Re: [RFC] MI: Event notification

[Nick Roberts <nickrob at snap dot net dot nz>]

 > > The general idea is to report changes in program state to the frontend so
 > > that it only updates the parts that need it.  For example, after "up"
 > > frame_changed_hook triggers and the frontend knows it has to update the
 > > locals display.
 > 
 > You mean, after "up" emitted explicitly by the user? If the frontend changes
 > the frame itself, it does not need any notifications.

It might not be by clicking on a button but by typing "up" or even "u" from
the console (GUD buffer).  In such a case how would the frontend know that
the frame has changed?

 > > This means that stepping through a single frame should be much 
 > > quicker.  If GDB enters a new frame during execution, stack_changed_hook
 > > triggers and the frontend knows it has to update the call stack display. 
 > > I would eventually like to add more hooks like target-changed-hook when
 > > the user attaches to/detaches from a process, kills the process, or
 > > selects a new target with the "file" command.
 > 
 > Is this all for user-typed commands? I wonder if notifications for those are
 > really needed. Reloading entire UI state after a user command does not seem
 > too bad -- because user is not likely to enter 10 commands per second anyway
 > -- and is much simpler.

With a large stack and stepping through the program, I think it is very
noticeable, which is why I frequently try to select a line to run to.

 > > The hooks are inserted/removed through "interpreter-exec console
 > > cli-command" 
 > 
 > Sorry, can you clarify?

In mi_cmd_interpreter_exec, there are calls to mi_insert_notify_hooks and
mi_remove_notify_hooks.

 > > so I envisage not using MI commands like -exec-run, 
 > > -exec-next, -stack-select-frame that change that state.

mi_cmd_interpreter_exec only gets called with "interpreter-exec" so there
would be no event notification in this case.

-- 
Nick                                           http://www.inet.net.nz/~nickrob