[GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[Emanuele Santoro]

Hi all!

I recently configured Gnus on GNU Emacs 24.4.1 as newsreader. In order
to subscribe to newsgroups, I type M-d, bound to the
gnus-group-describe-all-groups.

The problem is that newsgroups shown are not sorted by name, making
quite anooying to browse.

I tried to edit the gnus-group-describe-all-groups function as follows:


(defun gnus-group-describe-all-groups (&optional force)
  "Pop up a buffer with descriptions of all newsgroups."
  (interactive "P")
  (when force
    (setq gnus-description-hashtb nil))
  (when (not (or gnus-description-hashtb
		 (gnus-read-all-descriptions-files)))
    (error "Couldn't request descriptions file"))

  ;; MODIFCATIONS START HERE
  ;; remove newsgroups with strange names that make sorting fail
  (setq gnus-description-hashtb (remove-if 'numberp gnus-description-hashtb))
  ;; sort the gnus-description-hashtb
  (setq gnus-description-hashtb
	(cl-sort gnus-description-hashtb (lambda (x y)
					   (string< (symbol-name y) (symbol-name x)))))
  ;; MODIFICATIONS END HERE


  (let ((buffer-read-only nil)
	b)
    (erase-buffer)
    (mapatoms
     (lambda (group)
       (setq b (point))
       (let ((charset (gnus-group-name-charset nil (symbol-name group))))
	 (insert (format "      *: %-20s %s\n"
			 (gnus-group-name-decode
			  (symbol-name group) charset)
			 (gnus-group-name-decode
			  (symbol-value group) charset))))
       (gnus-add-text-properties
	b (1+ b) (list 'gnus-group group
		       'gnus-unread t 'gnus-marked nil
		       'gnus-level (1+ gnus-level-subscribed))))
     gnus-description-hashtb)
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (gnus-group-position-point)))

Basically, since gnus-description-hashtb is a vector (not an hash-table
as the name would suggest) of symbol whose name is the name of the
newsgroup, my approach is to sort such vector and then let the mapatoms
function work.

I placed this function in my *scratch* buffer and evaluated it after
loading Gnus, but reloading the newsgroup list shows no effect: the
newsgroup list is still unsorted.

Please note that I am not an expert Lisp programmer nor an expert GNU
Emacs user.

How could I solve this problem?

Thanks in advance,
--
Emanuele Santoro

Re: [GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[Adam Sjøgren]

Not really an answer to your question, but if you go to the *Server*
buffer (by pressing ^ in the *Group* buffer), and then press RET on the
name of the server, I think you get the list of newsgroup sorted?

You can then (un)subscribe using u and exit the list with q and the
*Server* buffer with q as well.


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "Never never mind."                                          Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk


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Re: [GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[Emanuel Berg]

asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

> Not really an answer to your question, but if you go
> to the *Server* buffer (by pressing ^ in the *Group*
> buffer), and then press RET on the name of the
> server, I think you get the list of
> newsgroup sorted?

Better yet, it is not only "sorted", it is *organized*
and all spelled out with the sweet old Usenet
notation, from the generic to the specific:

    comp.text.tex
    rec.bicycles.tech
    rec.sport.boxing

but now with the Gmane prefix as well:

    gmane.comp.graphics.gnuplot.user
    gmane.emacs.erc.general
    gmane.emacs.w3m

-- 
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http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573


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Re: [GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[Adam Sjøgren]

Emanuel writes:

> Better yet, it is not only "sorted", it is *organized* and all spelled
> out with the sweet old Usenet notation, from the generic to the
> specific:

Uh. I'm pretty sure that is nothing something Gnus does - Gnus just
shows the groups sorted.


  Best regards,

    Adam

-- 
 "Too little imagination, too much stomach acid!"             Adam Sjøgren
                                                         asjo@koldfront.dk


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Re: [GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[Emanuel Berg]

asjo@koldfront.dk (Adam Sjøgren) writes:

>> Better yet, it is not only "sorted", it is
>> *organized* and all spelled out with the sweet old
>> Usenet notation, from the generic to the specific:
>
> Uh. I'm pretty sure that is nothing something Gnus
> does - Gnus just shows the groups sorted.

If one group was called emacs.gnus and the other
w3m.emacs they wouldn't be close to each other because
sorting alphabetically would place emacs.gnus at "E"
and w3m.emacs at "w".

So the organization makes the sorting have an even
better result!

-- 
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http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573


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Re: [GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[Emanuel Berg]

Emanuele Santoro <manu@santoro.tk> writes:

> I recently configured Gnus on GNU Emacs 24.4.1 as
> newsreader. In order to subscribe to newsgroups,
> I type M-d, bound to the
> gnus-group-describe-all-groups.
>
> The problem is that newsgroups shown are not sorted
> by name, making quite anooying to browse.

Speaking of "browse", another option is to, in the
Group buffer, do `gnus-group-enter-server-mode', then
find your server for news (e.g., news.gmane.org), and
hit RET.

Here is a screenshot what it can look like:

    http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/pics/gnus-server-color.png

I write "can" because to get the font lock, use the
font stuff in this file:

    http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573/conf/emacs-init/gnus/browse.el

But to get the *sorting*, you don't have to
do anything!

> Please note that I am not an expert Lisp programmer
> nor an expert GNU Emacs user.

Who is? :)

-- 
underground experts united
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573

Re: [GNUS] Displaying available news-groups, sorted by name

[Lars Ingebrigtsen]

Emanuele Santoro <manu@santoro.tk> writes:

> I recently configured Gnus on GNU Emacs 24.4.1 as newsreader. In order
> to subscribe to newsgroups, I type M-d, bound to the
> gnus-group-describe-all-groups.
>
> The problem is that newsgroups shown are not sorted by name, making
> quite anooying to browse.

I've now changed the function to sort the groups before inserting.

-- 
(domestic pets only, the antidote for overdose, milk.)
   bloggy blog: http://lars.ingebrigtsen.no