spinner

Homepage: https://github.com/Malabarba/spinner.el

Author: Artur Malabarba

Updated:

Summary

Add spinners and progress-bars to the mode-line for ongoing operations

Commentary

1 Usage
═══════

  First of all, don’t forget to add `(spinner "VERSION")' to your
  package’s dependencies.


1.1 Major-modes
───────────────

  1. Just call `(spinner-start)' and a spinner will be added to the
     mode-line.
  2. Call `(spinner-stop)' on the same buffer when you want to remove
     it.

  The default spinner is a line drawing that rotates. You can pass an
  argument to `spinner-start' to specify which spinner you want. All
  possibilities are listed in the `spinner-types' variable, but here are
  a few examples for you to try:

  • `(spinner-start 'vertical-breathing 10)'
  • `(spinner-start 'minibox)'
  • `(spinner-start 'moon)'
  • `(spinner-start 'triangle)'

  You can also define your own as a vector of strings (see the examples
  in `spinner-types').


1.2 Minor-modes
───────────────

  Minor-modes can create a spinner with `spinner-create' and then add it
  to their mode-line lighter. They can then start the spinner by setting
  a variable and calling `spinner-start-timer'. Finally, they can stop
  the spinner (and the timer) by just setting the same variable to nil.

  Here’s an example for a minor-mode named `foo'. Assuming that
  `foo--lighter' is used as the mode-line lighter, the following code
  will add an *inactive* global spinner to the mode-line.
  ┌────
  │ (defvar foo--spinner (spinner-create 'rotating-line))
  │ (defconst foo--lighter
  │   '(" foo" (:eval (spinner-print foo--spinner))))
  └────

  1. To activate the spinner, just call `(spinner-start foo--spinner)'.
     It will show up on the mode-line and start animating.
  2. To get rid of it, call `(spinner-stop foo--spinner)'. It will then
     disappear again.

  Some minor-modes will need spinners to be buffer-local. To achieve
  that, just make the `foo--spinner' variable buffer-local and use the
  third argument of the `spinner-create' function. The snippet below is an
  example.

  ┌────
  │ (defvar-local foo--spinner nil)
  │ (defconst foo--lighter
  │   '(" foo" (:eval (spinner-print foo--spinner))))
  │ (defun foo--start-spinner ()
  │   "Create and start a spinner on this buffer."
  │   (unless foo--spinner
  │     (setq foo--spinner (spinner-create 'moon t)))
  │   (spinner-start foo--spinner))
  └────

  1. To activate the spinner, just call `(foo--start-spinner)'.
  2. To get rid of it, call `(spinner-stop foo--spinner)'.

  This will use the `moon' spinner, but you can use any of the names
  defined in the `spinner-types' variable or even define your own.

Dependencies

Reverse dependencies