speedbar: Introduction

 
 1 Introduction
 **************
 
 To start using speedbar use the command ‘M-x speedbar RET’ or select it
 from the ‘Options->Show/Hide’ sub-menu.  This command will open a new
 frame to summarize the local files.  On X Window systems or on
 MS-Windows, speedbar’s frame is twenty characters wide, and will mimic
 the height of the frame from which it was started.  It positions itself
 to the left or right of the frame you started it from.
 
    To use speedbar effectively, it is important to understand its
 relationship with the frame you started it from.  This frame is the
 “attached frame” which speedbar will use as a reference point.  Once
 started, speedbar watches the contents of this frame, and attempts to
 make its contents relevant to the buffer loaded into the attached frame.
 In addition, all requests made in speedbar that require the display of
 another buffer will display in the attached frame.
 
    When used in terminal mode, the new frame appears the same size as
 the terminal.  Since it is not visible while working in the attached
 frame, speedbar will save time by using the “slowbar mode”, where no
 tracking is done until speedbar is requested to show itself (i.e., the
 speedbar’s frame becomes the selected frame).
 
    The function to use when switching between frames using the keyboard
 is ‘speedbar-get-focus’.  This function will toggle between frames, and
 it’s useful to bind it to a key in terminal mode.  SeeCustomizing.