Tab Vs Space preferences in Vim

Question

Vim is very accommodating when it comes to tab Vs. space preferences. As I understand it, the tabstop setting indicates the width of a tab character. The

Answer 1

This is my first attempt at writing VimScript, but here goes:

function! Stab(value)
    let &shiftwidth  = a:value
    let &softtabstop = a:value
    let &tabstop     = a:value
endfunc

If I put this in my .vimrc file, I can call it by running :call Stab(X), where X is the desired tab width. This is an adequate solution for now, but if anyone can suggest a way of making it easier to call I would be grateful.

I've also created a function that quickly summarizes the current settings, which I have mapped to ctrl-Tab:

nmap  :call TabParams()
function! TabParams()
    echo "tabstop:     ".&tabstop
    echo "shiftwidth:  ".&shiftwidth
    echo "softtabstop: ".&softtabstop
endfunc

Well, I put up a 100 point bounty for this answer, and now I've half solved it myself. Not sure if I can accept my own answer...