change buffer in other frame, multiple monitors

[Sam Halliday]

Hi all,

I have a setup with multiple monitors and when using Emacs I have a frame in each monitor.

I recently asked a question on this list and the solution was to set

(setq-default display-buffer-reuse-frames t)

so that 'next-error would not popup a new window (when the window was already open in a new frame).

That worked great! I've recently been extending my use of basic emacs commands to include the commands under `C-x 5 ...` (i.e. the "do in the other frame" commands)

However, when I type `C-x 5 b` and select a buffer name, I am expecting the buffer to be shown in the other frame. But instead, the buffer is opened in a new frame.

It would appear that setting 'display-buffer-reuse-frames is not enough to force re-use of existing frames and this function is popping up a new one.

Is there something else I must do to re-use frames? I note that display-buffer-reuse-frames is deprecated, but I'm not entirely sure how to migrate to the new world.

Best regards,
Sam

[Sam Halliday]

I've updated the below with the newer display-buffer-alist approach with

(setq display-buffer-alist
'((".*" display-buffer-reuse-window (reusable-frames . t))
(".*" display-buffer-pop-up-frame (inhibit-switch-frame . t))))

The reuse-window entry seems to reproduce the behaviour of the legacy setting I was using.

I have added a display-buffer-pop-up-frame entry as per the documentation for display-buffer but it seems to be ignored.

Is my syntax perhaps incorrect? Maybe there should only be one ".*"?

[Sam Halliday]

I'm starting to think there must be a bug somewhere. Setting the explicit action is still causing `C-x 5 b` to open a new frame even if one is already open:

(setq display-buffer--other-frame-action
'((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
(reusable-frames . t) (inhibit-same-window . t)))

I'm on Debian Jessie but some mac users have said that the out-of-the-box behaviour is for `C-x 5 b` to reuse the other frame.

I'm stumped. Any help appreciated.

[Sam Halliday]

I'm starting to think that `C-x 5` commands are not really intended to reuse the other frame (despite their name). From the docs http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Creating-Frames.html

> If an existing visible or iconified ("minimized") frame already displays the requested buffer, that frame is raised and deiconified ("un-minimized"); otherwise, a new frame is created on the current display terminal.


e.g. starting emacs24 (debian jessie) with -Q and type

C-x 5 2 ;; new frame
C-x 5 b ;; *Messages*

a THIRD frame is opened. I had expected the other frame to be reused.


Is there any way to get the `C-x 5` commands to reuse the other frame instead of creating a new one or am I going to have to rewrite my own functions that first call `other-frame`?

[Michael Heerdegen]

Sam Halliday <sam.ha...@gmail.com> writes:

> (setq display-buffer--other-frame-action
> '((display-buffer-reuse-window display-buffer-pop-up-frame)
> (reusable-frames . t) (inhibit-same-window . t)))

That makes the thing reuse a frame only when there is a window already
displaying the buffer - see doc of `display-buffer-reuse-window'.

This is seemingly not what you want. What do you want instead: that a
random window in a random frame is selected and forced to display the
buffer?


Michael.

[Sam Halliday]

Workaround incase anybody else comes across this

(defun switch-to-buffer-other-frame--no-really (buffer-or-name)
"Switch to buffer BUFFER-OR-NAME in the other frame."
(interactive
(list (read-buffer-to-switch "Switch to buffer in other frame: ")))
(other-frame 1)
(switch-to-buffer buffer-or-name nil t)
(other-frame -1))

(global-set-key (kbd "C-x 5 b") 'switch-to-buffer-other-frame--no-really)

[Yuri Khan]

On Thu, May 28, 2015 at 8:25 PM, Michael Heerdegen
<michael_...@web.de> wrote:

> What do you want instead: that a
> random window in a random frame is selected and forced to display the
> buffer?

I think the implicit assumption is that there exists a unique frame
other than the current one, and that it contains a single window.

I find myself in such a setup quite often, although my normal workflow
is then to switch to the other frame (using windmove + framemove) and
then select whatever buffer I need in that frame.