Notepad++ v8.6.3 Release Candidate

Mark Olson

Since we’re discussing NPPM_MODELESSDIALOG, I’d like to mention a few (but not necessarily the only) issues that it creates for C# plugins. The fixes (or at least band-aids) for these issues can be found in NppCSharpPluginPack.

KeyUp and KeyPress event handlers no longer work consistently
Hitting the Enter key no longer creates a newline in multiline textboxes (presumably because the KeyUp message has been consumed by the preprocessing here?)
Hitting the Tab key does not traverse the form’s controls in TabIndex order, but instead follows the order in which the controls became visible/enabled (I think).

To be clear, I am not mentioning these issues to shame Don Ho, or to suggest that NPPM_MODELESSDIALOG is net negative for Notepad++. Don Ho obviously has a hard enough job as it is without having to worry about weird interactions between legacy C++ APIs and Windows Forms. I just want to crystallize generalized “maybe NPPM_MODELESSDIALOG is bad?” concerns into specific issues.

Coises

@Mark-Olson said in Notepad++ v8.6.3 Release Candidate:

Hitting the Enter key no longer creates a newline in multiline textboxes (presumably because the KeyUp message has been consumed by the preprocessing here?)

Does the edit control have both ES_MULTILINE and ES_WANTRETURN styles set?

Mark Olson

@Coises
Good question!
I assume that the Windows Forms analogs of those properties are as follows:

ES_MULTILINE <-> TextBox.MultiLine (this is necessary for a textbox to take up more than one line of vertical space, so there’s really no way to turn this off without ruining the visual presentation of the relevant controls)
ES_WANTRETURN <-> TextBox.AcceptsReturn (the default is False, I tried setting this to True and it didn’t do anything.)

Currently I have a KeyUp trigger that (if a textbox is MultiLine) replaces the selected text in \r\n and then scrolls to the caret. This fix is OK, but:

it doesn’t replace the loss of ability to hold down Enter to add a bunch of consecutive newlines
it overwrites the entire TextBox’s text, which can add latency when there’s a lot of text

Since this discussion is straying away from the topic of Notepad++ 8.6.3, I’m going to repost this as a reply to this topic and suggest that any further suggestions go there.

Mark Olson

I just wanted to say that I’ve tried out the RC, and I’m really happy with it! This is the first version of NPP that I consider an unambiguous improvement over 8.5.8.

donho

I just found a regression/bug:
Putting noColumnToMultiSelect.xml into %APPDATA%\Notepad++\ has no effect after restarting Notepad++.

Could anyone here confirm this regression please?

mkupper

@donho said in Notepad++ v8.6.3 Release Candidate:

I just found a regression/bug:
Putting noColumnToMultiSelect.xml into %APPDATA%\Notepad++\ has no effect after restarting Notepad++.

Could anyone here confirm this regression please?

Please explain that a bit more. I have been using noColumnToMultiSelect.xml in %APPDATA%\Notepad++\ and it seems to be working with v8.6.3. I renamed the file, exit/restart npp, and npp was in multiselect mode.

My test was using the keyboard. While holding Shift+Alt down I used the arrow keys to create a column. I released the Shift+Alt keys and tapped an arrow key.

With a noColumnToMultiSelect.xml file present the editor goes back to normal single cursor mode.
Without a noColumnToMultiSelect.xml file the editor is in multi-cursor mode.

I put the noColumnToMultiSelect.xml file back and the desired behavior is restored. Thus, I’m not certain what to look for that may be a regression.

donho

@mkupper said in Notepad++ v8.6.3 Release Candidate:

Please explain that a bit more.

I did exactly what you’ve done.
With or without %APPDATA%\Notepad++\noColumnToMultiSelect.xml, after creating a column, the arrow forward key (->) doesn’t cancel the column mode, but the whole column returns to vertical carets and move forward.

Obviously there’s something special in my configuration. I’ll find it out.

Thank you for the testing and the confirmation.

donho

@mkupper
It turns out that I’ve installed BetterMultiSelection plugin and I’ve forgot to disable it :D

PeterJones

@donho ,

The original author of this other post hasn’t come back to see my recommendation to post a reply here, so I’ll do it on their behalf: they noticed that, even though wingup pull #48 (fixing some proxy difficulty) has been incorporated into the wingup repo since November 21, 2023, that updated wingup was never tagged; thus, even though there have been three Notepad++ releases since that merge (making this the fourth), the gup.exe that’s shipping with Notepad++ still doesn’t incorporate that fix, which makes it harder to do Notepad++ updates in corporate environments that use a proxy.

I know it’s not a “regression” with this release, and I don’t know whether that’s critical enough to include as a change before converting this RC into a full release or not, but from proxy-users’ perspective, sooner rather than later is probably good – but since the change was accepted last Fall, just not tagged or released, I thought I’d remind you here.

donho

@PeterJones

You’re right to remind me to integrate it into a new version of WinGUp, and include it into the new release.

Thank you for your reminding!

donho

Notepad++ v8.6.3 Release Candidate 2:
https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/25478/notepad-v8-6-3-rc-2