Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!pyrdc!pyrnj!rutgers!mit-eddie!allegra.UUCP!kautz
From: kautz@allegra.UUCP (Henry Kautz)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: popping buffers
Message-ID: <8809141850.AA24595@EDDIE.MIT.EDU>
Date: 12 Sep 88 20:43:14 GMT
Sender: daemon@eddie.MIT.EDU
Lines: 31

After some time trying to figure out how to test if a given string is
the name of a buffer, I finally hit upon the following.  Note that
simply using bufferp doesn't work, because bufferp does not accept a
buffer name, only a buffer object.

(defun buffer-exists-p (b)
   "return the buffer object if a buffer named B exists,
otherwise nil"
   (condition-case nil
      (save-excursion (set-buffer b))
      (error nil)))

Then I wanted to pop-up, but not switch to, a buffer.  The best I
could devise is

(defun pop-up-buffer (b)
   "pop up buffer B but don't select it"
   (let ((c (current-buffer)))
      (pop-to-buffer b)
      (pop-to-buffer c)))

which has a couple of unfortunate features:  (1) it messes up the list
of recently visited buffers, and (2) it doesn't work if it's called
from a function which is temporarily using a non-displayed buffer.
Could someone mail me a better way to code this?

---- Henry Kautz
:uucp:	allegra!kautz
:arpa/internet: kautz%allegra.att.com@research.att.com
:csnet: kautz%allegra.att.com@RELAY.CS.NET
	or	kautz%allegra@btl.csnet