feat: add always_visible option for icons

README.md

@@ -319,7 +319,10 @@ enabled = function(winid)
 end
 ```
 
-- `icon` (table, string or function): Some inbuilt providers such as `git_branch` provide default icons. If you either don't have a patched font or don't like the default icon that Feline provides, or if you want an icon for a component that doesn't have any default icons, you may set this value to use any icon you want instead. By default, the icon inherits the component's highlight, but you can also change the highlight specifically for the icon. To do this, you need to pass a table containing `str` and `hl`, where `str` would represent the icon and `hl` would represent the icon highlight. The icon's highlight works just like the `hl` component's values. If it's a function, it can take either the window handler as an argument, or it can take no arguments. For example:
+- `icon` (table, string or function): Some inbuilt providers such as `git_branch` provide default icons. If you either don't have a patched font or don't like the default icon that Feline provides, or if you want an icon for a component that doesn't have any default icons, you may set this value to use any icon you want instead.<br><br>
+By default, the icon inherits the component's highlight, but you can also change the highlight specifically for the icon. To do this, you need to pass a table containing `str` and `hl`, where `str` would represent the icon and `hl` would represent the icon highlight. The icon's highlight works just like the `hl` component's values.<br><br>
+There's also another value you can set if the value of `icon` is a table, which is `always_visible`. By default, the icon is not shown if the value returned by the provider is empty. If you want the icon to be shown even when the provider string is empty, you need to set `always_visible` to `true`.<br><br>
+If the value of `icon` a function, it can take either the window handler as an argument, or it can take no arguments. For example:
 
 ```lua
 -- Setting icon to a string
@@ -331,7 +334,18 @@ icon = function() return ' - ' end
 -- Setting icon to a table
 icon = {
     str = ' ~ ',
-    hl = { fg = 'orange' },
+    hl = { fg = 'orange' }
+}
+
+-- Making icon always visible
+icon = {
+    str = '',
+    hl = {
+        fg = require('feline.providers.vi_mode').get_mode_color(),
+        bg = 'black',
+        style = 'bold'
+    },
+    always_visible = true
 }
 ```
 

lua/feline/generator.lua

@@ -193,16 +193,20 @@ end
 
 -- Parse component icon
 -- By default, icon inherits component highlights
-local function parse_icon(icon, parent_hl)
+local function parse_icon(icon, parent_hl, is_component_empty)
     if icon == nil then return '' end
 
-    local str
     local hl
+    local str
 
     if type(icon) == "string" then
+        if is_component_empty then return '' end
+
         str = icon
         hl = parent_hl
     else
+        if is_component_empty and not icon.always_visible then return '' end
+
         str = icon.str or ''
         hl = icon.hl or parent_hl
     end
@@ -264,17 +268,20 @@ local function parse_component(component, winid)
         winid
     )
 
+    icon = parse_icon(evaluate_if_function(component.icon or icon, winid), hl, is_component_empty)
+
     if is_component_empty then
         return string.format(
-            '%s%s',
+            '%s%s%s',
             left_sep_str,
+            icon,
             right_sep_str
         )
     else
         return string.format(
             '%s%s%%#%s#%s%s',
             left_sep_str,
-            parse_icon(evaluate_if_function(component.icon or icon, winid), hl),
+            icon,
             hlname or get_hlname(hl),
             str,
             right_sep_str