ViSimulator Not supported anymore?

[Daniel Trujillo]

Hello, I can’t find ViSimulator in the plugins admin, and the 32 version of ViSumulator.dll is not supported by Notepad++ 7.9.5. Is there a way I can access to this plugin?

[PeterJones]

@Daniel-Trujillo

Is there a way I can access to this plugin?

Even 4.5 years ago, there were indications that the author of the plugin had abandoned development/support on that plugin.

At one point, the bycn82 user in the first post had a github repo with the 32bit and 64bit versions, but it gives a 404 error. However, I found https://github.com/windxuemo/visimulator, which appears to be a copy of bycn82’s compiled DLL files in zipfiles. So it’s still downloadable. (But the source code doesn’t appear to be there, so no one else can try to take the reins.)

I downloaded the 32bit ViSimulator-x32-Latest.zip from that repo. I went into a Notepad++ v7.9.6-32bit folder, went into Plugins, created the folder ViSimulator, and pasted the ViSimulator.dll from the downloaded zip into the plugins\ViSimulator folder. I started Notepad++ v7.9.5-32bit, and ViSimulator was in the Plugins menu; the Plugins > ViSimulator > About worked, and hit ESC three times like the About told me; that changed the status bar, and typing : started a vim-like : line… and hjkl navigate, and io do the insert/append, so I’d say it’s working.

So, while it’s not available through Plugins Admin, that doesn’t necessarily mean that it doesn’t work in Notepad++. You just have to manually install it. (There’s a section in the user manual for how to install plugins manually: https://npp-user-manual.org/docs/plugins/#install-plugin-manually)

is not supported by Notepad++ 7.9.5

You’ve actually got that backward: Notepad++ publishes the plugin API, but does not “support” individual plugins. The plugins made for Notepad++ must be written in a way to support the appropriate version(s) of Notepad++. If the plugin author so chooses, they are allowed to request that their plugin be included in Plugins Admin – but since there’s no current maintainer, that’s not . For the number of times people have abandoned ViSimulator, and for how long it’s been around, the fact that it’s still working (with manual install) is quite good.

Good luck.

[PeterJones]

@PeterJones said in ViSimulator Not supported anymore?:

but since there’s no current maintainer, that’s not .

I meant to say,

but since there’s no current maintainer, that’s not likely (since there’s no one with authority to do it).

And I would now add: in theory, someone else could put in the request to link those in Plugins Admin, but making an unmaintained plugin easily installable – especially one that hasn’t been updated in 5 years – is asking for complaints from users.

[guacamole]

@PeterJones
did you guys try to contact the developer?
I did a simple check, looks like the developer is an active opensource developer,
he wrote the built-in firewall “ipfw3” for DragonflyBSD. anyone familiar with that operating system?

[guacamole]

@guacamole

I found the guy on Twitter. named Bill Yuan, a FreeBSD committer!

[PeterJones]

@guacamole said in ViSimulator Not supported anymore?:

did you guys try to contact the developer?
I did a simple check, looks like the developer is an active opensource developer,

In 2016, the developer of ViSimulator specifically said here that he felt the process of submitting a plugin to Notepad++ was too complex. That was a pretty clear, “I don’t care enough about it” message from 2016, that in 2021 I wasn’t going to bother going to look for him or pester him.

It surprises me that someone who has contributed to firewall software or the FreeBSD OS would really find registering a GitHub account to submit a PR to the Notepad++ Plugin List an onerous task… Either that person has developed additional skills since 2016, or was just using that “complex procedure” as an excuse to abandon supporting ViSimulator. Given the silence for the last 8 years, I doubt they are interested

Whether or not that person still actively develops opensource software in general, whether it’s 2016 or 2021 or 2024, I am not going to go pestering someone who has indicated a lack of interest in pursuing a particular software development anymore, nor would I recommend anyone else do the same. But I don’t necessarily make the same decisions that you would, and who you try to contact is really up to you.

[guacamole]

@PeterJones
I managed to chat with him on Twitter, and got these answers:

1. He did not continue with the ViSimulator because:
   a. He switched laptop and not using Windows at that time.
   b. Lost the code because lost his git account.

2. He is using Windows again due to needing the MS Office and other tools, and He mentioned that he will try to find a long holiday to rewrite the plugin as per my current request:)