Changing context menu text in a language.xml

Peter Greistorfer · Mar 22, 2021, 1:12 PM

Dear all!
In contextMenu.xml I changed a context-menu-entry to <Item folderName="BLUE " id=“43022”/> to clearly indicate that the 1st style is blue. This results in generating a subfolder “BLUE” containing a command “Using 1st style”. This is not really comfortable.

(1) May I have direct access to “Using 1st style”, i.e. without the subfolder “BLUE”?
(2) How to change the Text in “Using 1st style” (to guess what^^), I’ve tried to edit english.xml and nativeLang.xml, i.e. the text in <Item id=“43022” name=“Using 1st style”/>, but no chance: the xml(s) were saved with the change, but no way, it didn’t work. (Note, edited the correct files at the right location …)

Thanks a lot for any help!

PeterJones · Mar 22, 2021, 1:41 PM

@Peter-Greistorfer ,

The documentation for the contextMenu.xml is at https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/config-files/#the-context-menu-contextmenu-xml

The reason why <Item folderName="BLUE " id=“43022”/> puts it in a subfolder named BLUE is because you entry said folderName="BLUE", which defines the name of the folder to put it in as BLUE.

If you used ItemNameAs="BLUE" instead of FolderName="BLUE", then the entry name in the context menu will call itself BLUE. This is documented in the Overriding a menu item name section of the docs .

You can combine those features. The default contextMenu already puts those style commands in the Style token folder of the context menu, so if you add in the ItemNameAs, you can change their name:

Also remember, as with all Notepad++ config files: when you edit and save the file, you then have to exit Notepad++ and restart Notepad++ before the changes will take effect. (Notepad++ only reads config files when the executable first runs.)

–
PS: I have given myself issue#180 to clarify the docs somewhat with regard to how to use ID vs MenuEntryName or PluginEntryName.

Alan Kilborn · Mar 22, 2021, 2:06 PM

@Peter-Greistorfer

Unless you’re using an older version, do you really need it to say “blue” or more-accurately, “cyan”?

Because in Peter’s screenshot, you can actually see the color sample, which is much better than any text.

PeterJones · Mar 22, 2021, 2:25 PM

@Alan-Kilborn said in Changing context menu text in a language.xml:

you can actually see the color sample, which is much better than any text.

Interestingly, if you have more than one instance of that style entry in the contextMenu, only the first instance will have the color box:

Maybe @Peter-Greistorfer was adding another instance of the style token entry somewhere below the Style token folder (either because of not liking it in a separate folder, or not knowing it already existed in the default contextMenu), and it thus the second copy didn’t have the color box next to it.

guy038 · Mar 22, 2021, 2:42 PM

Hello, @peter-greistorfer, @Alan-kilborn, @peterjones and All,

In addition to the coloured boxes, with the new versions, it also follows any change of colour, just done in Settings > Style Configurator... > Global Styles > Style Mark Style 1 to 5, even without restarting N++. Whaoou ;-))

BR

guy038

Alan Kilborn · Mar 22, 2021, 2:48 PM

@PeterJones said in Changing context menu text in a language.xml:

Interestingly, if you have more than one instance of that style entry in the contextMenu, only the first instance will have the color box:

It begs the question: If, when doing a pointless thing, if a harmless inconsistency occurs, is it called a bug?
Or is it merely an “interestingly…”

Peter Greistorfer · Mar 22, 2021, 3:25 PM

You guys are great, thanks a lot for your fast help!

Finally, I’m just using <Item ItemNameAs="CYAN " id=“43022”/> (of course, it’s not BLUE!), which gives me direct access to that colour. Unfortunately, the best, those coloured boxes, doesn’t appear … Does it depend on npp’s version, I’m not running the latest build …

And, if it’s allowed (<=>my problems are already solved), what’s the reason I couldn’t edit that “Using 1st style”-entry in the language-files?

PeterJones · Mar 22, 2021, 3:57 PM

@Peter-Greistorfer said in Changing context menu text in a language.xml:

You guys are great, thanks a lot for your fast help!

Glad it helped.

Unfortunately, the best, those coloured boxes, doesn’t appear … Does it depend on npp’s version, I’m not running the latest build …

Interesting. It’s in the v7.9.2 changelog: I had forgotten that was so recent. Probably because I rarely look at the styling commands.

what’s the reason I couldn’t edit that “Using 1st style”-entry in the language-files?

I don’t know. It works for me (I still had v7.9.2 open, so that’s the version I changed).

Set Preferences > General > Localization to English (customizable) – this copies english_customizable.xml to nativeLang.xml
Edit nativeLang.xml, change from
<Item id="43022" name="Using 1st Style"/>
to
<Item id="43022" name="Using 1st Style [CYAN]"/>
and save
Exit Notepad++. Re-run Notepad++
Right-click context menu:
(also used that edited name in Search > Mark All)

It worked for me.

Peter Greistorfer · Mar 22, 2021, 4:20 PM

I see, it works for you, Peter. Strange. Will re-check that issue after having installed the newest npp. But my main problem is successfully solved and that’s great!

Thanks again and have a nice day,

another Peter

Peter Greistorfer · Mar 22, 2021, 4:39 PM

Wait, please, just one question:

If I style, e.g., MyWord with CYAN, then all occurrences of MyWord are coloured CYAN … is there any way to style/colour only a single MyWord, I mean a type of colour formatting (I should add, I set up a python-macro, found in the net, which loads and saves styles. It works fine, but as sketched, not in the “single-mode”).