occur

M-x compile

Customization

Please do M-x customize-group RET popwin RET and M-x customize-variable RET popwin:special-display-config RET. See the header of popwin.el, source code, and docstrings for more information.

Default Keymap

popwin provides a default keymap named popwin:keymap. You can use it like:

(global-set-key (kbd "C-z") popwin:keymap)

Keymap:

| Key    | Command                               |
|--------+---------------------------------------|
| b      | popwin:popup-buffer                   |
| l      | popwin:popup-last-buffer              |
| o      | popwin:display-buffer                 |
| C-b    | popwin:switch-to-last-buffer          |
| C-p    | popwin:original-pop-to-last-buffer    |
| C-o    | popwin:original-display-last-buffer   |
| SPC    | popwin:select-popup-window            |
| s      | popwin:stick-popup-window             |
| 0      | popwin:close-popup-window             |
| f, C-f | popwin:find-file                      |
| e      | popwin:messages                       |
| C-u    | popwin:universal-display              |
| 1      | popwin:one-window                     |

Special Display Config

popwin:special-display-config is a list of CONFIG. CONFIG may be a form of (PATTERN . KEYWORDS), where PATTERN is a pattern of specifying a buffer, and KEYWORDS is a list of a pair of key and value. PATTERN is a buffer name, a symbol specifying major-mode, or a predicate function which takes the buffer. If CONFIG is a string or a symbol, PATTERN will be CONFIG and KEYWORDS will be empty. Available keywords are following:

:regexp

: If the value is non-nil, PATTERN will be used as regexp to matching buffer.

:width, :height

: Specify width or height of the popup window. If no size specified, popwin:popup-window-width or popwin:popup-window-height will be used. See also position keyword.

:position

: The value must be one of (left top right bottom). The popup window will shown at the position of the frame. If no position specified, popwin:popup-window-position will be used.

:noselect

: If the value is non-nil, the popup window will not be selected when it is shown.

:dedicated

: If the value is non-nil, the popup window will be dedicated to the original popup buffer. In this case, when another buffer is selected in the popup window, the popup window will be closed immedicately and the selected buffer will be shown on the previously selected window.

:stick

: If the value is non-nil, the popup window will be stuck when it is shown.

:tail : If the value is non-nil, the popup window will show the last contents.

Examples

;; M-x anything
(setq anything-samewindow nil)
(push '("*anything*" :height 20) popwin:special-display-config)

;; M-x dired-jump-other-window
(push '(dired-mode :position top) popwin:special-display-config)

;; M-!
(push "*Shell Command Output*" popwin:special-display-config)

;; M-x compile
(push '(compilation-mode :noselect t) popwin:special-display-config)

;; slime
(push "*slime-apropos*" popwin:special-display-config)
(push "*slime-macroexpansion*" popwin:special-display-config)
(push "*slime-description*" popwin:special-display-config)
(push '("*slime-compilation*" :noselect t) popwin:special-display-config)
(push "*slime-xref*" popwin:special-display-config)
(push '(sldb-mode :stick t) popwin:special-display-config)
(push 'slime-repl-mode popwin:special-display-config)
(push 'slime-connection-list-mode popwin:special-display-config)

;; vc
(push "*vc-diff*" popwin:special-display-config)
(push "*vc-change-log*" popwin:special-display-config)

;; undo-tree
(push '(" *undo-tree*" :width 0.3 :position right) popwin:special-display-config)

Universal Display Config

popwin:universal-display-config is a special alternative value of popwin:special-display-config, which will be used when executing a command with M-x popwin:universal-display prefix. If you want to show a specific buffer in a popup window at the time, for example, you can do it with M-x popwin:universal-display RET C-x 4 C-o BUFNAME RET.

The default value is (t), meaning all of buffers with M-x popwin:universal-display prefix will be shown in a popup window.

Working with Other Extensions

Some extensions needs workaround for working with popwin.

YaTeX

misc/popwin-yatex.el helps you to show YaTeX related buffers in a popup window. Add the following code into .emacs.

(require 'popwin-yatex)

You may write a configuration like:

(push '("*YaTeX-typesetting*") popwin:special-display-config)

w3m

misc/popwin-w3m.el helps you to show specific pages with w3m in a popup window. Add the following code into .emacs.

(require 'popwin-w3m)

It is recommended to change browse-url-browser-function to popwin:w3m-browse-url.

(setq browse-url-browser-function 'popwin:w3m-browse-url)

popwin:w3m-browse-url is a function (and a command) displaying w3m buffers in a popup window if the given URL is matched with the rules.

The rules are described by popwin:w3m-special-display-config variable, which has almost same structure of popwin:special-display-config.

The difference is popwin:w3m-special-display-config takes an URL regular expression instead of a buffer pattern.

For example, if you want to show google search pages in a popup window, a configuration could be:

(push '("^http://www\\.google\\.com/.*$") popwin:w3m-special-display-config)

term.el

misc/popwin-term.el helps you to show term buffers in a popup window. Add the following code into .emacs.

(require 'popwin-term)

Then write a configuration like:

(push '(term-mode :position :top :height 16 :stick t) popwin:special-display-config)

Now, you can show a term buffer in a popup window with M-x popwin-term:term.

browse-kill-ring.el

misc/browse-kill-ring.el helps you to show *Kill Ring* buffer in a popup window. Add the following code into .emacs.

(require 'popwin-browse-kill-ring)

Then write a configuration like:

(push "*Kill Ring*" popwin:special-display-config)

M-x browse-kill-ring now shows *Kill Ring* buffer in a popup window.

windows.el

Do not load windows.el after loading popwin.el. Load windows.el first.

Basic Commands

Command: popwin:popup-buffer

Focely show the specified buffer in a popup window. popwin:special-display-config will be ignored.

Command: popwin:display-buffer

Show the specified buffer in a popup window if possible, meaning there is at least one matched configuration in popwin:special-display-config. Otherwise, fallback to display-buffer.

Command: popwin:display-last-buffer

Show the lastly shown buffer in a popup window.

Command: popwin:pop-to-buffer

Same as popwin:display-buffer, but behaves like pop-to-buffer.

Command: popwin:one-window

Same like C-x 1 except that C-g restore the original window configuration. This is useful when you see the contents of the popup window in full window temporarily.

Command: popup:find-file

find-file in a popup window.

Command: popwin:messages

Show *Messages* buffer in a popup window.

Basic API

Function: popwin:create-popup-window

popwin:create-popup-window &optional size position adjust => (master-window popup-window)

popwin:create-popup-window creates a popup window and return it with a master window. Master window is a window which is splitted when creating the popup window. A resposibility of closing the popup window is on developers.

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Copyright (C) 2011-2015 Tomohiro Matsuyama <m2ym.pub@gmail.com>