keyword highlighting in text file

venky

@PeterJones Can you tell me how (steps) you applied the UDL? Thanks.

PeterJones

You claim that “the UDL file is selected automatically under Language menu”, so according to your claim, it should be applied properly.

My steps were:

Copy your UDL text
Paste into a new file
Save As > %AppData%\Notepad++\userDefineLangs\TextUDL.xml
File > Exit
Run Notepad++
Open text file (must have .txt extension)
or
File > New then File > Save As > c:\path\to\blah.txt
Type file as
```
Warning
blah
Error
blah
Failure
blah
```
It’s highlighted

If it’s not working for you, please go to the ? menu, run Debug Info, click on the underlined text, and paste into your reply. In your reply, also show a screenshot with enough of the Status Bar to show us the selected language on the lower-left of the status bar (like my screenshot above).

venky

@PeterJones Please see below. I put replaced user profile name with … in the path below.

I also tried this with portable version and it did not work.

Notepad++ v8.4.4 (64-bit)
Build time : Jul 15 2022 - 17:54:42
Path : C:\Program Files\Notepad++\notepad++.exe
Command Line :
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : OFF
Cloud Config : C:\Users…\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++
OS Name : Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit)
OS Version : 21H2
OS Build : 19044.1889
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins : none

npp issue.jpg

PeterJones

@venky said in keyword highlighting in text file:

I also tried this with portable version and it did not work.

I do not know what you are doing differently than I am.

I just started again from scratch:

Unzip Notepad++ portable to C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl
Copy C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\userDefineLangs\markdown._preinstalled.udl.xml to C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\userDefineLangs\TextUDL.xml
Use MS notepad.exe to paste the exact UDL definition that you have above into TextUDL.xml and save/exit
Create an emtpy file C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\blah.txt
Drag blah.txt on top of notepad++.exe in that directory to run the portable instance with that blah.txt.
Type (or paste) the six lines of the file.

Notepad++ v8.4.4   (64-bit)
Build time : Jul 15 2022 - 17:54:42
Path : C:\usr\local\apps\npp\udl\notepad++.exe
Command Line : 
Admin mode : OFF
Local Conf mode : ON
Cloud Config : OFF
OS Name : Windows 10 Enterprise (64-bit) 
OS Version : 20H2
OS Build : 19042.1889
Current ANSI codepage : 1252
Plugins : 
    mimeTools (2.8)
    NppConverter (4.4)
    NppExport (0.4)

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones

I don’t want to muddy the waters, but when I follow the instructions, I just see Normal text file on the status bar after pulling in blah.txt. And, you didn’t show yours, but when I go to the UDL section of the Languages menu I don’t see anything that resembles “TextUDL” (and although I’m no expert on UDL, I expected to).

And I didn’t get any coloring on Warning, Error, etc.

PeterJones

@Alan-Kilborn ,

Yours is just behaving like you didn’t restart Notepad++ after putting the UDL definition in the userDefineLangs directory. (Or you used the wrong userDefineLangs directory)

Oh, actually, no, there was an implied step 3.5 which I forgot to mention: in notepad.exe, replace the “smart quotes” with real ASCII " quotes.

(I am working on a video screenshot , showing the full sequence… but having upload problems – new laptop, so my quick animation->forum process needs to be rebuilt.)

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones said in keyword highlighting in text file:

implied step 3.5 which I forgot to mention: in notepad.exe, replace the “smart quotes” with real ASCII " quotes

If it turns out the entire problem is the OP not pasting the data into a code block, I’m going to feel like my time was wasted. :-(

PeterJones

@Alan-Kilborn said in keyword highlighting in text file:

@PeterJones said in keyword highlighting in text file:

implied step 3.5 which I forgot to mention: in notepad.exe, replace the “smart quotes” with real ASCII " quotes

If it turns out the entire problem is the OP not pasting the data into a code block, I’m going to feel like my time was wasted. :-(

I hope that’s not all, too… I would have assumed that the OP would have just copied his UDL file over to the portable he tried, not just do a copy/paste from the forum. And since the OP status bar shows the TextUDL file type, obviously that part is working.

For @venky , here is a recording of the procedure I took, from unzipping through seeing the highlighting.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones

OK, with the changeover from smart-quotes, all working for me as well:

PeterJones

The other option, of course, is for @venky to start from scratch with a new UDL. Then build it up slowly, so that every piece is known working.

Here, I start with blah.txt, with the UDL editor docked. I switch to the default User Defined Language (so it really starts from scratch), Create New, give it a name (Second), and switch the active language for just this file to Second.

Then I go into keywords, use lowercase warning and give it a color, to show that it’s case sensitive. (I forgot while recording this second video that the screenshot above already showed the Warning case matched what was in the pasted UDL definition)

I go into the second keywords box with capitalized Warning, assign it a color, and watch the color change in the editor.

If a user is having trouble getting a UDL to work, I recommend starting from scratch, and building it up slowly, because then you can see each individual step work.