Horizontal Caret

mkupper

Hi @guy038 ,

My eyes are comfortable with the dash cursor. BTW, I have no eye problem, I don’t know why the vertical caret (Block) bothers the eyes.

That is ok. Sometimes things bother us that don’t seem to bother others.

This is my RTL (Persian) language in NP++, I like this dash caret (it’s in overwrite mode):
https://mega.nz/file/4952nQjT#zvgyeUnV_jdDVyCNGwqBiqus0PTuC1niMilGX7CsHuw

That was useful and reminds me that Notepad++ in overwrite mode has the cursor you desire.

Windows Terminal has 6 options including the dash which I’ve set it:
https://mega.nz/file/ps5WFRLZ#eOGpDQN-hfH1nbL8lyGVJmKZqaftQbqLLPALRTqYzDY
https://mega.nz/file/1pIyHQgD#o-poS9aVzKCE2d6A73x6RuXiCEoWg6Udn9jXAy0deXw

If and how much the cursor can be configured is entirely up to the developers of each application. Hardware terminals had a variety of cursor shapes. When software based terminal emulators were created they tended to have configurable cursors to mimic the styles available on the hardware terminals they were emulating. Notepad++ started out as an improvement on Microsoft Notepad which only offers a | vertical line cursor that can’t be configured. The developer of Notepad++ had ideas plus interest in various improvements on Microsoft Notepad. Those ideas/interest areas did not include making the cursor extremely configurable.

Just one question, an open source app doesn’t mean you can customize its source in your own way?
Scintilla is closed source?

Both Notepad++ and Scintilla are open source. However, open source does not mean anyone can make changes, particularly changes that could impact or have a negative affect on others using the product. Nearly all open source projects have a process where people can propose changes. The proposals get reviewed. Many proposals are not implemented, usually because of the amount of work needed to create and debug the new code vs. the value users will get from those changes. Proposals are also not implemented because they don’t align with the overall plan for the project.

Ten years ago someone suggested a change to the Notepad++/Scintilla caret or cursor very much like what you desire. That proposal was not implemented as the developers of Notepad++ and Scintilla did not see the value vs. the amount of work needed.

As they are open source you are free to create your own fork, and even to make it public, that implements your desired cursor.

JamesWebb

@mkupper Many thanks for your help and advice. Your explanation about open-source project was like a crash course for me. I’m not a coder, so I don’t know much about it.

Regarding the issue with the dash cursor, I realized that it’s not worth the effort since it doesn’t add much value. Also, since I have no coding knowledge, I can’t create my own repacked version of NP++ 😑.

I have a question about selecting words in RTL. Whenever I try to select a word or words, if the line is left-aligned, the selection appears like a rolling film strip, making it difficult for me to see which word I’m selecting. However, if the line is right-aligned, the selection works normally, and I can see which word I’m selecting:

https://mega.nz/file/R9YTASzC#cwWjdDfJG5XRGsqfUWrTuJBfF_iDPKA3NX_Oac9O5RM

Do you know why NP++ has such odd behaviour? Is there any solution?