Re: suggested feature -- console-mode frame title sets Xterm title

[Martin Pool]

On 15 Oct 2003, Miles Bader <address@hidden> wrote:
> Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> writes:
> > > If you're talking about the frame's name, what you would specify to
> > > switch frames, then I don't see why this is desirable.  Always using
> > > the F<n> name seems better.
> > 
> > I thought about using the xterm's title as the frame's name.  People
> > may wish to use the name displayed in the xterm's title because it's
> > more descriptive, and thuis more easily remembered, than F<n>.  In
> > effect, the string in the title could act as the frame's name, making
> > the use of set-frame-name unnecessary.  (Which means, btw, that, if
> > Miles's suggestion is implemented, we should decide what to do with
> > set-frame-name: should it affect the xterm title or the F<n> displayed
> > in the mode line [or both]).
> 
> I really think it ought to work as close to the way X does as possible,
> with the F%d notation only used as (1) an abbreviated form displayed in
> the mode-line (since the `true name' is too long), and (2) possibly as a
> `shortcut name' allowed for switching-frame commands as I described
> earlier.

I agree.

> In X, the displayed frame `title' is either the frame's name (set by
> set-frame-name), or if that's nil, a string computed using
> frame-title-format.  select-frame-by-name actually seems to use the
> frame's title, not it's name.

This is how it looks to the user.  On the inside it is much more
messy, because f->name and f->title are not used in the way their
documentation suggests.  select-frame-by-name uses what seems to be
the frame's title because that gets written into f->name.

There is also some stuff about "explicitly set titles" -- I can see
basically what this is about but I don't understand all the
interactions.

However, it is only software, and can be fixed, if we decide how we
want it to work.

Here is how I think it should work on the inside:

  f->name holds the frame's name, which is initially F%d and can be
  set by set-frame-name

  f->title holds the title generated by frame-title-format, except
  it holds the "explicit title" if one is set.

  f->title is always used for the window title on X or (where possible
  and desired) on ttys.

  f->name is used for the '%F' format in mode-line-frame-identification.
  If you want, you can even put '%F' in frame-title-format to include
  the frame name.

I haven't tried this yet, so it might not work.  But it sounds like it
will give the behaviour we want, and it's cleaner than the present
code.

We have a choice of either making select-frame-by-name look only at
f->name (as it does on tty frames at the moment), or having it also
look at titles as Miles suggested.  If we choose the first, we could
add select-frame-by-title.

> I see no reason _not_ to use this same model for ttys, and doing so
> would be a big win for consistency.  If, as I described earlier, F%d
> notation were still be displayed in mode-lines, and usable for
> select-frame-by-name, the current tty behavior would also largely be
> preserved.
> 
> I also think that the F%d stuff should work on X -- then there would be
> basically no difference between X and ttys in this area.

Yes, and users on ttys who like the F%d name could even arrange for it
to be shown in their xterm title if they wanted.

-- 
Martin