visual studio like enhancements
-
I used notepad++ to write a web app, [website redacted] and then used visual studio c# to transport its idea to a local machine. There are some features of visual studio that i think would enhance notepad++. Here is my idea. Adapt notepad++ to use a folder of files and implement the ‘rt-click’ on a function call to present the user with the ability to open the file containing that function or just ‘peek’ at it. eg rt-click on ‘uniquehndl()’, find it in the file ‘global.js’ , open the file global.js, position to ‘function uniquehndl()’. While open ‘global.js’ may be edited and when it is closed (x) return to the file where the search was introduced.
I like some features on notepad++ over VS_C# mainly the search and replace handling.
I am looking at VS_CODE but it is unweildy (for me).
thanks
jim@ [website redacted] -
@weemfg ,
The feature of trying to find the source for a function in another file is an interesting one… but it’s complicated to implement without deep knowledge of all the possible languages that Notepad++ might be used to edit – the ~80 that it can syntax highlight by default, and the uncountable others that aren’t currently in that illustrious list.
From what I’ve gathered, the way that most modern editors handle such features is to write a client for an LSP server for that language. In Notepad++'s case, it does not currently have such a client built-in, and is not likely to; however, there are at least two people who have started LSP Plugins for Notepad++ which would allow one to connect to an LSP server, but as far as I know, neither has published their plugin. You can search the forum for “LSP” to find links to where you could try to test their pre-release versions
-
I would add that the LSP clients in Notepad++ are cool, but ultimately it is very hard for the single-digit number of developers working on them part-time to compete with the large teams of developers working on improving the LSP clients for other applications like Visual Studio and VSCode.
