Plugin development help

Finn McCarthy

Hi,

So i have decided that i want to make a plugin for NP++.

I’m using (or trying to!) NP++ Plugin.NET, but i am having trouble understanding which commands to use.

What i want to do is make a plugin that brings up call-tips if you type “(” or “{”.
Can someone help?

Cheers,
Finn

P.S: I don’t really know where to put this, in Plugin Development or Help wanted, so sorry if it is in the wrong place :)

Vitaliy Dovgan

You could look at the sources of
https://sourceforge.net/projects/npp-plugins/files/XBrackets Lite/
It’s in C++, but I believe it’s enough to catch the idea of what to do in C#.
Search for SCN_CHARADDED in the source code.

Finn McCarthy

Thanks @Vitaliy-Dovgan

Finn McCarthy

@Vitaliy-Dovgan

Hi,

Well i found it and i know what i’m looking for (sort of?). I think i need some help. Again :)

And your right about C being easy to understand

I did what you said and found no trace of SCN_CHARADDED. Thought i did search the plugin template and that had it.
By the way, what would i do with SCN_CHARADDED, what i mean is: what is it’s use?
e.g.

    if NppData.SCN_CHARADDED         /*Would somthing like that work?*/
    {
    };

I think this code is maybe what i’m looking for (it’s from XBrackets.h):

public:
    enum TFileType {
        tftNone = 0,
        tftText,
        tftC_Cpp,
        tftH_Hpp,
        tftPas,
        tftHtmlCompatible
    };
    
    enum TBracketType {
        tbtNone = 0,
        tbtBracket,  //  (
        tbtSquare,   //  [
        tbtBrace,    //  {
        tbtDblQuote, //  "
        tbtSglQuote, //  '
        tbtTag,      //  <
        tbtTag2,

        tbtCount
    };

    enum eConsts {
        MAX_ESCAPED_PREFIX  = 20
    };

    static const TCHAR* PLUGIN_NAME;
    static const char*  strBrackets[tbtCount - 1];

protected:
    // plugin menu
    CXBracketsMenu m_PluginMenu;
    
    // internal vars
    INT_PTR m_nAutoRightBracketPos;
    int     m_nFileType;
    bool    m_bSupportedFileType;

public:
    CXBrackets();
    virtual ~CXBrackets();
	
    // standard n++ plugin functions
    virtual void         nppBeNotified(SCNotification* pscn);
    virtual FuncItem*    nppGetFuncsArray(int* pnbFuncItems);
    virtual const TCHAR* nppGetName();

Is it what i’m looking for?

Cheers,
Finn

Scott Sumner

@Finn-McCarthy said:

would i do with SCN_CHARADDED, what i mean is: what is it’s use?

I think the implication here is when you see that, you could check if what was added was ( or { (from your spec)…and do whatever actions you want your plugin to do when that occurs.

Vitaliy Dovgan

Source file XBrackets\src\XBrackets.cpp,

void XBrackets::nppBeNotified(SCNotification* pscn)
{
  ...
  switch ( pscn->nmhdr.code )
  {
    case SCN_CHARADDED:
      OnSciCharAdded(pscn->ch);
      break;
    ...
  }
  ...
}

Basically, what needs to be done now is:

implement own method Plugin.nppBeNotified to be called from the standard void beNotified(SCNotification* pscn);
implement own Plugin.OnSciCharAdded (looking at the one in XBrackets as an example)

chcg

See scintilla docu: https://www.scintilla.org/ScintillaDoc.html#SCN_CHARADDED. Scintilla is the framework N++ is based on.

Finn McCarthy

@Victor-Dronov

Hi,

I found out the proper name of what i’m trying to do: Call-Tips. (custom Call-Tips).

Ok. I have had a look…And i still don’t understand. I probably should mention that have never, ever coded in C, C++,C# or VB (well 3 years ago, anyway and i cannot remember practically anything). So yeah…(This next bit will probably sound lame…sorry)

What I am trying to say is: I basically need someone to write the plugin for me, and i can learn from their source code. That’s how i normally learn…

Cheers,
Finn

P.S: Sorry, (I know i probably sound whiny)

Finn McCarthy

EDIT: I found a way, yippee!!

jN Notepad++ Plugin