Column ruler (like line numbers) in vi / vim / gvim

[Polytropon]

There is _one_ feature that I didn't find in vi / vim / gvim,
and especially in regards of column-oriented data files, this
would be really helpful: a real COLUMN RULER on top. I have
"set number" and "set ruler" already in ~/.vimrc, but this
involves too much "eye travel". I'd like to quickly see column
numbers (on top) like I can see line numbers (on the left).

As a grown-old mainframe person, I'm thinking about something
like this:

|...+....1....+....2....+....3....+....4....+....5....+....6

Something that you would recognize from ISPF/PDF.

It could also look like this, like in SEU:

....+... 1 ...+... 2 ...+... 3 ...+... 4 ...+... 5 ...+... 6

Or even this:

         1         2         3         4         5         6
----+----0----+----0----+----0----+----0----+----0----+----0

The ruler should be located in the first line on top of the file,
but not be part of the file.

Is there a way to add this to gvim? Ideally it should accomodate
to the "set nowrap" or "set wrap" setting (lines longer than the
window width are either wrapped or scrolled horizontally). It
should be shown on top of the current view (no matter how far you
are into the file vertically). It should work similarly to the
line numbers displayed on the left.

Is it possible to achieve this without re-programming (g)vi(m)
from scratch? :-)




-- 
Polytropon
Magdeburg, Germany
Happy FreeBSD user since 4.0
Andra moi ennepe, Mousa, ...