Re: M-x compile should tell its status (a little bit better)..

[Kevin Rodgers]

Richard Stallman wrote:

>     Right know when starting compile it shows "Compiling" in the mode line.
>     When i started several compilations in parallel i found it confusing that
>     i could not find out if one of them has already finished. Execpt by
>     switching to that buffer and looking at its mode line...
>     So how about to change compile to reflect that info in its mode name so
>
> Could you say more precisely what change you have in mind
> in the mode line contents?

I think the idea is not to change the mode line, but to change the mode name

so that the status is apparent from `M-x list-buffers'.  I think the following
provides the desired effect, but it's just for illustration:


(defvar compilation-mode-name nil)

;; change `after' to `before', to avoid stomping on compilation-handle-exit:
(defadvice compilation-sentinel (after mode-name activate)
  "Set `mode-name' instead of `mode-line-process' to reflect the PROCess 
status."
  (let ((buffer (process-buffer (ad-get-arg 0)))
        (status (process-status (ad-get-arg 0))))
    (when (buffer-live-p buffer)
      (save-excursion
        (set-buffer buffer)
        ;; save the original mode name:
        (unless compilation-mode-name
          (set (make-local-variable 'compilation-mode-name) mode-name))
        ;; construct a mode name from the original plus the status:
        (setq mode-name
              (format "%s:%s)" compilation-mode-name status))
        ;; remove redundant status from the mode line:
        (setq mode-line-process nil)))))

(defadvice compile-internal (after compilation-sentinel activate)
  "Call `compilation-sentinel' to set `mode-name'."
  (compilation-sentinel (get-buffer-process compilation-last-buffer)
                        "started"))

--
Kevin Rodgers