Macro problem

guy038

Hello, All,

I need your help for a macro problem !

On my portable v8.9 release of N++, I installed three plugins ComparePlus, Columns++ and NppUISpy

I have two files, one in each N++ view .

In the main view, I have a list of regexes, in a txt file, in order to count the number of chars of any Unicode block. For instance :

[\x{0000}-\x{007F}]      |     128  |  Basic Latin
[\x{0080}-\x{00FF}]      |     128  |  Latin-1 Supplement
[\x{0100}-\x{017F}]      |          |  Latin Extended-A
[\x{0180}-\x{024F}]      |          |  Latin Extended-B
[\x{0250}-\x{02AF}]      |          |  IPA Extensions
[\x{02B0}-\x{02FF}]      |          |  Spacing Modifier Letters
...
...

In the secondary view, I have the Total_Chars.txt file, in N++ read-only mode, which contains all Unicode characters, minus the empty Unicode planes and few other zones

So my goal is :

First, I select a regex, in the main view
Then, the macro :
- Do the Copy action
- Switch from main to secondary view
- Open the Search dialog of the Columns++ plugin
- Do the Paste action within the plugin dialog

Here are the contents of this macro :

        <Macro name="Blocks" Ctrl="no" Alt="no" Shift="no" Key="0">
            <Action type="0" message="2178" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam=""/>
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="44072" lParam="0" sParam=""/>
            <Action type="2" message="0" wParam="22061" lParam="0" sParam=""/>
            <Action type="0" message="2179" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam=""/>
        </Macro>

However, the Paste action does not occur and the search zone of the plugin is not updated with the clipboard contents :-((

I also wanted, if possible, to get the total of chars, by hitting the Alt + T shortcut, within the Search dialog of the plugin

Is there a mean to achieve such a goal ?

TIA !

Best Regards,

guy038

P.S. :

Of course, the paste action is not allowed within the Total_Chars.txt file which is a read-only file !

But, when I added a new tab in the secondary view, it does paste the text in this new tab, and NOT within the Find what field of the Columns++ plugin !

Thomas Knoefel

@guy038
Yeah, macros can’t interact with plugin dialogs - that’s a Notepad++ limitation.

MultiReplace might work as an alternative

What it can do: Instead of counting one regex at a time via a macro loop, MultiReplace lets you run all your regexes against the file in a single “Find All” operation, No macro gymnastics needed.

Here’s the quick rundown:

Open MultiReplace, right-click list header → enable “Find Count”
Add your regexes (with Regex checkbox enabled), or import via CSV:

Selected,Find,Replace,WholeWord,MatchCase,UseVariables,Extended,Regex,Comments
1,"[\x{0000}-\x{007F}]","",0,0,0,0,1,Basic Latin
1,"[\x{0080}-\x{00FF}]","",0,0,0,0,1,Latin-1 Supplement

Open Total_Chars.txt, click “Find All”

The Find Count column shows all matches at once. Works with read-only files.

The catch: it’s batch, not interactive. And the counts aren’t in CSV export yet - you’d copy them manually. (That feature is on my list right now.)

Cheers