frame parameters in Mac OS X version of gnu emacs

[Gilbert Harman]

Using the Mac OS X version of gnu emacs, running Mac OS
10.3.4 and emacs-version 23.3.50.1, with two monitors.

The command (frame-parameters) does not give a different
result for the "top" parameter and the "left" parameter
before and after a frame is moved, although it does give different
results for "height" and "width" if they are changed.

Example: start with a frame in the upper right of my screens.

(frame-parameters)
((display . "Mac") (visibility . t) (icon-name) (window-id . "11240512")
(top . 4) (left . 612) (buffer-list #<buffer *scratch*> #<buffer todo>)
(unsplittable) (minibuffer . #<window 8 on  *Minibuf-0*>) (modeline . t)
(width . 80) (height . 50) ...)

Move the frame lower and to the left without getting a
change:

(frame-parameters)
((display . "Mac") (visibility . t) (icon-name) (window-id . "11240512")
(top . 4) (left . 612) (buffer-list #<buffer *scratch*> #<buffer todo>)
(unsplittable) (minibuffer . #<window 8 on  *Minibuf-0*>) (modeline . t)
(width . 80) (height . 50) ...)

Change width and height, a change that does show up:

(frame-parameters)
((display . "Mac") (visibility . t) (icon-name) (window-id . "11240512")
(top . 4) (left . 612) (buffer-list #<buffer *scratch*> #<buffer todo>)
(unsplittable) (minibuffer . #<window 8 on  *Minibuf-0*>) (modeline . t)
(width . 79) (height . 39) ...)


Furthermore, while it is possible to provide usable top and left
parameters with

(add-to-list
 'initial-frame-alist '(top . 160))
(add-to-list
 'initial-frame-alist '(left . -1550))

the last cannot be replaced with '(left + 1550).

Nor can one get those parameters into a frame using:

(make-frame '((top . 160)(left . -1550))) or
(make-frame '((top . 160)(left + -1550)))

The first of these commands puts the frame on the far right
of my screens.  The second puts it on the left of my right
screen, which is my default location for make-frame.

I hope this information is useful.


In GNU Emacs 21.3.50.1 (powerpc-apple-darwin7.2.0)
 of 2004-03-15 on Gilbert-Harmans-Computer.local
configured using `configure '--with-carbon' '--without-x''

Important settings:
  value of $LC_ALL: nil
  value of $LC_COLLATE: nil
  value of $LC_CTYPE: nil
  value of $LC_MESSAGES: nil
  value of $LC_MONETARY: nil
  value of $LC_NUMERIC: nil
  value of $LC_TIME: nil
  value of $LANG: nil
  locale-coding-system: nil
  default-enable-multibyte-characters: t

Major mode: Outline

Minor modes in effect:
  recentf-mode: t
  display-time-mode: t
  mouse-wheel-mode: t
  menu-bar-mode: t
  global-font-lock-mode: t
  font-lock-mode: t
  unify-8859-on-encoding-mode: t
  line-number-mode: t

Recent input:
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C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n u C-n <return> C-n C-n C-n C-n
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n
C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-n C-v C-v q <escape>
x b u g SPC <backspace> <backspace> <backspace> r e
SPC <backspace> p SPC o r t SPC e SPC SPC <return>

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-- 
Gilbert Harman            (609) 258-4301
Department of Philosophy
Princeton University
Princeton, NJ 08544-1006  http://www.princeton.edu/~harman