www.delorie.com/gnu/docs/emacs/gnus_110.html

search

	Buy the book!

Gnus Manual

3.23 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 (see section 8.4.2 Mode Line Formatting). The default is `Gnus: %%b %S %Z'. For a list of valid specs, see section 3.1.3 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.

See section 8.4 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.

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))))

See section 8.5 Windows Configuration.