5

I am (really) new in Emacs and ESS, and I am currently trying to customize my environment. The default settings of ESS[R] are convenient for me, since ESS[R] organizes the windows as follows:

-----------------------------
|   ESS[R]    |    *R*      |
|  (R code)   | (R console) |
|             |             |
|             |             |
-----------------------------

But one thing I don't like is that, when you call an help page (or when using the C-c C-v shortcut), the default is to display the help page instead of the R buffer, like that:

-----------------------------
|   ESS[R]    |  *help[R]*  |
|  (R code)   |             |
|             |             |
|             |             |
-----------------------------

I would like the help buffer to be displayed just below the R buffer instead, like that:

-----------------------------
|   ESS[R]    |    *R*      |
|  (R code)   | (R console) |
|             |-------------|
|             |  *help[R]*  |
|             |             |
-----------------------------

But I don't manage to do that. I read carefully the manual, but I should have missed something. I added the following instructions in my .emacs file:

 '(display-buffer-alist
   (quote
    (("*Help"
      (display-buffer-at-bottom)
      (slot . 1)
      (side . right)
      (window-width . 0.5)))))

but it does not work, since the help buffer is displayed below the two other, with a width of 1. What should I do to get the window organization I want?

Improve this question
1
  • 3
    One quick and simple way is to make *Help* a "special buffer" so it gets a dedicated window: customize option special-display-buffer-names, adding "*Help*" to it.
    – Drew
    May 22, 2019 at 13:33

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

Thanks @Drew for your answer, but it did not work (maybe I did not made it correctly :-)). I tried to add this in my .emacs file:

(setq special-display-buffer-names
      '("*Help" "*help[R]*" "*Help*"))

but nothing changed. Then, I tried various settings for the variable ess-help-frame-alist, and I did not manage neither...

However, I finally found a solution! The following code is okay, and I think it was necessary to set the parameters of the R frame before the parameters of the Help frame:

(setq display-buffer-alist '(("*R"
                              (display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-in-side-window)
                              (side . right)
                              (slot . -1)
                              (window-width . 0.5)
                              (reusable-frames . nil))
                              ("*Help"
                              (display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-in-side-window)
                              (side . right)
                              (slot . 1)
                              (window-width . 0.5)
                              (reusable-frames . nil))))

Not so easy, but functional. :-)

Thanks again!

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    My recollection is that the display-buffer-alist uses regex for buffer names. An asterisk is not a literal asterisk unless it looks like \\* or [*] -- there may be other forms for literals, but I'm not that fluent in reg-speak. If your intention is to use the asterisk as something other than a literal asterisk, then just disregard my comment ...
    – lawlist
    May 22, 2019 at 22:16
  • 1
    @lawlist is correct in general, but "*R" and "*Help" will actually be working as intended, because certain metacharacters match literally when they appear in positions where their usual behaviour makes no sense. In this instance * as the very first character of the regexp makes no sense as a metacharacter, and consequently it actually matches a literal *. This behaviour is not very intuitive, however, and I would not recommend making intentional use of it -- it is cleaner to always use escaping in these situations, even if it's not strictly necessary.
    – phils
    Oct 21, 2019 at 22:46

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.