COBOL Comment lines are not displaying correctly if there is a character in Column 6
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Hello team -
For introduction I have been a COBOL programmer for over twenty years.
Comment lines for COBOL do not display correctly in Notepad++ if there are any characters in column 6. By definition a comment line is any line with an asterisk (*) or slash (/) in the indicator area (column 7) of the line, and should not be dependent on any preceding characters.
The first three lines below are displaying comments correctly, but the fourth and fifth lines are displaying as active code rather than a comment. The sixth line and others following are again displaying correctly. The only time that the comment line is not formatted correctly is when there is a character in Column 6 and a comment indicator in Column 7.
Eventually the formatting gives up:
From this point on, for the next 11,000+ lines, there is no formatting at all.
This program does compile, so the highlighting does not affect the actual code, but it is a frustration that the highlighting of Comment Lines goes funky.
Would it be possible to correct the definition of a COBOL comment line? Is there somewhere I can change the highlighting myself to match the actual COBOL definition?
Thanks in advance!
Will
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I get the same behavior in Notepad++. So I tried in SciTE (Notepad++ uses the Scintilla editor component, which is also in charge of syntax highlighting; the SciTE editor is the Scintilla’s testbed editor using the Scintilla editor component). It has the same bug, which means the bug is in the codebase of the Scintilla library, rather than something specific in Notepad++.
To get a Scintilla bug fixed in Notepad++:
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you’ll have to file a bug with Scinitlla (start here), then wait for them to fix it
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once/if Scintilla fixes the COBOL lexer, then you will have to ask the Notepad++ developers (start here) to update to the new version of Scintilla, and wait for that to be done
Sorry that I don’t have better news for you.
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Seems there is some interest for Cobol lately.
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@Ekopalypse said in COBOL Comment lines are not displaying correctly if there is a character in Column 6:
Seems there is some interest for Cobol lately.
Possibly related to current events?
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I noticed it helps when you add a space between whatever is before the leading asterisk, and then add a
>after.* Notepad++ "claims" the next line is not a comment even though it is. * Therefore, Notepad++ does not mark it as a comment. 1234* I really am a comment.* Notepad++ thinks the next line is a comment, so it marks accordingly 1234 *> I be a comment.But I agree, the language definition should be updated to correct the defect.
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@Robert-Plagge said in COBOL Comment lines are not displaying correctly if there is a character in Column 6:
But I agree, the language definition should be updated to correct the defect.
As I described in May, the problem is in the Scintilla library, which is not under Notepad++-developer’s control. The update process needs to start on the Scintilla end. Until someone starts that process by filing a bug report with Scintilla, nothing will happen.
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Peter said:
Sorry that I don’t have better news for you.
And the news gets worse, regarding :
you will have to ask the Notepad++ developers (start here) to update to the new version of Scintilla, and wait for that to be done
This type of update is sadly done very infrequently. You may be waiting a long time.
