README

1 More friendly interface for ivy

The package current comes with support for ivy-switch-buffer, counsel-M-x, counsel-describe-function and counsel-describe-variable, but it should be easy enough to define your own transformers. Screenshots are available here.

1.1 Installation

package-install RET ivy-rich RET

1.2 Basic Usages

(require 'ivy-rich)
(ivy-rich-mode 1)

It is recommended to set also

(setcdr (assq t ivy-format-functions-alist) #'ivy-format-function-line)

1.3 Customization

The transformer format for each ivy command is defined in plist ivy-rich--display-transformers-list, which has a default value

'(ivy-switch-buffer
  (:columns
   ((ivy-rich-candidate (:width 30))  ; return the candidate itself
    (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-size (:width 7))  ; return the buffer size
    (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-indicators (:width 4 :face error :align right)); return the buffer indicators
    (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-major-mode (:width 12 :face warning))          ; return the major mode info
    (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-project (:width 15 :face success))             ; return project name using `projectile'
    (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-path (:width (lambda (x) (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-shorten-path x (ivy-rich-minibuffer-width 0.3))))))  ; return file path relative to project root or `default-directory' if project is nil
   :predicate
   (lambda (cand) (get-buffer cand)))
  counsel-M-x
  (:columns
   ((counsel-M-x-transformer (:width 40))  ; thr original transformer
    (ivy-rich-counsel-function-docstring (:face font-lock-doc-face))))  ; return the docstring of the command
  counsel-describe-function
  (:columns
   ((counsel-describe-function-transformer (:width 40))  ; the original transformer
    (ivy-rich-counsel-function-docstring (:face font-lock-doc-face))))  ; return the docstring of the function
  counsel-describe-variable
  (:columns
   ((counsel-describe-variable-transformer (:width 40))  ; the original transformer
    (ivy-rich-counsel-variable-docstring (:face font-lock-doc-face))))  ; return the docstring of the variable
  counsel-recentf
  (:columns
   ((ivy-rich-candidate (:width 0.8)) ; return the candidate itself
    (ivy-rich-file-last-modified-time (:face font-lock-comment-face))))) ; return the last modified time of the file

Each plist key is a ivy command and plist value is its transformer format definitions. The transformer definition is combined with several columns (also in plist format) indicated by :columns and a filter function predicate function indicated by :predicate.

A transformer is just a string processing function with some format properties. Thus it should be easy to add or remove the columns you want. The first element of each element in the value of :columns is a transform function which takes an ivy candidate (string) and should return a transformed string. The second element is also a plist which defines the properties of current transformer. Currently supported keywords are :width, :face and :align. Refer to the documentation of ivy-rich--display-transformers-list for details. Notice that besides using a common face for each column, you can still return propertied string in the transform function.

If the predicate function is given, only candidate with t predicate will be transformed.

1.3.1 Example

1.3.1.1 counsel-M-x

For example, the transformer for counsel-M-x

counsel-M-x
(:columns
 ((counsel-M-x-transformer (:width 40))
  (ivy-rich-counsel-function-docstring (:face font-lock-doc-face))))

it defines two columns. The first one is the original built-in transformer with max width of 40 chars and the second one transforms the string candidate into a docstring with face font-lock-doc-face.

1.3.1.2 Add icons for ivy-switch-buffer

The package all-the-icons.el provides functionality to use icon fonts easily in emacs. For example, you can define a transformer

   (defun ivy-rich-switch-buffer-icon (candidate)
     (with-current-buffer
   	  (get-buffer candidate)
	(let ((icon (all-the-icons-icon-for-mode major-mode)))
	  (if (symbolp icon)
	      (all-the-icons-icon-for-mode 'fundamental-mode)
	    icon))))

and add it to the ivy-rich--display-transformers-List

(setq ivy-rich--display-transformers-list
      '(ivy-switch-buffer
        (:columns
         ((ivy-rich-switch-buffer-icon :width 2)
          (ivy-rich-candidate (:width 30))
          (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-size (:width 7))
          (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-indicators (:width 4 :face error :align right))
          (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-major-mode (:width 12 :face warning))
          (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-project (:width 15 :face success))
          (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-path (:width (lambda (x) (ivy-rich-switch-buffer-shorten-path x (ivy-rich-minibuffer-width 0.3))))))
         :predicate
         (lambda (cand) (get-buffer cand)))))

You will get

1.4 Notes

1. If you modify ivy-rich--display-transformers-list, you may need to disable and re-enable ivy-rich-mode again to make the changes take effect.
2. If you define transformers for commands comes from neither ivy nor counsel, e.g. counsel-projectile-*, it currently may not take effect since if you enable ivy-rich-mode before loading counsel-projectile, the transformer setting is overwritten by loading the package. I am considering to add a :package keyword in the transformer definition to deal with this.
3. Disabling the minor mode ivy-rich-mode will restore the transformers to what they were before, but not necessarily to the ‘built-in default’ one. For example, the default transformer for ivy-switch-buffer is ivy-switch-buffer-transformer from the ivy package. But if you set the transformer to some-function before enabling ivy-rich-mode, disabling the minor mode will restore it to some-function other than ivy-switch-buffer-transformer.

2 Screenshots and details

2.1 ivy-switch-buffer

To abbreviate paths using abbreviate-file-name (e.g. replace “/home/username” with “~”)

(setq ivy-rich-path-style 'abbrev)

Note that this may not affect remote files. To always show absolute path, set it to 'full or 'absolute. Any other value will show the file path relative to the project root or default-Directory.

There are two variables ivy-rich-parse-remote-buffer and ivy-rich-parse-remote-file-path controls how remote buffers are processed, please refer to the docstring of them for more details if you have trouble using this function under tramp.

2.2 counsel-M-x

2.3 counsel-describe-variable

2.4 counsel-recentf

2.5 counsel-bookmark

2.6 package-install

3 Important Changes

Since the version 0.1.0 of ivy-rich, the transformer format can be customized. Variables from older version like ivy-rich-switch-buffer-mode-max-length or ivy-rich-switch-buffer-project-max-length has been deprecated since they are now packed into ivy-rich--display-transformers-list as stated in the customization section.

Supports for virtual buffers and shorten file paths in ivy-switch-buffer are temporarily Removed.

4 FAQ

• Can I search buffers by major-mode, project in ivy-switch-buffer?

  No, as far as I know, you can not right now. ivy-rich provides just transformers to display the original ivy candidates in a different way. It does not modify the original candidates. At least for now I have no idea how to add feature to search in the transformer columns. It probably requires some change in ivy.

So you can not search the description of counsel-describe-function neither.

5 Related Packages

• ivy-filthy-rich.el by @casouri
• all-the-icons-ivy by @asok