[climacs-devel] Re: Question about the info-pane display function

[John Q Splittist]

Troels Henriksen <athas <at> sigkill.dk> writes:

> 
> I have refactored the structure of the info-pane into a separate
> variable, and changed `display-info' to use it. Not a big change, but
> it's a beginning, I think.

I agree that something like this needs doing. I had held off doing it because 
I was waiting for a more general user-variables facility. Since that doesn't 
seem to be magically appearing, there is no reason not to work with this now.

In my opinion, a format string is the wrong way to go. I would prefer to see a 
set of methods that could be variously composed (:progn, anyone?), :around-
ed, :after-ed etc. This would have some chance of allowing all the various 
parties that want to influence the printing of the info-pane (user, syntax, 
view, 'mode' etc.) to do so without stepping on each others' toes. It also 
seems to play to CL's strengths, and allow use of the presentation facility in 
more creative ways.

I don't actually have any concrete counter-proposal beyond this hand-waving 
stuff, and I'm the last person to discourage anyone to work on Climacs (!), 
but I thought I'd butt in with these thoughts.

Slightly more concretely, what modifications to the info-pane display do 
people want to make?

JQS