Info Catalog gnus: Alternative Approaches gnus: Summary Buffer gnus: Mail Group Commands

gnus: Tree Display

 
 3.25 Tree Display
 =================
 
 If you don’t like the normal Gnus summary display, you might try setting
 ‘gnus-use-trees’ to ‘t’.  This will create (by default) an additional
 “tree buffer”.  You can execute all summary mode commands in the tree
 buffer.
 
    There are a few variables to customize the tree display, of course:
 
 ‘gnus-tree-mode-hook’
      A hook called in all tree mode buffers.
 
 ‘gnus-tree-mode-line-format’
      A format string for the mode bar in the tree mode buffers (
      Mode Line Formatting).  The default is ‘Gnus: %%b %S %Z’.  For a
      list of valid specs, Summary Buffer Mode Line.
 
 ‘gnus-selected-tree-face’
      Face used for highlighting the selected article in the tree buffer.
      The default is ‘modeline’.
 
 ‘gnus-tree-line-format’
      A format string for the tree nodes.  The name is a bit of a
      misnomer, though—it doesn’t define a line, but just the node.  The
      default value is ‘%(%[%3,3n%]%)’, which displays the first three
      characters of the name of the poster.  It is vital that all nodes
      are of the same length, so you _must_ use ‘%4,4n’-like specifiers.
 
      Valid specs are:
 
      ‘n’
           The name of the poster.
      ‘f’
           The ‘From’ header.
      ‘N’
           The number of the article.
      ‘[’
           The opening bracket.
      ‘]’
           The closing bracket.
      ‘s’
           The subject.
 
      Formatting Variables.
 
      Variables related to the display are:
 
      ‘gnus-tree-brackets’
           This is used for differentiating between “real” articles and
           “sparse” articles.  The format is
                ((REAL-OPEN . REAL-CLOSE)
                 (SPARSE-OPEN . SPARSE-CLOSE)
                 (DUMMY-OPEN . DUMMY-CLOSE))
           and the default is ‘((?[ . ?]) (?( . ?)) (?{ . ?}) (?< .
           ?>))’.
 
      ‘gnus-tree-parent-child-edges’
           This is a list that contains the characters used for
           connecting parent nodes to their children.  The default is
           ‘(?- ?\\ ?|)’.
 
 ‘gnus-tree-minimize-window’
      If this variable is non-‘nil’, Gnus will try to keep the tree
      buffer as small as possible to allow more room for the other Gnus
      windows.  If this variable is a number, the tree buffer will never
      be higher than that number.  The default is ‘t’.  Note that if you
      have several windows displayed side-by-side in a frame and the tree
      buffer is one of these, minimizing the tree window will also resize
      all other windows displayed next to it.
 
      You may also wish to add the following hook to keep the window
      minimized at all times:
 
           (add-hook 'gnus-configure-windows-hook
                     'gnus-tree-perhaps-minimize)
 
 ‘gnus-generate-tree-function’
      The function that actually generates the thread tree.  Two
      predefined functions are available: ‘gnus-generate-horizontal-tree’
      and ‘gnus-generate-vertical-tree’ (which is the default).
 
    Here’s an example from a horizontal tree buffer:
 
      {***}-(***)-[odd]-[Gun]
           |      \[Jan]
           |      \[odd]-[Eri]
           |      \(***)-[Eri]
           |            \[odd]-[Paa]
           \[Bjo]
           \[Gun]
           \[Gun]-[Jor]
 
    Here’s the same thread displayed in a vertical tree buffer:
 
      {***}
        |--------------------------\-----\-----\
      (***)                         [Bjo] [Gun] [Gun]
        |--\-----\-----\                          |
      [odd] [Jan] [odd] (***)                   [Jor]
        |           |     |--\
      [Gun]       [Eri] [Eri] [odd]
                                |
                              [Paa]
 
    If you’re using horizontal trees, it might be nice to display the
 trees side-by-side with the summary buffer.  You could add something
 like the following to your ‘~/.gnus.el’ file:
 
      (setq gnus-use-trees t
            gnus-generate-tree-function 'gnus-generate-horizontal-tree
            gnus-tree-minimize-window nil)
      (gnus-add-configuration
       '(article
         (vertical 1.0
                   (horizontal 0.25
                               (summary 0.75 point)
                               (tree 1.0))
                   (article 1.0))))
 
    Window Layout.
 

Info Catalog gnus: Alternative Approaches gnus: Summary Buffer gnus: Mail Group Commands