Open Vifm inside Neovim as a floating window

[maxigaz]

I’ve recently learned about vim-floaterm, which can display command-line applications in floating windows inside Neovim (Vim 8.1’s rough equivalent of this feature is called popups). There’s even a wrapper for Vifm so that it can be used as a file picker, although it only supports opening files in the current buffer. I’ve filed a request to add the ability to open files in a new tab or split (which is possible in vifm.vim through :TabVifm or :SplitVifm), but it has been rejected.

I’m wondering if it would be easier to add the option to use floating window in vifm.vim instead. (Now that the recent version of the fzf plugin for (Neo)Vim uses floating windows by default, this change would be very welcome as well.)

Edit: I’ve just realised that it might have been a better idea to post this in vifm.vim’s issue tracker. I apologise for that.

[xaizek]

I’m wondering if it would be easier to add the option to use floating window in vifm.vim instead.

Haven't looked much at the relevant API, so it's hard to tell at the moment.

In that issue you mentioned :TabVifm and alike, however, implementing :TabVim (run inside embedded Vifm) could be easier (see).

[rslocai]

@maxigaz I solved this by utilizing different g:floaterm_opener settings in custom functions:

function! EditVifm()
    let g:floaterm_opener = 'edit'
    FloatermNew vifm
endfunction

function! SplitVifm()
    let g:floaterm_opener = 'split'
    FloatermNew vifm
endfunction

function! VsplitVifm()
    let g:floaterm_opener = 'vsplit'
    FloatermNew vifm
endfunction

" Custom functions to open vifm in Floaterm.
nmap <silent> <Leader>e :call EditVifm()<CR>
nmap <silent> <Leader><C-x> :call SplitVifm()<CR>
nmap <silent> <Leader><C-v> :call VsplitVifm()<CR>

Maybe there's a cleaner way to implement the above, but it works as intended for me.