Support for Plugins Admin & NppPluginList - Round 2

dmmiller2k

@jackpoz In order for the XMLTools plugin to work, those external DLLs (i.e., libcurl.dll, libiconv-2.dll, libwinpthread-1.dll, libxml2-2.dll, libxslt-1.dll) must be copied into the Notepad++ executable directory (i.e., where the Notepad++.exe file resides, or, “C:\Program Files\Notepad++”).

Stan Mitchell130

**Problem Installing Style.xml for Plugin External Lexers **

I’m using the recommended procedure for testing my plugin: Npp 7.6.1, gup debug. After modifying nppPluginList.json, my distribution zip is found and the files are extracted and installed. My lexer plugin depends on an xml file for syntax styling that should be in the user directory under %APPDATA%\Notepad++\plugins\config but it is not getting copied there. With the old plugin manager, some rules were supplied for where things were to be copied on installation. How should that kind of thing be handled now with the new Plugin Admin?

Bas de Reuver

I’m running into the same problem as @Stan-Mitchell130 's GEDCOM plug-in with my CSV Lint plugin. The plug-in provides a custom lex() function which requires an .XML file for the syntax highlighting colors. When installing the plug-in this XML file should be placed in the user’s \config\ folder, like so:

CSVLint.dll ----> C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\CSVLint\CSVLint.dll
CSVLint.xml —> %USERPROFILE%\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\plugins\config\CSVLint.xml

I’ve added the installation .zip files (both 32bit and 64bit) to the Plugins Admin list and the .zip files contains just the two files, like so:

CSVLint.zip

CSVLint.dll

CSVLint.xml

But this places the CSVLint.xml file in the same folder as the Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\CSVLint\ folder, so this is incorrect. After you install the plug-in and start Notepad++ wil give an error “\plugins\Config\CSVLint.xml is missing. CSVLint.dll is not compatible… etc.”

I noticed that the GedcomLexer also provides an XML file but it’s placed in a subfolder in the .zip called “Config”. However, this still causes the GedcomLexer.xml file to be copied to the incorrect folder Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\GedcomLexer\Config\GedcomLexer.xml, so that gives the same problem.

GedcomLexer.zip

GedcomLexer.dll

Config\GedcomLexer.xml

etc. more files

So my question is, how should I provide the .XML file in the .zip file, in such a way that the Plugins Admin will copy it to the correct .\config\ folder?

Ekopalypse

@Bas-de-Reuver

I am not sure if this is the best way.
From the plugin’s point of view, it is necessary that this file exists.
What if it was accidentally deleted?

What I do is check the existence of the file in the setInfo callback and create it if necessary.

fn set_info(nppData NppData) {
	npp_data = nppData
	notepad = npp.Npp{npp_data.npp_handle}
	editor = sci.create_editors(nppData.scintilla_main_handle, nppData.scintilla_second_handle)

	// create language xml in plugin config directory if needed
	config_dir := notepad.get_plugin_config_dir()
	lang_xml := os.join_path(config_dir, language_name+'.xml')
	if !os.exists(lang_xml) {
		if !create_lang_xml(lang_xml) {
			msg := 'Unable to create VLang xml file\n$lang_xml'
			message_box(npp_data.npp_handle, msg, 'Error', u32(C.MB_OK | C.MB_ICONERROR))
		}
	}
}

Bas de Reuver

@Ekopalypse You mean when it’s not found then generate the default XML file on the fly? So the plug-in .DLL will include a hard-coded default XML file including all the default color settings.

I find it a bit counter-intuitive to include a configuration/settings file as hard-coded, but on the other hand I agree that in this case it is more practical for the end-user. Okay thanks for the tip, I’ll look into that.

Ekopalypse

@Bas-de-Reuver

yes, you have to have one anyway.

Bas de Reuver

Okay I’ve fixed the issue, see code here, and I’ll prepare a new release.

One important thing here is that if you write the lexer xml file, it has to be UTF-8 encoded (so without BOM). If you write it UTF-8-BOM encoded then Notepad++ won’t read it, even though it also won’t give the “xml is missing” error anymore.

datherton15

Apologies if this is in the wrong spot…
Having issues with the XML Tools plugin crashing when trying to “pretty print” the the xml is missing a single closing bracket on the last tag (it was a bad cut-paste). It consistently happened as I’m poor at cut-paste :oP.
Thanks for any assistance in passing this forward to the appropriate devs…
DA

PeterJones

@datherton15 said in Support for Plugins Admin & NppPluginList - Round 2:

Apologies if this is in the wrong spot…

It is the wrong spot. This Topic is specifically about the Plugins Admin tool inside Notepad++, not for general questions about any plugin.

It would be better to ask it as a New Topic in the Plugin Development or Help Wanted sections.

Thanks for any assistance in passing this forward to the appropriate devs…

The Plugins > XML Tools > About contains a link to the repository for XML Tools development. From that site, you can go to the “Issues” page, and can create an issue directly with the XML Tools developer.

datherton15

@peterjones
Thanks and appreciate the directions.
Dave