CSS' syntax - grammar editor/corrector

Demetrius Pinheiro

Hi,

I am looking for a CSS’ syntax/grammar editor/corrector for NotePad++. It can be a plugin, or a NP++’ internal function etc.
I did a search, but I failed and found nothing.

Please, I will appreciate your help.

Thanks in advance.

Eko palypse

@Demetrius-Pinheiro

not 100% sure I understand what you are looking for but note, if you don’t find a plugin
you still can, possibly, use an online service. In your case I guess
https://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator might do what you want.

To call this from npp I would create an UserDefinedCommand entry in shortcut,xml
with a content like this

<Command name="Validate CSS" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">PATH_TO_BROWSER\firefox.exe https://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?text=$(CURRENT_WORD)</Command>

Restart npp, open your css, select the part which should be validated and click under run menu the Validate CSS entry.

Demetrius Pinheiro

Hi @Eko-palypse ,

First, thank you for your answer and help.

Yeah, I know jigsaw.
But I am totally newbie at NP++. So, please, how can I use your UserDefinedCommand entry? Do I need to create a xml file? To be saved where?

Thank you in advance!

PS: I am going to edit my original post, in order to be more clear.

Eko palypse

PS: I am going to edit my original post, in order to be more clear.

This won’t happen as there is 3 minute time limit ;-)

You need to edit shortcuts.xml file which is, normally, in the install directory of npp
or in the %appdata% dir, depending what npp version you use and how you installed it.

The debug-info from ? menu would help us to see where it should be.

Demetrius Pinheiro

EDITING MY POST:

I am a newbie at NP++.

I am looking for a CSS’ syntax/grammar validator/editor/corrector for NotePad++. It will be useful any plugin, or a NP++’ internal function etc.
I did a search, but I failed and found nothing.
Normally I use online CSS’ validators. Also, I have Stylus (extension/add-on) in my browsers. So, I am looking for something similar for NP++.

Eko palypse

@Demetrius-Pinheiro

the css-eXplorer from http://docs.notepad-plus-plus.org/index.php/Plugin_Central seems to do what you want.
I don’t have any experience as I don’t do any html/css coding.

Demetrius Pinheiro

@Eko-palypse ,

I found the “shortcuts.xml” (I am using ver 7.6.3 64-bit).
When editing this xml file, is any special place where to paste your code?

At the “Run Menu”, where exactly should appear this “Validate” entry?

I edited the xml file => selected my CSS script to be validated => went to run menu… and nothing appeared there… I failed. Perhaps I pasted your code in the wrong place?

Once again, sorry for my ignorance, is my first time with NP++, hope you will be patient with me.
Thanks a lot

Eko palypse

@Demetrius-Pinheiro

when you open the shortcuts.xml file you should see a section
UserDefinedCommands - paste it in there, then you need to restart Npp as
this file is only read on startup.

Demetrius Pinheiro

@Eko-palypse … yeah, following the logic, this is exactly what I did, but nothing appears at my Run Menu. Below I attach you my entire shortcuts.xml. Any suggestions?

Thank you for your link about css-eXplorer. I tried to install but NP++ says that this plugin is incompatible with my NP++ version.

<NotepadPlus>
<InternalCommands />
<Macros>
<Macro name=“Trim Trailing Space and Save” Ctrl=“no” Alt=“yes” Shift=“yes” Key=“83”>
<Action type=“2” message=“0” wParam=“42024” lParam=“0” sParam=“” />
<Action type=“2” message=“0” wParam=“41006” lParam=“0” sParam=“” />
</Macro>
</Macros>
<UserDefinedCommands>
<Command name=“Launch in Firefox” Ctrl=“yes” Alt=“yes” Shift=“yes” Key=“88”>firefox “$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)”</Command>
<Command name=“Launch in IE” Ctrl=“yes” Alt=“yes” Shift=“yes” Key=“73”>iexplore “$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)”</Command>
<Command name=“Launch in Chrome” Ctrl=“yes” Alt=“yes” Shift=“yes” Key=“82”>chrome “$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)”</Command>
<Command name=“Launch in Safari” Ctrl=“yes” Alt=“yes” Shift=“yes” Key=“65”>safari “$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)”</Command>
<Command name=“Get PHP help” Ctrl=“no” Alt=“yes” Shift=“no” Key=“112”>http://www.php.net/$(CURRENT_WORD)</Command>
<Command name=“Wikipedia Search” Ctrl=“no” Alt=“yes” Shift=“no” Key=“114”>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:Search?search=$(CURRENT_WORD)</Command>
<Command name=“Open file in another instance” Ctrl=“no” Alt=“yes” Shift=“no” Key=“117”>$(NPP_FULL_FILE_PATH) $(CURRENT_WORD) -nosession -multiInst</Command>
<Command name=“Send via Outlook” Ctrl=“yes” Alt=“yes” Shift=“yes” Key=“79”>outlook /a “$(FULL_CURRENT_PATH)”</Command>
<Command name=“Validate CSS” Ctrl=“no” Alt=“no” Shift=“no” Key=“0”>PATH_TO_BROWSER\firefox.exe https://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?text=$(CURRENT_WORD)</Command>
</UserDefinedCommands>
<PluginCommands />
<ScintillaKeys />
</NotepadPlus>

Eko palypse

@Demetrius-Pinheiro said:

would you mind posting the debug-info from ? menu?

Demetrius Pinheiro

@Eko-palypse , I apologize because you mentioned the “debug-info” but I didn’t know what was it. Now I found it:

Notepad++ v7.6.3 (64-bit)
Build time : Jan 27 2019 - 17:16:47
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Admin mode : ON
Local Conf mode : OFF
OS : Windows 10 (64-bit)
Plugins : DSpellCheck.dll mimeTools.dll NppConverter.dll PluginManager.dll _CustomizeToolbar.dll

Eko palypse

@Demetrius-Pinheiro said:

Local Conf mode : OFF

this means that your shortcts.xml is used from %appdata%\notepad++
and not from install direcotry.
Can you double check if this is the file you edited?

Demetrius Pinheiro

@Eko-palypse , ok, sorry, my fault!, I found another shortcuts.xml at my %appdata%\notepad++, edited it, and finally the “Validate CSS” entry appeared at my Run Menu. Thank you!

However, sadly it didn’t work, the following message appears:
“The System cannot find the file specified. An attempt was made to execute the below command”…
… “Command: PATH_TO_BROWSER\firefox.exe Arguments: https://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/validator?text=”…
… “here appears the CSS’ script I selected”…
… “Error Code: 2”.

Eko palypse

@Demetrius-Pinheiro said:

PATH_TO_BROWSER\firefox.exe

sorry :-) but I thought it is obvious that you need to modify this
PATH_TO_BROWSER\firefox.exe
to your real path.
If you use an installed browser then it might even be possible using the program exe name alone.

Demetrius Pinheiro

OK, but please correct me if I am wrong, this “Run Menu” command will open any browser of my preference, where the jigsaw webpage also will be open, and the CSS’ script I select will be there inside this webpage and browser… right?

In other words, it is not going to be a CSS’ validator inside NP++, it is outside NP++… right?

I ask because I wanted something automatic, inside NP++, something that will validate my CSS’ scripts automatically, while I am writing those scripts inside NP++.

Eko palypse

You are absolutely correct, this will use the browser, open the validator page and providing
the data which should be validated.
It is NOT a plugin that could be used when you are offline.

Demetrius Pinheiro

@Eko-palypse … thanks a lot… and thank you for your time and patience.

I will keep my post open, in the case some one else knows about a plugin or other solution.
If nothing better appears, I will try the css-eXplorer plugin with an older NPP++ version (or perhaps some one can teach me how to use css-eXplorer or similar plugin with my latest NP++ version).

Anyway, thank you once again!

Eko palypse

my pleasure - hopefully someone else knows a plugin which could be used to your advantage.

PeterJones

I don’t have a plugin … but if you don’t want to have to be online, you could find and download an offline CSS-checker to install on your Windows machine (sorry, I have no recommendations); you could then use the NppExec plugin (or PythonScript, though this seems better suited to NppExec, to me) to launch the external css-checker command on the active file. NppExec (or PythonScript) have ways of putting a command in the menu, so you can bind a keyboard shortcut to it.

For example, if you installed C:\Program Files\SomeCssChecker\somecsschecker.exe, then a possible sequence using NppExec: Plugins > NppExec > Execute:

NPP_SAVE
cd "$(CURRENT_DIRECTORY)"
"C:\Program Files\SomeCssChecker\somecsschecker.exe" "$(FILE_NAME)"

Then Save…, give it a name like “SomeCssChecker”, Save, and finally OK (to run it right away) or Cancel (if you just wanted to define it, without running immediately). When you do run it, the output will go in a “console” windown inside NPP.

To make a keyboard shortcut, Plugins > NppExec > Advanced Options…, enable Place to the Macros submenu, then go down to Menu Item, set the Item Name: to SomeCssChecker, and Associated Script to SomeCssChecker from the pulldown, then Add/Modify to place it into the list above. Click OK and Notepad++ will tell you that you have to restart Notepad++ in order to see it in the Macro menu: so restart. Now looking at Macro menu, “SomeCssChecker” will appear. Go to Macro > Modify Shortcut / Delete Macro; oddly enough, even though it’s now in the Macro menu, it doesn’t show up on the Macros tab of Shortcut Mapper. Instead, go to the Plugin Comands tab; scroll down (or, in new enough Notepad++, type NppExec in the Filter), click on SomeCssChecker, Modify, and select the keyboard shortcut. If you pick a shortcut that already exists (like Ctrl+C), it will say “CONFLICT FOUND!”, and in the Shortcut Mapper, there will be a box telling what it conflicts with; either Modify again, or go modify the other conflicting shortcut.

Good luck (and sorry I couldn’t recommend a specific instance for SomeCssChecker.exe)

Demetrius Pinheiro

Hi @PeterJones ! Very nice answer. Thank you!

Unfortunately, today I can’t test your suggestion. But I will test it soon. And I will be back to you with the result.

I don’t really care if the CSS’ validator is online or offline. But I would like a solution inside NP++. Yeah, no problem to connect NP++ online, or to bind NP++ to a SomeCssChecker.exe. But in any case, I do prefer something automatic happening inside my NP++, a kind of real-time CSS’ validator (online/offline) checking my CSS’ scripts while I write them at NP++.

Honestly, if I need to open a browser or a SomeCssChecker.exe to validate my CSS’ script (wrote at NP++), and if I need to work in another screen/software… in this case I will prefer to use another solution. In my ignorance, I believe that’s the reason why I was looking for a “NP++ plugin”. If no one here has a plugin to recommend me, perhaps I will try to downgrade my NP++ to an older version, in order to try old plugins.

But in any case, I will test you solution during the next week.

Thanks again!