command to freeze the current column directly

[midichef]

Often I want to replace the current column with a frozen copy. It would be convenient to have a command that does the equivalent of:
Sheet.addCommand("", 'setcol-freeze', 'i = cursorVisibleColIndex; name = cursorCol.name; fc = freeze_col(cursorCol); fc.name = name; addColumnAtCursor(fc); columns.pop(i)', 'replace current column with a frozen copy, with all cells evaluated')
(right now this command triggers a bug that's already been reported #2607)

I can't think of a good keyboard shortcut that is not yet taken.

Do other people want this feature?

[saulpw]

z' currently resets the cache on a column, but it could freeze the column like this instead. This would be more in-line with the rest of the ' commands anyway. I'm fine with leaving cache-col without a binding since I think this new command might itself work in the rare instances I've needed it.

[frosencrantz]

Many times I want to replace a column with it's frozen version, so it would be useful to me. This would save some steps. I haven't tried the sample code. Would the prefrozen column still exist as hidden? If not, it would be useful to rename it to something different, like with a suffix (uf -- unfrozen, pf - prefrozen, ...) I like that your example makes the frozen version the same name as the original column.

It would be nice if this command:

• is undoable
• handles the case when the original column is materializing such as when it is still async evaluating values.

This replace original column feature would be useful with other commands that return a new modified version of another column.

[midichef]

@frosencrantz
Here's a version that keeps the prefrozen column, as a hidden column with the suffix '_unfrozen'. It'll work if you add it to your .visidatarc.

It is undoable. But it does not handle the case of freezing a column that is still materializing. I'm not sure that can be done.

@BaseSheet.api
def setcol_freeze(sheet):
    unfrozen = sheet.cursorCol
    frozen = sheet.freeze_col(unfrozen)
    frozen.name = unfrozen.name
    unfrozen.hide()
    unfrozen.name = frozen.name + '_unfrozen'
    sheet.addColumnAtCursor(frozen)
Sheet.addCommand("z'", 'setcol-freeze', 'setcol_freeze()', 'replace current column with a frozen copy, with all cells evaluated')

Let me know if you have any feedback.