Note: This readme works with the org-make-toc package, which automatically updates the table of contents.

July 27, 2024 · View on GitHub

#+TITLE: Burly.el

#+PROPERTY: LOGGING nil

Note: This readme works with the org-make-toc https://github.com/alphapapa/org-make-toc package, which automatically updates the table of contents.

[[https://melpa.org/#/package-name][file:https://melpa.org/packages/burly-badge.svg]] [[https://stable.melpa.org/#/package-name][file:https://stable.melpa.org/packages/burly-badge.svg]]

#+HTML:

/See also: [[https://github.com/alphapapa/activities.el][Activities.el]], which provides more advanced functionality. To some extent, it obsoletes this library./

This package provides tools to save and restore frame and window configurations in Emacs, including buffers that may not be live anymore. In this way, it's like a lightweight "workspace" manager, allowing you to easily restore one or more frames, including their windows, the windows' layout, and their buffers.

Internally it uses Emacs's bookmarks system to restore buffers to their previous contents and location. This provides power and extensibility, since many major modes already integrate with Emacs's bookmarks system. However, in case a mode's bookmarking function isn't satisfactory, Burly allows the user to customize buffer-restoring functions for specific modes.

For Org mode, Burly provides such custom functions so that narrowed and indirect Org buffers are properly restored, and headings are located by outline path in case they've moved since a bookmark was made (the [[https://github.com/alphapapa/org-bookmark-heading][org-bookmark-heading]] package also provides this through the Emacs bookmark system, but users may not have it installed, and the functionality is too useful to not include here by default).

Internally, buffers and frame/window configurations are also encoded as URLs, and users may also save and open those URLs instead of using Emacs bookmarks. (The name "Burly" comes from "buffer URL.") For example, a URL to the =Installation/Quelpa= heading in this file, as I'm writing it, looks like this:

#+BEGIN_EXAMPLE emacs+burly+file:///home/me/src/emacs/burly.el/README.org?pos=2651&outline-path=%28%22Installation%22%20%22Quelpa%22%29&relative-pos=308 #+END_EXAMPLE

In terms of built-in features, Burly may be seen as integrating or leveraging the built-in libraries =bookmark.el=, =window.el=, and =frameset.el=.

  • Contents :noexport: :PROPERTIES: :TOC: :include siblings :END: :CONTENTS:
  • [[#installation][Installation]]
  • [[#usage][Usage]]
  • [[#changelog][Changelog]]
  • [[#development][Development]]
  • [[#credits][Credits]]
  • [[#license][License]] :END:
  • Installation :PROPERTIES: :TOC: :depth 0 :END:

** MELPA

If you installed from MELPA, you're done. Just run one of the commands below.

** Quelpa

The easiest way is to install with [[https://github.com/quelpa/quelpa-use-package][quelpa-use-package]], like this:

#+BEGIN_SRC elisp (use-package burly :quelpa (burly :fetcher github :repo "alphapapa/burly.el")) #+END_SRC

** Manual

  1. Install version 2.1 or later of the =map= library from GNU ELPA.
  2. Copy =burly.el= into a directory in your =load-path=, then (require 'burly).
  • Usage :PROPERTIES: :TOC: :depth 0 :END:

** Bookmark commands

Most users will probably use Burly by bookmarking frame and window configurations and accessing them with these commands:

  • =burly-bookmark-frames=: Bookmark the current frames and their window configurations.
  • =burly-bookmark-windows=: Bookmark the current frame's window configuration.
  • =burly-open-bookmark=: Select and open a Burly bookmark.
  • =burly-open-last-bookmark=: Open the last-opened Burly bookmark. Helpful for, e.g. quickly restoring an overview while working on a project.

Note that bookmarks created by Burly are regular Emacs bookmarks, so they can be managed by Emacs's built-in bookmark commands, e.g. =list-bookmarks=, =bookmark-delete=, etc.

** URL commands

These commands work on URL strings. While most users probably won't use these, they may be useful for building custom tooling.

  • =burly-open-url=: Open a Burly URL (at point, or prompt for one), displaying the buffer(s) in the current window or frame.
  • =burly-kill-buffer-url=: Copy BUFFER's URL to the kill ring.
  • =burly-kill-frames-url=: Copy the current frameset's URL to the kill ring.
  • =burly-kill-windows-url=: Copy the current frame's window configuration URL to the kill ring.

** Tab bar

Burly supports Emacs's tab-bar-mode with burly-tabs-mode. When active, Burly bookmarks are opened in new tabs, and the tabs are named according to the bookmarks. Reopening a Burly bookmark uses the designated tab, if it already exists, and tabs may be reset to their bookmarked state with the command burly-reset-tab (which you might bind to =C-x t R=).

** Tips

  • You can customize settings in the =burly= group.
  • An Info manual is included with this package.
  • Changelog :PROPERTIES: :TOC: :depth 0 :END:

** 0.4-pre

Added

  • Option burly-tabs-after-hook, run after opening a Burly bookmark in burly-tabs-mode. (Useful for, e.g. integrating with [[https://github.com/alphapapa/bufler.el][Bufler]] to set the new tab's workspace automatically.)
  • Option burly-tabs-abbreviate-name abbreviates the names of Burly bookmarks when using burly-tabs-mode.

Fixed

  • Preservation of window parameter window-preserved-size.

** 0.3

Added

  • Command burly-tabs-mode, which integrates Burly with tab-bar-mode. When active, Burly bookmarks are opened in new tabs, and the tabs are named according to the bookmark.
  • Command burly-reset-tab, which resets a tab to the state of the bookmark which opened it.

Changed

  • Emacs version 28.1 or later is required.

Fixed

** 0.2

Added

  • Bookmark commands use completing-read and offer existing Burly bookmark names, making it easier to update bookmarks. (Thanks to [[https://github.com/Kungsgeten][Erik Sjöstrand]].)
  • Command =burly-open-last-bookmark=.
  • Option =burly-set-window-persistent-parameters=, which synchronizes =window-persistent-parameters= with =burly-window-persistent-parameters=, ensuring that built-in Emacs commands like =window-toggle-side-windows= persist parameters that are persisted with Burly.

Changed

  • Option =burly-window-persistent-parameters='s default value includes more window parameters, like header/mode line, side, slot, etc, making it easier to restore an overview of a project or "workspace."
  • Emacs version 27.1 or later is required.

Fixed

** 0.1

Initial release.

  • Development

Bug reports, feature requests, suggestions — /oh my/!

  • Credits
  • License

GPLv3

  • COMMENT Export setup :noexport: :PROPERTIES: :TOC: :ignore (this descendants) :END:

Copied from org-super-agenda's readme, in which much was borrowed from Org's =org-manual.org=.

#+OPTIONS: broken-links:t *:t

** Info export options

#+TEXINFO_DIR_CATEGORY: Emacs #+TEXINFO_DIR_TITLE: Burly: (burly) #+TEXINFO_DIR_DESC: Save and restore window configurations and their buffers

NOTE: We could use these, but that causes a pointless error, "org-compile-file: File "..README.info" wasn't produced...", so we just rename the files in the after-save-hook instead.

#+TEXINFO_FILENAME: burly.info

#+EXPORT_FILE_NAME: burly.texi

** File-local variables

NOTE: Setting org-comment-string buffer-locally is a nasty hack to work around GitHub's org-ruby's HTML rendering, which does not respect noexport tags. The only way to hide this tree from its output is to use the COMMENT keyword, but that prevents Org from processing the export options declared in it. So since these file-local variables don't affect org-ruby, wet set org-comment-string to an unused keyword, which prevents Org from deleting this tree from the export buffer, which allows it to find the export options in it. And since org-export does respect the noexport tag, the tree is excluded from the info page.

Local Variables:

before-save-hook: org-make-toc

after-save-hook: (lambda nil (when (and (require 'ox-texinfo nil t) (org-texinfo-export-to-info)) (delete-file "README.texi") (rename-file "README.info" "burly.info" t)))

org-export-initial-scope: buffer

org-export-with-properties: ()

org-export-with-title: t

org-comment-string: "NOTCOMMENT"

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