[Question] Extending default modeline

[SalTor]

I'm new to emacs lisp and am wondering whether there's a better way to update the default modeline for my purposes

Right now the default one shows a primary and secondary section, usually a buffer name and git branch name

I'm a user of evil-mode and would like to have a representation of the current evil state in the modeline so I re-defined this function for the default mode line and currently have to execute it manually in order to have it show

The result is like this

The change is this (cond ...) portion at the end

(defun nano-modeline-default-mode (&optional icon)
    (let ((icon (or icon
                    (plist-get (cdr (assoc 'text-mode nano-modeline-mode-formats)) :icon)))
          ;; We take into account the case of narrowed buffers
          (buffer-name (cond
                        ((and (derived-mode-p 'org-mode)
                              (buffer-narrowed-p)
                              (buffer-base-buffer))
                         (format"%s [%s]" (buffer-base-buffer)
                                (org-link-display-format
                                (substring-no-properties (or (org-get-heading 'no-tags)
                                                         "-")))))
                        ((and (buffer-narrowed-p)
                              (buffer-base-buffer))
                         (format"%s [narrow]" (buffer-base-buffer)))
                        (t
                         (format-mode-line "%b"))))

          (mode-name   (nano-modeline-mode-name))
          (branch      (nano-modeline-vc-branch))
          (position    (format-mode-line "%l:%c")))
      (nano-modeline-render icon
                            buffer-name
                            (concat
                             (if branch
                                 (concat "(" branch ")")
                               "")
                             " "
                             (concat
                              "<"
                              (cond
                              (( eq evil-state 'visual) "V")
                              (( eq evil-state 'normal) "N")
                              (( eq evil-state 'insert) "I")
                              (( eq evil-state 'emacs) "E")
                              (t "*"))
                              ">"))
                            position)))

So:

• I see that I can set this variable by re-setting the custom variable
• And I see that in the code the user-mode is now deprecated
• And I know it's sugested to add additional desired modes to the list of mode-formats
• I like the current default modeline, I just want to add to it
• Question is: is this the best way to go about doing it?
  • Followup question: Would you be opposed to me opening a PR that introduces this to the default modeline in a cleaner way?

[rougier]

If you add your mode at the end of nano-modeline-mode-formats, it should replace the default mode that is called when no other mode has been found. As for making a PR, I would prefer having something specific in default mode. One option could be to have an evil-defaut mode at the end of the list.

[rougier]

Should now be much easier with the new simpler branch.