Re: change cursor type when idle

[Kim F. Storm]

"Drew Adams" <address@hidden> writes:

> Another possible (minor) feature to consider for after the release: As an
> option, let users switch cursor type automatically when Emacs is idle.
>
> I've been using this for a while, and I like it. I like a bar cursor for
> editing, but the bar cursor is hard to locate, when I'm not already looking
> at it or near it. So, I use an idle timer to change it to a (blinking) box
> cursor while Emacs is idle. I find this helps quite a bit - without it, it's
> hard to use a bar cursor, IMO.
>
> Users can choose not to use this, and they can toggle it on and off. They
> can also change the number of seconds to wait before the automatic
> cursor-type change (2 sec, by default).

Brilliant idea!

Here's one way to do it.

If people don't like a blinking cursor normally, they just have to define
blink-cursor-delay to the same value as blink-cursor-idle-cursor-delay.


*** frame.el    22 Aug 2006 08:59:52 +0200      1.239
--- frame.el    28 Aug 2006 11:49:02 +0200      
***************
*** 1244,1249 ****
--- 1244,1259 ----
    :type 'number
    :group 'cursor)
  
+ (defcustom blink-cursor-idle-cursor-delay 5.0
+   "*Seconds of idle time after which cursor changes shape."
+   :type 'number
+   :group 'cursor)
+ 
+ (defcustom blink-cursor-idle-cursor-type 'box
+   "*Type of cursor which idle cursor changes shape into."
+   :type 'number
+   :group 'cursor)
+ 
  (defvar blink-cursor-idle-timer nil
    "Timer started after `blink-cursor-delay' seconds of Emacs idle time.
  The function `blink-cursor-start' is called when the timer fires.")
***************
*** 1253,1258 ****
--- 1263,1271 ----
  This timer calls `blink-cursor-timer-function' every
  `blink-cursor-interval' seconds.")
  
+ (defvar blink-cursor-saved-cursor-type nil
+   "Saved type of cursor if changed.")
+ 
  (defun blink-cursor-start ()
    "Timer function called from the timer `blink-cursor-idle-timer'.
  This starts the timer `blink-cursor-timer', which makes the cursor blink
***************
*** 1261,1267 ****
    (when (null blink-cursor-timer)
      ;; Set up the timer first, so that if this signals an error,
      ;; blink-cursor-end is not added to pre-command-hook.
!     (setq blink-cursor-timer
          (run-with-timer blink-cursor-interval blink-cursor-interval
                          'blink-cursor-timer-function))
      (add-hook 'pre-command-hook 'blink-cursor-end)
--- 1274,1281 ----
    (when (null blink-cursor-timer)
      ;; Set up the timer first, so that if this signals an error,
      ;; blink-cursor-end is not added to pre-command-hook.
!     (setq blink-cursor-saved-cursor-type nil
!         blink-cursor-timer
          (run-with-timer blink-cursor-interval blink-cursor-interval
                          'blink-cursor-timer-function))
      (add-hook 'pre-command-hook 'blink-cursor-end)
***************
*** 1269,1274 ****
--- 1283,1296 ----
  
  (defun blink-cursor-timer-function ()
    "Timer function of timer `blink-cursor-timer'."
+   (if (and (not blink-cursor-saved-cursor-type)
+          blink-cursor-idle-cursor-type
+          (not (equal cursor-type blink-cursor-idle-cursor-type))
+          (numberp blink-cursor-idle-cursor-delay)
+          (>= (float-time (or (current-idle-time) '(0 0)))
+             blink-cursor-idle-cursor-delay))
+       (setq blink-cursor-saved-cursor-type cursor-type
+           cursor-type blink-cursor-idle-cursor-type))
    (internal-show-cursor nil (not (internal-show-cursor-p))))
  
  (defun blink-cursor-end ()
***************
*** 1277,1282 ****
--- 1299,1308 ----
  When run, it cancels the timer `blink-cursor-timer' and removes
  itself as a pre-command hook."
    (remove-hook 'pre-command-hook 'blink-cursor-end)
+   (when blink-cursor-saved-cursor-type
+     (if (eq blink-cursor-idle-cursor-type cursor-type)
+       (setq cursor-type blink-cursor-saved-cursor-type))
+     (setq blink-cursor-saved-cursor-type nil))
    (internal-show-cursor nil t)
    (when blink-cursor-timer
      (cancel-timer blink-cursor-timer)

-- 
Kim F. Storm <address@hidden> http://www.cua.dk