Research multi-buffer inline diff display #598
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Research feasibility of displaying multiple buffers within a single visual pane (tab) for side-by-side diff, unified diff, and 3-way merge views. Key findings: - Existing COMPOSITE_BUFFER_ARCHITECTURE.md provides solid foundation - Proposes phased approach: enhanced virtual buffers → multi-source tokens → full composite buffers with editing - Documents design options, trade-offs, and mapping to existing arch
Full specification for displaying multiple buffers in a single tab: Core data structures: - CompositeBuffer: References multiple source buffers - LineAlignment: Maps display rows to source lines with padding - CompositeViewState: Per-split state with unified scrolling Rendering pipeline: - CompositeRenderer: Handles side-by-side, stacked, unified layouts - Automatic line alignment with padding for diff views - Focus indicator for active pane Input routing: - CompositeInputRouter: Routes events to focused pane's source buffer - Coordinate mapping from display to source positions - Scroll events affect entire composite view Plugin API: - createCompositeBuffer(): Full configuration for layouts - updateCompositeAlignment(): Live refresh on source changes - setCompositeFocus(): Switch between panes Includes complete diff_view.ts plugin example.
Implements the foundation for multi-buffer single-tab views: - src/model/composite_buffer.rs: CompositeBuffer, SourcePane, PaneStyle, LineAlignment with support for diff hunks, and RowType for styling - src/view/composite_view.rs: CompositeViewState with pane focus, unified scrolling, and per-pane cursor tracking - src/view/composite_renderer.rs: CompositeRenderer with side-by-side, stacked, and unified layout modes The composite buffer system enables displaying multiple source buffers within a single tab, supporting use cases like side-by-side diff, unified diff, and 3-way merge views.
Implements CompositeInputRouter for handling keyboard input in composite buffer views: - Scroll navigation (j/k, arrows, page up/down, g/G) - Pane switching (Tab, h/l) - Hunk navigation (n/p, [/]) - Edit routing to source buffers (respects read-only panes) - Display-to-source coordinate mapping - Click-to-pane detection The router translates composite-level input into specific actions that can be applied to the composite view or routed to source buffers.
- Add composite_buffers and composite_view_states fields to Editor - Create separate composite_buffer_actions.rs for management methods - Add methods: create_composite_buffer, close_composite_buffer, get_composite_view_state, composite_scroll, composite_next/prev_hunk - Update get_buffer_display_name to handle composite buffers
Add PluginCommand variants for creating, updating, and closing composite buffers. This enables TypeScript plugins to create side-by-side diff views and other multi-buffer layouts. - Add CreateCompositeBuffer, UpdateCompositeAlignment, CloseCompositeBuffer commands - Add CompositeLayoutConfig, CompositeSourceConfig, CompositePaneStyle types - Add handler methods in composite_buffer_actions.rs - Route new commands in Editor::handle_plugin_command
Add op functions and editor methods for creating and managing composite buffers from TypeScript plugins: - createCompositeBuffer(options): Create a multi-buffer view - updateCompositeAlignment(bufferId, hunks): Update diff alignment - closeCompositeBuffer(bufferId): Close a composite buffer This enables plugins to create side-by-side diff views and other multi-buffer layouts within a single tab.
Add a diff view plugin that demonstrates the composite buffer infrastructure: - Compare current file with git HEAD - Side-by-side view with line alignment - Keybindings for hunk navigation (n/N, [c/]c) - Tab to switch between panes - q/Escape to close This plugin uses createCompositeBuffer() to create a multi-buffer view within a single tab.
Replace the split-based side-by-side diff with composite buffers: - `side_by_side_diff_current_file` now uses createCompositeBuffer - `review_drill_down` now uses createCompositeBuffer - Add activeCompositeDiffState for tracking composite diff views - Proper cleanup on buffer close - Remove separate diff_view.ts (functionality merged into audit_mode) Benefits of composite buffers: - Single tab instead of two splits - Line alignment handled by infrastructure - Synchronized scrolling built-in - Proper OLD|NEW ordering (left=old, right=new)
Connect composite buffers to the main render path: - Add is_composite_buffer flag to EditorState - Register composite buffers with split_view_states for tabs - Add composite_buffers parameter to render_content - Add render_composite_buffer for side-by-side pane rendering - Render each pane with header label and buffer content This enables composite buffers to actually display in the editor instead of showing empty buffers.
- Add event_logs entry for composite buffers to fix panic on 'g' key - Route scroll/movement actions through handle_composite_action - Add cursor_row field to CompositeViewState with movement methods - Highlight current line in composite pane rendering - Fix plugin keybindings: "close_buffer" -> "close", add h/l keys - Pass composite_view_states to render functions for scroll sync
…ring - Add diff_add_bg, diff_remove_bg, diff_modify_bg colors to Theme struct - Add serde defaults for backwards-compatible theme file parsing - Update all 4 built-in themes (dark, light, high_contrast, nostalgia) - Refactor render_composite_buffer to use LineAlignment for proper diff display - Style rows based on RowType (Addition, Deletion, Modification, etc.)
…r view - Add render_composite_scrollbar() for visual scroll position feedback - Pass CompositeViewState to render_composite_buffer for state access - Add cursor_column tracking to CompositeViewState - Add cursor column movement methods (left/right/home/end) with auto-scroll - Render cursor as inverted character at cursor position - Apply horizontal scrolling per-pane using PaneViewport.left_column - Pad content to fill width for consistent diff backgrounds
Create PLAN_composite_rendering_reuse.md documenting: - Current architecture and its coupling to byte-based contexts - Proposed LineRenderer abstraction for per-line rendering - Implementation steps for proper code reuse - Benefits and estimated effort
Updated PLAN_composite_rendering_reuse.md with clean architecture: - Bridge line numbers (composite) to byte offsets (normal pipeline) - build_view_line_from_line() - builds ViewLine from source line number - get_line_highlights() - queries highlighter for line's byte range - render_composite_view_line() - renders with full styling - Reuses: ViewLineIterator, compute_char_style logic, Highlighter, Theme
- CompositeBuffer wraps full EditorStates, not custom rendering - Each pane uses existing render_buffer_in_split() for all features - Chunk-based alignment with markers at boundaries only - Markers auto-adjust on edit, context chunks update line_count - Hunks marked dirty for localized recomputation - Diff highlighting via overlays on pane EditorStates - Unified scroll_display_row derived to per-pane top_byte - Input routing to focused pane's EditorState
The CompositeRenderer struct was defined but never used anywhere in the codebase. The actual composite buffer rendering is done in split_rendering.rs via render_composite_buffer(). This removes dead code as part of the architecture cleanup.
Merged the following fragmented docs into docs/internal/DIFF_VIEW.md: - PLAN_composite_rendering_reuse.md - DIFF_BRANCH_CONTINUATION.md - docs/REVIEW_DIFF_FEATURE.md - docs/COMPOSITE_BUFFER_ARCHITECTURE.md - docs/MULTI_BUFFER_SINGLE_TAB_RESEARCH.md The new document has two parts: 1. UX Design - keyboard shortcuts, visual layout, comment system 2. Architecture/Implementation - dual-mode rendering decision, ChunkAlignment with markers, render_aligned_view_lines design Key design decision: Option E (Dual-Mode Rendering) chosen over full pipeline reuse because aligned diff views need gaps that consecutive line rendering cannot provide.
Refactored render_composite_buffer to use the ViewLine pipeline for proper syntax highlighting in diff views. Key changes: - Build ViewData per pane using build_view_data() to get syntax-highlighted ViewLines with proper token styles - Create source_line -> ViewLine index mapping for each pane - New render_view_line_content() helper that renders ViewLine with: - Per-character syntax highlighting from char_styles - Horizontal scroll support - Cursor rendering - Style accumulation for efficient span generation - Fallback to direct buffer read if ViewLine not found This implements the dual-mode rendering design from DIFF_VIEW.md where composite buffers reuse the ViewLine building infrastructure while having their own aligned rendering loop for gaps.
Fix language detection for virtual buffer names like "*OLD:test_diff.ts*" by stripping surrounding * characters and extracting the actual filename after prefixes like "OLD:" or "NEW:". This enables syntax highlighting in composite/diff views where source buffers are created with decorated names.
- Add visual_mode, selection_anchor_row/column to CompositeViewState - Add selection helpers (start_visual_selection, is_row_selected, etc.) - Add SelectionAction enum to composite router - Handle SelectDown/SelectUp/Copy actions in handle_composite_action - Render selection highlighting with theme.selection_bg - Add selection and copy keybindings to diff-view mode (Shift+j/k, y, Ctrl+c)
- Fix keybinding syntax for diff-view mode (use "J", "K", "C-c", "S-Down") - Route Action::Copy to handle_composite_action for composite buffers - Ensures copy in diff view uses the composite-specific selection logic
Added modifications to test the side-by-side diff functionality: - Modified scrollTest5 with additional text - Added new comment at end of file
…osite view - Simplified diff-view mode to inherit from "normal" mode - Forward navigation/selection actions to focused source buffer instead of reimplementing them in handle_composite_action - Removed duplicate navigation logic, leveraging action_to_events - Only special handling for Copy (needs aligned row mapping) and Close
The previous attempt to forward actions to source buffers didn't work because the composite view needs its own cursor/scroll state for aligned row navigation. Restored explicit handling for: - Arrow key navigation (MoveDown/Up/Left/Right) - Page navigation (MovePageDown/Up) - Document start/end - Scroll actions - Selection with Shift+arrows The diff-view mode still inherits from "normal" for keybindings, but the BufferMode registry doesn't have a "normal" mode defined - this needs to be addressed by explicitly defining keybindings in diff-view.
…play - Add composite_view field to SplitViewState for future view-layer refactoring - Update navigation actions (MoveDown/Up/Left/Right) to sync cursor position with the fake EditorState's primary_cursor_line_number - Update selection actions (SelectDown/Up/Left/Right) similarly - This fixes the status bar showing "Ln 1, Col 1" when navigating in diff view
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