Feature request: Display partial paragraph at the top of the window.

[Szabolcs Horvát]

A feature request:

Currently Vim can display partial long lines (paragraphs) at the
bottom of the window if display=lastline is set.  I would love to see
it do this at the top as well.  This is what I mean:

Suppose we have (view it with fixed width fonts):

+------------------------------+
|Some text here ...            |
|                              |
|This is a very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very long line.          |
|                              |
|Some more text here.          |
+------------------------------+

I would like to put the editor window into this state, without
inserting any hard line-breaks into that long line:

+------------------------------+
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very very very very very |
|very very long line.          |
|                              |
|Some more text here.          |
|Inserting more text ...       |
|                              |
|                              |
|                              |
+------------------------------+

At the moment a long paragraph goes completely off screen as soon as I
scroll down.

This would be useful for editing "normal" text (not program code),
like TeX, HTML, plain text etc.  I like to see the previous paragraph
as I am typing the current one.  Inserting hard line breaks is an
annoyance because of the need for constant reformatting, and because
other people usually mess up the line breaks when I give them the file
to edit.

Virtually all other editors (including Windows Notepad) can display
partial paragraphs.


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[Andy Wokula]

Szabolcs schrieb:

>
> A feature request:
>
> Currently Vim can display partial long lines (paragraphs) at the
> bottom of the window if display=lastline is set.  I would love to see
> it do this at the top as well.  This is what I mean:
>
> Suppose we have (view it with fixed width fonts):
>
> +------------------------------+
> |Some text here ...            |
> |                              |
> |This is a very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very long line.          |
> |                              |
> |Some more text here.          |
> +------------------------------+
>
> I would like to put the editor window into this state, without
> inserting any hard line-breaks into that long line:
>
> +------------------------------+
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very very very very very |
> |very very long line.          |
> |                              |
> |Some more text here.          |
> |Inserting more text ...       |
> |                              |
> |                              |
> |                              |
> +------------------------------+
>
> At the moment a long paragraph goes completely off screen as soon as I
> scroll down.
>
> This would be useful for editing "normal" text (not program code),
> like TeX, HTML, plain text etc.  I like to see the previous paragraph
> as I am typing the current one.  Inserting hard line breaks is an
> annoyance because of the need for constant reformatting, and because
> other people usually mess up the line breaks when I give them the file
> to edit.
>
> Virtually all other editors (including Windows Notepad) can display
> partial paragraphs.

VIM HATES LONG LINES, didn't you know?

--
Andy

btw: I always wanted that feature too, but it's a good occasion to give
other editors a try ;-)
btw: We love Vim, because it's different!


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[Bernhard Walle]

* Andy Wokula <[hidden email]> [2007-10-21 12:56]:
> >
> > Virtually all other editors (including Windows Notepad) can display
> > partial paragraphs.
>
> VIM HATES LONG LINES, didn't you know?

Not only vim. ;)


       Bern'hates long lines, too'hard
--
At least Microsoft offers updates to keep your selection of bugs fresh.
        -- Alan Shutko, hating Corel even more, in asr

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[Szabolcs Horvát]

On Oct 21, 12:56 pm, Andy Wokula <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> btw: I always wanted that feature too, but it's a good occasion to give
> other editors a try ;-)

I'd rather not.  I've already invested a lot of time into learning
Vim, and I'm sure other editors have their own problems too.

> btw: We love Vim, because it's different!


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[Szabolcs Horvát]

On Oct 21, 12:56 pm, Andy Wokula <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> VIM HATES LONG LINES, didn't you know?
>

So does this mean that there is some fundamental limitation in Vim's
design that makes this feature difficult to implement?  Is all hope
lost?


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[Ben Schmidt]

>> VIM HATES LONG LINES, didn't you know?
>
> So does this mean that there is some fundamental limitation in Vim's
> design that makes this feature difficult to implement?  Is all hope
> lost?

No, all hope is certainly not lost. Vim can definitely deal with the display
beginning part way through a line, as it can deal with lines that are larger than
a screenful and scroll the screen through them. So there's at least some of the
functionality there, and adding a bit more shouldn't be too amazingly hard. I too
am interested in this feature so will try to have a look through Vim's source code
at some stage and see if I can work anything out. But this is unlikely to be quick.

Ben.



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[Szabolcs Horvát]

On Oct 23, 1:49 am, Ben Schmidt <[hidden email]> wrote:
>
> No, all hope is certainly not lost. Vim can definitely deal with the display
> beginning part way through a line, as it can deal with lines that are larger than
> a screenful and scroll the screen through them. So there's at least some of the
> functionality there, and adding a bit more shouldn't be too amazingly hard. I too
> am interested in this feature so will try to have a look through Vim's source code
> at some stage and see if I can work anything out. But this is unlikely to be quick.
>

Ben, Thank you for the reply, and for considering this change! :-)


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