Looking for info on v7.3.3 feature - "Support Motorola ..., Intel and Tektronix ... file formats."

[Jeff Brielmaier]

I work for a company that programs devices daily and I deal with Motorola & Intel files almost daily.

I would like more info on the new feature as it may make my job easier.

Thanks

[dail]

Did you actually download Notepad++ v7.3.3?
Did you try opening one of those files?
What did you try?
What do you think it means?
Did you try Google?

Sorry to sound derogatory.

[PeterJones]

I looked into it some, because I hadn’t seen that feature.

You will get a parser/syntax highlighter for Motorola .mot & .srec, Intel .hex, and Tektronix .tek file formats. You can see/select those in the Language pulldown menu.

It also appears it may have folding, but since I don’t have a valid file (my experimental file was just hacked together
from the first few characters mentioned in one of the wiki pages), I don’t know whether it does or not (or whether folding would even make sense): I just saw that the folding-column appeared when I selected that those languages.

If you made a fresh install of v7.3.3, without any old settings, then the features will be immediately available: when you open a .tek file (for example), it will highlight the various components Using the Settings > Style Configurator, you can customize the colorations. You should be able to open a .srec and be able to see the various pieces of the S-record highlighted.

Warning: it’s not necessarily true that you can just install v7.3.3 and open one of those files and notice it: if you had a previous installation, with local config files (ie, in your %AppData% directory, or in your install directory if you told it not to use AppData) – namely, functionList.xml, langs.xml, and stylers.xml – and if you in-place upgrade to v7.3.3 instead of doing a fresh install, you will not necessarily be able to notice the highlighting. I opened a .tek file and saw no highlighting, and even when I manually selected the Tektronix extended Hex language, I saw nothing. To get it to work, I had to merge in the new lines from the install-directory’s functionList.xml, langs.model.xml, stylers.model.xml into my %AppData% files. (Actually, in practice, I copied out just my additions to the functionList and langs, file-copied over from the install-directory models, and pasted my additions back in; since I’d done color/styling-changes on some languages, I had to do a more manual comparison using the Compare Plugin, and just copied in the portions of the stylers.model.xml that I wanted to incorporate into my customized version in %AppData%. Then, after doing that, I had to reload NPP to get the new configs to apply.) After I’d done that, then I got highlighting.

@Dail, in @Jeff-Brielmaier’s defense: “Support [these] file formats” is a very vague phrase, and in different environments can mean very different things. And asking for clarification for a new feature listed on the NPP download page, with no documentation anywhere else (that I can find) in the notepad-plus-plus domain seems quite a reasonable question for the NPP forum. Taking the time to respond with “NPP v7.3.3 added syntax highlighting [and code folding {if, indeed, that’s true}] for those formats” would have been quite helpful. Someone asking that same question may be wondering: Can it reverse compile them into a more-readable source code? Can it forward-compile them into a true binary format instead of this binary-encoded-as-ascii? Does it execute them? Does it automatically load them onto my microcontroller or EEPROM? All of those are valid possibilities for “supporting” such a file format – and could be actually be done from NPP with a custom plugin or possibly even NppExec or PythonScript.

[edit: reorder paragraphs]

[David thomas]

I have a problem with this feature also. A fresh install of 64 bit V7.3.3 produces highlighted HEX and a collapse function on data blocks in the same segment address (great!). But on another machine the (older) 32 bit install didnt show the features. So, fresh install of 64 bit V7.4.1 - and the Intel HEX \ Tek features still not available.

To be clear, the correct language (“Intel HEX”) shows up in the “Language” menu of both. But on the non-working one, there is no style available for Intel HEX on the “Settings -> Style Configurator” menu in the Language box…

I have hexdumped the stylers.model and langs.model files on both systems, and can confirm that there are (identical) entries for Intel Hex and Tek Hex on both systems - but the newer 7.4.1 install still wont highlight HEX files…

UPDATE: seems first time I un-installed, I “kept custom settings”. tried again, this time not keeping custom settings, and new install of 64 bit 7.4.1 highlights - yay!

So hope this helps anyone else with this problem - NPP gurus, you will be able to see whether this is expected, or “correct functionality”. I don’t know what got “fixed”, but it is “a solution”. If there is a simple explanation, I would be glad to know it, for the future.

Me, I’m just glad that i have yet another useful feature in an already superb piece of (free) software - well done NPP contributors!