keyword highlighting in text file

[PeterJones]

@venky ,

There is nothing wrong with your UDL. When I apply that UDL to a file, I see:

or, in Dark Mode:

[venky]

@PeterJones Can you tell me how (steps) you applied the UDL? Thanks.

[PeterJones]

@venky ,

You claim that “the UDL file is selected automatically under Language menu”, so according to your claim, it should be applied properly.

My steps were:

1. Copy your UDL text
2. Paste into a new file
3. Save As > %AppData%\Notepad++\userDefineLangs\TextUDL.xml
4. File > Exit
5. Run Notepad++
6. Open text file (must have .txt extension)
   or
   File > New then File > Save As > c:\path\to\blah.txt
7. Type file as

   Warning
   blah
   Error
   blah
   Failure
   blah
   

8. It’s highlighted

If it’s not working for you, please go to the ? menu, run Debug Info, click on the underlined text, and paste into your reply. In your reply, also show a screenshot with enough of the Status Bar to show us the selected language on the lower-left of the status bar (like my screenshot above).

[venky]

@PeterJones Please see below. I put replaced user profile name with … in the path below.

I also tried this with portable version and it did not work.

Notepad++ v8.4.4 (64-bit)
Build time : Jul 15 2022 - 17:54:42
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line :
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
Cloud Config : C:\Users.…\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++
OS Name : Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit)
OS Version : 21H2
OS Build : 19044.1889
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins : none

[PeterJones]

@venky said in keyword highlighting in text file:

I also tried this with portable version and it did not work.

I do not know what you are doing differently than I am.

I just started again from scratch:

1. Unzip Notepad++ portable to C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl
2. Copy C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\userDefineLangs\markdown._preinstalled.udl.xml to C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\userDefineLangs\TextUDL.xml
3. Use MS notepad.exe to paste the exact UDL definition that you have above into TextUDL.xml and save/exit
4. Create an emtpy file C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\blah.txt
5. Drag blah.txt on top of notepad++.exe in that directory to run the portable instance with that blah.txt.
6. Type (or paste) the six lines of the file.

Notepad++ v8.4.4   (64-bit)
Build time : Jul 15 2022 - 17:54:42
Path : C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\notepad++.exe
Command Line : 
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : ON
Cloud Config : OFF
OS Name : Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit) 
OS Version : 20H2
OS Build : 19042.1889
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins : 
    mimeTools (2.8)
    NppConverter (4.4)
    NppExport (0.4)

[Alan Kilborn]

@PeterJones

I don’t want to muddy the waters, but when I follow the instructions, I just see Normal text file on the status bar after pulling in blah.txt. And, you didn’t show yours, but when I go to the UDL section of the Languages menu I don’t see anything that resembles “TextUDL” (and although I’m no expert on UDL, I expected to).

And I didn’t get any coloring on Warning, Error, etc.

[PeterJones]

@Alan-Kilborn ,

Yours is just behaving like you didn’t restart Notepad++ after putting the UDL definition in the userDefineLangs directory. (Or you used the wrong userDefineLangs directory)

Oh, actually, no, there was an implied step 3.5 which I forgot to mention: in notepad.exe, replace the “smart quotes” with real ASCII " quotes.

(I am working on a video screenshot , showing the full sequence… but having upload problems – new laptop, so my quick animation->forum process needs to be rebuilt.)

[Alan Kilborn]

@PeterJones said in keyword highlighting in text file:

implied step 3.5 which I forgot to mention: in notepad.exe, replace the “smart quotes” with real ASCII " quotes

If it turns out the entire problem is the OP not pasting the data into a code block, I’m going to feel like my time was wasted. :-(

[PeterJones]

@Alan-Kilborn said in keyword highlighting in text file:

@PeterJones said in keyword highlighting in text file:

implied step 3.5 which I forgot to mention: in notepad.exe, replace the “smart quotes” with real ASCII " quotes

If it turns out the entire problem is the OP not pasting the data into a code block, I’m going to feel like my time was wasted. :-(

I hope that’s not all, too… I would have assumed that the OP would have just copied his UDL file over to the portable he tried, not just do a copy/paste from the forum. And since the OP status bar shows the TextUDL file type, obviously that part is working.

For @venky , here is a recording of the procedure I took, from unzipping through seeing the highlighting.

[Alan Kilborn]

@PeterJones

OK, with the changeover from smart-quotes, all working for me as well:

[PeterJones]

The other option, of course, is for @venky to start from scratch with a new UDL. Then build it up slowly, so that every piece is known working.

Here, I start with blah.txt, with the UDL editor docked. I switch to the default User Defined Language (so it really starts from scratch), Create New, give it a name (Second), and switch the active language for just this file to Second.

Then I go into keywords, use lowercase warning and give it a color, to show that it’s case sensitive. (I forgot while recording this second video that the screenshot above already showed the Warning case matched what was in the pasted UDL definition)

I go into the second keywords box with capitalized Warning, assign it a color, and watch the color change in the editor.

If a user is having trouble getting a UDL to work, I recommend starting from scratch, and building it up slowly, because then you can see each individual step work.