Re: how to make next-error work on non-grep non-compilation

[Ted Zlatanov]

On Fri, 20 May 2011 04:41:54 -0700 (PDT) jimka <jimka.velizy@googlemail.com> 
wrote: 

j> Hi elisp experts, I have a file which contains grep/compilation style
j> output.  I'd like to insert that into an emacs buffer and provide the
j> next- error capability to the user.  I can't seem to make it work,
j> but I feel like I'm almost there.

You can make any buffer support `next-error' by binding
`next-error-function'.  See simple.el:

(defvar next-error-function nil
  "Function to use to find the next error in the current buffer.
The function is called with 2 parameters:
ARG is an integer specifying by how many errors to move.
RESET is a boolean which, if non-nil, says to go back to the beginning
of the errors before moving.
Major modes providing compile-like functionality should set this variable
to indicate to `next-error' that this is a candidate buffer and how
to navigate in it.")
(make-variable-buffer-local 'next-error-function)

The buffer doesn't have to be in any particular mode.

Ted