TagsView is back! :)

Vitalii Dovgan

Somewhere in 2010, there was a plugin TagsView that used ctags to parse a source file and to show the result in a docked window.
Now, just 12 years later, TagsView is back! :)

The latest source code is hosted on GitHub:
https://github.com/d0vgan/TagsView/

Here is what has already been implemented:

32-bit and 64-bit versions
updated to AkelPad 4.9.8+ and Notepad++ 8.3+
applying editor’s colors
settings dialog
ability to scan all files in a folder
win32++ updated to 8.9.1+
uses the latest ctags from https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags-win32
a lot of internal improvements

More changes/improvements are planned.

Vitalii Dovgan

The latest dev build (development build, i.e. work-in-progress build) is available here:
https://sourceforge.net/projects/tagsview/files/TagsView (dev builds)/

Michael Vincent

@vitalii-dovgan said in TagsView is back! :):

TagsView is back! :)

I had the same idea a while back: https://github.com/vinsworldcom/nppTagsView

I was trying to get SourceCookifier to compile on 64-bit but it’s written in C# and I have no idea what I was doing and found TagsView as an OK replacement - not perfect, but it worked. I added some things like:

updating the tags database on file save
using Notepad++ background colors in the dockable panel to avoid the large white listview if I had a dark background theme
pressing ESC key in the dockable sets focus back to the Notepad++ editor window
fixed the scroll-into-view when going to a tag

Feel free to incorporate any of those changes into your version - copy or improve the code changes I did. Alternatively, if you’d like me to create some pull requests for you to incorporate some of those changes, I can do that too.

I never made my releases “real” - just pre-release on GitHub since I didn’t know what the original author’s intent was - to keep it or abandon. I had asked for some changes a while back when I started and when unresponsive, I create the copy I’ve been working on - linked above.

Cheers.

Michael Vincent

@michael-vincent said in TagsView is back! :):

TagsView is back! :)

I had the same idea a while back

WOW - looks like you covered everything! I’m playing with it now. Real nice.

The only thing “missing” is the ESC key in dockable switching focus to the Notepad++ editor component.

If using temp files instead of STDOUT for the tags files - where are those temp tags files stored? Are they “cleaned” (read: deleted) when closed?

Cheers.

Vitalii Dovgan

A temporary file is created in the %TEMP% folder and its file name starts with “npptags_”. Refer to createUniqueTempFilesIfNeeded in “src/TagsViewBase/TagsDlg.cpp”.
In “src/TagsViewBase/TagsDlg.cpp”, there are two manual options for dealing with temporary files (I forgot to describe them in the Readme file):

// Debug section
    m_opt.AddInt(OPT_DEBUG_DELETETEMPINPUTFILE, cszDebug, _T("DeleteTempInputFiles"), DTF_ALWAYSDELETE);
    m_opt.AddInt(OPT_DEBUG_DELETETEMPOUTPUTFILE, cszDebug, _T("DeleteTempOutputFiles"), DTF_ALWAYSDELETE);

where

enum eDeleteTempFile {
            DTF_NEVERDELETE  = 0,  // don't delete (for debug purpose)
            DTF_ALWAYSDELETE = 1,  // delete once no more needed
            DTF_PRESERVELAST = 2   // preserve the last temp file until the next Parse() or exiting
        };

Also I’m currently introducing a “cache” of parsed tags to keep them in memory instead of invoking ctags each time you switch to another file.

Vitalii Dovgan

The Esc key clears the filter in TagsView’s panel, so a different key is needed to switch the focus. Maybe Ctrl+Tab?
Anyway, what is the code for this? Is it a simple call to ::SetFocus or something more complicated?

Vitalii Dovgan

Volunteers are welcome to make the TagsView’s icon/bitmap transparent and to introduce dark versions of the icons/bitmaps for Notepad++'es Dark Mode. I’m not good with images.

Michael Vincent

@vitalii-dovgan said in TagsView is back! :):

The Esc key clears the filter in TagsView’s panel, so a different key is needed to switch the focus. Maybe Ctrl+Tab?
Anyway, what is the code for this? Is it a simple call to ::SetFocus or something more complicated?

I thought it would operate like the Notepad++ Function List where:

ESC in the list view box switches focus to Notepad++ editor component
ESC in the filter text box clears it
TAB switches between filter text box and list view

Seems like the last 2 work and the first one is “combined” with the second - as in ESC in either filter text box or list view clears the filter text.

In any case, the code for ESC to switch focus is simple: https://github.com/vinsworldcom/nppTagsView/commit/e42fe1f2a0f148a5a5b67cc3cf0f88a003e678ca

I think if you were to implement something like the bullet list above that mimics Notepad++ Function List behavior, you’d need some nuance to it, but where ever the “SetFocus” call would go, the linked commit shows the one-line method I was calling to make it happen.

Cheers.

pnedev

@Vitalii-Dovgan ,

Great news, thank you very much for the update!

I tried your dev-build and it works perfectly (64-bit build) but I noticed a slight problem when visiting location on tag double-click.
I have described it here several years ago and also have fixed it in my temporary build back then - you can find the source in the same link.
Briefly described, when some lines are folded and you double-click on a tag the location opened might not be scrolled into view or (if folded) will not be visible (will remain folded).

Good work anyway, thanks again!

Vitalii Dovgan

@michael-vincent
Any idea why I may be getting this? –
alt text

Michael Vincent

@vitalii-dovgan said in TagsView is back! :):

Any idea why I may be getting this? –

Premature delete? Try again now …

Cheers.

Vitalii Dovgan

Next iteration :)
https://sourceforge.net/projects/tagsview/files/TagsView (dev builds)/
TagsView_dll_dev_220515.zip

The most interesting changes:

using in-memory “cache” of tags to invoke ctags only when necessary
new setting “Esc sets the focus to Editor”

Michael Vincent

@michael-vincent said in TagsView is back! :):

@vitalii-dovgan said in TagsView is back! :):

Any idea why I may be getting this? –

Premature delete? Try again now …

@Vitalii-Dovgan I’ve been compiling and using your incremental commits and so far so good. I see the “context menu” one, but not sure what that was supposed to do - I don’t see a right-click context menu when trying.

In any case, I think you may have extracted what ever little bit of my minor updates that could possibly be useful. Any objections to me deleting my https://github.com/vinsworldcom/nppTagsView repo?

Cheers.

Vitalii Dovgan

@michael-vincent
The “context menu, part 1” was incomplete, I was going to finish it in the “part 2”. However, I noticed some stability issues together with some ideas of refactoring and decided these were more important :)
I think I’ll complete these things and upload a new build next week. Anyway, the plugin becomes better and better, so most likely the official version 0.5 will be released in June.

Vitalii Dovgan

@michael-vincent
If you don’t need your repo, feel free to delete it.