Highlighting range between brackets in a .php file with html code as well

Marco Czen

@Scott-Sumner - Oh god … Thanks buddy … What a relief …

Scott Sumner

can make the above become a key combo like Ctrl+B ( like Ctrl+T for matching tags) or just expand Ctrl + T to also match php braces

If I were you I’d find an unused key-combination you like and assign your recorded macro to that. Trying to combine functionalities is difficult; can be done but usually involves scripting and you probably don’t want to go there.

Marco Czen

@chcg - Hi, how do we get this installed ? Have you noticed any performance issues ?

Marco Czen

@Scott-Sumner - Roger that. Thanks. Posting few seconds after my other post … What a relief … heheheheheh :)

Marco Czen

@Alan-Kilborn - Tried this but my Macro kept going back to the same brace. I must be doing it wrong.

Instead i now just click on a brace and do Ctrl + Alt + B ( as pointed out by @Scott Sumner ) to go to the matching brace … its a pity there is no plugin for this yet.

Thanks.

Claudia Frank

@Marco-Czen

close npp, open shortcuts.xml with a different editor and put the following into it.

    <Macro name="Mark_between_brackets" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">
        <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="43023" lParam="0" sParam="" />
        <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="42020" lParam="0" sParam="" />
        <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="43009" lParam="0" sParam="" />
        <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="42020" lParam="0" sParam="" />
        <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="43022" lParam="0" sParam="" />
    </Macro>

Save it, close it and start npp. You should now have a menu entry Mark_between_brackets
under Macro menu.

What it does is
43023 - clear any marking using style 1
42020 - start Begin/end select operation
43009 - go to matching brace end
42020 - end Begin/end select operation
43022 - mark active selection using style 1

Of course your cursor should be next to the brace to make this work.

Cheers
Claudia

guy038

Hi, @marco-czen, @claudia-frank and All,

Marco,

Close any instance of N++
Open your active shortcuts.xml file, with an other text editor than N++ ( IMPORTANT )
Add, in the Macro section, these lines :

        <Macro name="Test" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="43023" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="43053" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="43022" lParam="0" sParam="" />
        </Macro>

Save the modifications
Open N++

Done !

Notes :

43023 = Search > Unmark All > Clear 1st Style
43053 = Search > Select All Between Matching Braces
43022 = Search > Mark All > Using 1st Style
I named this macro Test. Of course, just change this name as you like !

Claudia, am I missing something ? Your macro or mine give identical results !?

Cheers,

guy038

Claudia Frank

@guy038 said:

Claudia, am I missing something ?

No, definitively not :-) - I didn’t see it - need more coffee.
Your macro, which is basically what Scott suggested, is the preferred one - good job.

Cheers
Claudia

Scott Sumner

@Claudia-Frank said:

open shortcuts.xml with a different editor

@guy038 said:

Open your active shortcuts.xml file, with an other text editor than N++ ( IMPORTANT )

I find, with a relatively recent version of N++ (e.g.s: 7.2.2, 7.5.3), that you don’t have to use a “different text editor” (blasphemy anyway!), as long as you haven’t changed via the N++ GUI any other settings that shortcuts.xml holds. Thus, when you quit N++ after editing shortcuts.xml file with it, N++ won’t feel the need to write out that file–and wipe out your manual edits.

So if you change via the user interface any of these things you definitely don’t want to pull shortcuts.xml into an editing tab and start hacking on it:

shortcuts via the Shortcut Mapper (or by using the last menu item on the Macro or Run menus)
saved macros by using the macro recorder
saved Run menu items created via the Run -> Run… dialog box

Of course, if you’re a noob or at all tentative about this, maybe the “different editor” approach IS best… :-)

guy038

Hi, @scott-sumner,

Thanks for sharing this useful info ! So, seemingly, if you simply do these operations, below, the execution of a added macro should be OK :-))

Start Notepad++
Open your active Shortcuts.xml file
Copy, for instance, the Claudia’s macro, above, named Mark_between_brackets, on the black background ( Ctrl + C )
Add a new line at the end of the Macro section, before the ending tag </Macros>
Paste the macro contents ( Ctrl + V )
Save the new contents of Shortcuts.xml ( Ctrl + S )
Close then re-start N++… and enjoy !

BTW, Scott, you said :

you don’t have to use a “different text editor” (blasphemy anyway!)

Yes, it’s a true nonsense, as Notepad++ IS THE text editor ;-))

Best Regards,

guy038

Marco Czen

@Claudia-Frank - Niceeee

Marco Czen

@guy038 - Niceee

Marco Czen

@guy038 @scott-sumner

Hi,

I tried both edit methods - using Notepad++ and later Sublime to edit shortcuts.xml but the changes dont seem to be in effect. There is no new entry under the Macro menu. The “Trim Trailing and save” is the only macro there.

Am i editing the correct file ? location ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\shortcuts.xml ) ?

Also ->@scott -> the Autocomplete doesnt offer Scott Sumner’s name ?

Scott Sumner

@Marco-Czen

Am i editing the correct file ? location ( C:\Program Files (x86)\Notepad++\shortcuts.xml ) ?

Could be the issue…that path is only good if you are running a local install. You can tell if this is the case if in your ? (menu) -> Debug Info you see: Local Conf mode : ON. For the other type (which I don’t run so can’t give you exact location) check somewhere in the area of C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\. Or if you use the Cloud, it is even somewhere else…check Preferences then Cloud…

the Autocomplete doesnt offer Scott Sumner’s name ?

Yea, too many "Scott"s…the NodeBB software seems to have a problem in this area…can’t scroll down to the one you want if the one you want isn’t already on the screen. :-(

BTW, where’s MY “Niceeee” ? :-D

Claudia Frank

Hey, this is a public request, let’s get some NICCEEE for Scott. :-D lol

This is mine

NNIIIICCCCEEEEEEEEEEEe

Cheers
Claudia

Marco Czen

@Scott-Sumner - NICEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY HOLIDAYS !!!

Marco Czen

@Scott-Sumner - Looks like the actual path is;

C:\Users<username>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++

Added the below code block with Notepad++ itself

ShutDown and Restarted Notepad and Macros Shows “Highlight Brace2Brace”.

The Macro works fine !

THANKS GUYS !!!

Marco Czen

Oops spoke too soon …
If you run the Macro - The braces get highlighted … and … remains highlighted even when u click outside or ESC .
The highlight only disappears when u close the file.

Hmmmm…

Scott Sumner

@Marco-Czen said:

The highlight only disappears when u close the file.

Yes, that is correct behavior.

You can turn OFF the highlight (without closing the file) by executing the command: Search (menu) -> Unmark All -> Clear 1st Style. As that has no default keycombo I strongly suggest you assign it one using Settings (menu) -> Shortcut Mapper…

I also noticed in your macro listing above that you don’t have a keycombo assigned to the macro–for turning the highlighting ON. I suggest you assign one there as well.

Scott Sumner

@Marco-Czen

Looks like the actual path is C:\Users\<username>\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++

Yes, that is what I meant when I said: C:\Users\xxxxxx\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\ but I should have been more explicit for those maybe not familiar with the way applications store stuff in ...\AppData\.......