[mini.files] configurability of max lines shown in file preview

[sereneinserenade]

Hey, thanks for mini.nvim. It has truly sped up my workflow!

I've forked mini.files and added an option to configure max lines of file preview. However, I'm unable to make a PR to mini.files repo as a non-collaborator.

Is there a way I can do it?

[echasnovski]

Hi!

However, I'm unable to make a PR to mini.files repo as a non-collaborator.

Is there a way I can do it?

To answer this specific question first. The README of all modules has the following info: "All contributions (issues, pull requests, discussions, etc.) are done inside of 'mini.nvim'."

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To answer about adding config.windows.preview_max_lines option. Judging by the commit diff and message, the only place it is used is to limit the volume of read lines in vim.fn.readfile. Does using vim.o.lines cause any problem here?

At the moment I don't think it is a hugely useful config to have. And as 'mini.files' already has quite complex config and significant module size, it is very unlikely it will be added to 'mini.files'.

I'd assume that the primary use case of this is to limit the window height. For this, there is a way to customize each of window's config by following the structure of this example. The only problem here is to determine if the window is for the preview buffer. The windows field of get_explorer_state() output should be enough for that (iterate through it and determine if the path is for the file), although performance might suffer a bit.

[sereneinserenade]

Hey, thanks for the quick response!

README of all modules has the following info

I was so excited to contribute, I just rushed to make a PR. Sorry

use case

Apologies for not including this in the original post. The main use case for me is that frequently I want to be able to read through the whole file while previewing so I open it only if required, but currently vim.o.lines limits it to window size, which for me is usually around ~75 lines. Which leads to cut-off file-preview as shown in the following video.

File preview cut-off video

file.cut-off.in.preview.mp4

At the moment I don't think it is a hugely useful config to have. And as 'mini.files' already has quite complex config and significant module size, it is very unlikely it will be added to 'mini.files'.

Makes total sense. That's why I kept the default to vim.o.lines which would preserve the original behavior. Although I'd love to see this included, totally happy with your decision here.

In the event where this could become a part of mini.files, I'd love to make a PR to mini.nvim repo. Until then, I'll keep using my fork. Thanks for releasing it under MIT licence!

Huge thanks!

[echasnovski]

Oof... Although I can see how this can be useful, I don't think supporting scrolling in file preview (especially with mouse) is something that is a good thing to do. The main goal for the preview is to quickly identify that the file is the one user thinks it is and act upon that (open it or not, delete/rename/move/copy).

Doing should be already possible through available events, but at the moment it is not trivial. I think adding a path data field for every MiniFiles{Buffer,Window} event should make this relatively straightforward (without the need to maintain a fork). I'll take a look.

[sereneinserenade]

supporting scrolling in file preview (especially with mouse) is something that is a good thing to do

You're right. I use it as an exception to not have unwanted buffers lying around and to avoid opening them in .

I'll take a look.

That'd be great, thank you!

[echasnovski]

Resolving #1455 (which I moved up the TODO list after this question/suggestion, by the way) gives information about the path displayed in the buffer in the buffer's name itself.

Here is a more or less reliable way to implement "read more lines for file previews to be able to scroll them with mouse on rare occasion":

vim.api.nvim_create_autocmd('User', {
  pattern = 'MiniFilesBufferUpdate',
  callback = function(args)
    -- Compute path and proceed if it is for the file preview
    local buf_id = args.data.buf_id
    local path = vim.api.nvim_buf_get_name(buf_id):match('^minifiles://%d+/(.*)$')
    -- NOTE: it might be good to also check if the path is for text buffer,
    -- but that is left as homework (there is approach in 'mini.files' code).
    if path == nil or vim.fn.isdirectory(path) == 1 then return end

    -- Ensure more file content to allow scrolling with mouse
    local has_lines, read_res = pcall(vim.fn.readfile, path, '', 10 * vim.o.lines)
    -- - Make sure that lines don't contain '\n' (might happen in binary files).
    local lines = has_lines and vim.split(table.concat(read_res, '\n'), '\n') or {}
    vim.api.nvim_buf_set_lines(buf_id, 0, -1, false, lines)
  end,
})