This package is no longer maintained. Similar functionality is provided by frame-purpose, available in MELPA.

frame-bufs extends Emacs’s buffer menu so that it understands a distinction between those buffers that "belong" to a frame and those that do not. The buffer menu can be toggled between listing all buffers and listing only those buffers associated with the selected frame. The criteria governing which buffers are associated with a frame can be customized through various options. In addition, buffers can be manually added to and removed from the list of buffers associated with a frame.

The package interacts properly with other-buffer and respects changes in buffer ordering made by bury-buffer. It does not alter the buffer-list or buried-buffer-list frame parameters. It is not compatible with non-nil values of pop-up-frames.

Installation

Put the package file in your load path and put:

(require 'frame-bufs)

in your .emacs. To enable frame-bufs, use the command frame-bufs-mode, or put (frame-bufs-mode t) in your .emacs.

Features Overview

When frame-bufs-mode is enabled, it keeps a record of which buffers are associated with each frame. In the typical case, a buffer becomes associated with a frame when it is selected in one of that frame's windows. Note, then, that a buffer can be associated with more than one frame.

The buffer menu now has two modes: It can either list all buffers (we call this "global mode") or only buffers associated with the selected frame ("local mode"). By typing F one can toggle between the two modes. In global mode there is an additional column after the initial CRM bit columns: the F column. Buffers associated with the selected frame are indicated with an o in this column. In local mode, the fourth column is suppressed. Here are screenshots of the buffer menu in the two different modes:

Local Mode

Buffer menu in local mode, sorted by buffer size. Only buffers associated with this frame are shown.

Global Mode

Buffer menu in global mode, sorted by buffer size. All buffers are shown; the buffers associated with this frame are distinguished by an o bit in the fourth F column.

When first called up, the buffer menu appears in global mode. In subsequent calls it opens in whatever mode it was last in.

In addition to toggling between the two modes, there are two other new commands available in the buffer menu:

• A buffer can marked as to be added to the selected frame's associated-buffer list by typing A.

• A buffer can be marked as to be removed from the associated-buffer list by typing N.

As with saving and killing buffers from the buffer menu, these requested changes are effected by calling Buffer-menu-execute.

Further Control of the Local Buffer List

As mentioned above, a buffer automatically becomes associated with a frame if it is selected in one of that frame's windows. Finer-grained control over which buffers are automatically associated with a frame is provided by the following variables:

• If frame-bufs-include-displayed-buffers is non-nil, then buffers that are merely displayed on a frame become associated with it, even if they have not been selected. (The default value is nil.)

• If a buffer's name is a member of frame-bufs-always-include-names, then that buffer is associated with every frame. (The default value is ("*scratch*" "*notes*").)

• If the command that creates a new frame also creates new buffers, then one might want those buffers to be automatically associated with the new frame. If frame-bufs-include-new-buffers is non-nil, then such buffers are added to the new frame's associated-buffer list, even if they have not been selected or displayed. (The default value is nil.)

• If frame-bufs-include-init-buffer is non-nil, then the buffer that is current when the command creating a new frame is called will be associated with the new frame. If nil, it will not. (The default value is nil.)

• If frame-bufs-new-frames-inherit is non-nil, then the associated buffers of a new frame's "parent"--the frame that was selected when the command creating the new frame is called--will be associated with the new frame. (The default value is nil.)

Other Commands and Features

• If the variable frame-bufs-use-buffer-predicate is non-nil, each frame's buffer predicate is set so that other-buffer will prefer frame-associated buffers. Thus, when a buffer is removed from a window and automatically replaced with another (as happens, say, when one kills a buffer), the newly displayed buffer will, if possible, be one associated with that frame. (The default value is t.) Changes to this varible do not take effect until the mode is re-enabled.

• The command frame-bufs-dismiss-buffer is somewhat analogous to bury-buffer. It removes a buffer from a frame's associated-buffer list, and if that buffer is displayed in any windows on the frame, it is replaced by another buffer. When called with no arguments, it acts on the current buffer and selected frame.

• The command frame-bufs-reset-frame resets a frame's associated-buffer list. Specifically, it sets the associated-buffer list to the list of buffers that have been selected on the frame. When called with no argument, it acts on the current frame.

• The command frame-bufs-reset-all-frames resets the associated-buffer list of all frames.