Emacs: how to break out of ido minibuffer?

Question

I'm generally using ido-switch-buffer, but sometimes when there are too many candidates, helm-buffers-list is preferable. But it's a hassle to break out of ido, call helm and re-enter the lost information.

So I wrote this code, that re-uses information entered in ido directly in helm:

(require 'helm-buffers)
(defun switch-to-helm-buffers-list ()
  "Emulate `helm-buffers-list' call with ido contents as initial input."
  (interactive)
  (let ((str (minibuffer-contents-no-properties)))
    (helm :sources '(helm-source-buffers-list
                     helm-source-ido-virtual-buffers
                     helm-source-buffer-not-found)
          :buffer "*helm buffers*"
          :keymap helm-buffer-map
          :truncate-lines t
          :input str)
    ;; (ido-exit-minibuffer)
    ))

(add-hook
 'ido-setup-hook
 (lambda()
   (define-key ido-buffer-completion-map "\C-i"
     'switch-to-helm-buffers-list)))

One problem is that ido is left to linger in the minibuffer. When I add a call ido-exit-minibuffer before helm, it's not called. And when I add it after, it resets the window configuration. How can I solve this problem?

Answer 1

See answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/21165658/1937596

---

First, I patch your function a little.

(require 'helm-buffers)
(defun switch-to-helm-buffers-list ()
  "Emulate `helm-buffers-list' call with ido contents as initial input."
  (interactive)
  (let ((str ido-text))
    (helm :sources '(helm-source-buffers-list
                     helm-source-ido-virtual-buffers
                     helm-source-buffer-not-found)
          :buffer "*helm buffers*"
          :keymap helm-buffer-map
          :truncate-lines t
          :input str)
    ))

My recipe patches the body of function ido-buffer-internal (internal for ido-switch-buffer) too. You have to execute this code once.

(eval
 (read
  (replace-regexp-in-string
   "cond"
   "cond ((eq ido-exit 'eab-ido-helm) (call-interactively 'switch-to-helm-buffers-list)) "
   (save-window-excursion
     (find-function-do-it 'ido-buffer-internal nil 'switch-to-buffer)
     (let ((bgn (point)))
       (forward-sexp)
       (let ((end (point)))
     (buffer-substring-no-properties bgn end)))))))

And I add one auxiliary function.

(defun eab/ido-helm ()
  (interactive)
  (setq ido-exit 'eab-ido-helm)
  (exit-minibuffer))

Note, I use eab/ido-helm instead of switch-to-helm-buffers-list in define-key.

(add-hook
 'ido-setup-hook
 (lambda()
   (define-key ido-buffer-completion-map "\C-i"
     'eab/ido-helm)))