1.12 Using SXEmacs Under the X Window System

SXEmacs can be used with the X Window System and a window manager like MWM or TWM. In that case, the X window manager opens, closes, and resizes SXEmacs frames. You use the window manager’s mouse gestures to perform the operations. Consult your window manager guide or reference manual for information on manipulating X windows.

When you are working under X, each X window (that is, each SXEmacs frame) has a menu bar for mouse-controlled operations (see Pull-down Menus).

SXEmacs under X is also a multi-frame SXEmacs. You can use the New Frame menu item from the File menu to create a new SXEmacs frame in a new X window from the same process. The different frames will share the same buffer list, but you can look at different buffers in the different frames.

The function find-file-other-frame is just like find-file, but creates a new frame to display the buffer in first. This is normally bound to C-x 5 C-f, and is what the Open File, New Frame menu item does.

The function switch-to-buffer-other-frame is just like switch-to-buffer, but creates a new frame to display the buffer in first. This is normally bound to C-x 5 b.

You can specify a different default frame size other than the one provided. Use the variable default-frame-plist, which is a plist of default values for frame creation other than the first one. These may be set in your init file, like this:

  (setq default-frame-plist '(width 80 height 55))

This variable has replaced default-frame-alist, which is considered obsolete.

For values specific to the first SXEmacs frame, you must use X resources. The variable x-frame-defaults takes an alist of default frame creation parameters for X window frames. These override what is specified in ~/.Xdefaults but are overridden by the arguments to the particular call to x-create-frame.

When you create a new frame, the variable create-frame-hook is called with one argument, the frame just created.

If you want to close one or more of the X windows you created using New Frame, use the Delete Frame menu item from the File menu.

If you are working with multiple frames, some special information applies:

• Two variables, frame-title-format and frame-icon-title-format determine the title of the frame and the title of the icon that results if you shrink the frame.
• The variables auto-lower-frame and auto-raise-frame position a frame. If true, auto-lower-frame lowers a frame to the bottom when it is no longer selected. If true, auto-raise-frame raises a frame to the top when it is selected. Under X, most ICCCM-compliant window managers will have options to do this for you, but these variables are provided in case you are using a broken window manager.
• There is a new frame/modeline format directive, %S, which expands to the name of the current frame (a frame’s name is distinct from its title; the name is used for resource lookup, among other things, and the title is simply what appears above the window.)