Feature Request / Question: Soft Wrap at Vertical Edge (Column 80) regardless of window size

Thorsten Heuer

Hi everyone,

I am using Notepad++ v8.9 (64-bit) and I am looking for a way to achieve a specific wrapping behavior.

My Goal: I want the text to “soft wrap” (visual wrap only, no CR/LF added to the file) exactly at the 80th column (at the last whitespace before 80).

The Problem: Currently, “Word Wrap” always wraps at the right window border. If my monitor is wide and the window is maximized, the text stretches across the whole screen. I have already set the “Vertical Edge” to 80, but this is just a visual line and doesn’t force the text to wrap there.

My Questions:

Is there any native setting I missed to force the soft wrap at the Vertical Edge column instead of the window border?

If not, is there a Plugin (compatible with v8.9) or a Python Script that can simulate this behavior?

I want to keep the file “clean” (no hard breaks) for further processing, but I need the 80-character readability for my creative writing (lyrics).

Thanks in advance for your help!

h-jangra

@Thorsten-Heuer Though I didn’t used this much but I have added this in NppVim plugin you :set tw=60 and :wrap or gq motion. I am not sure how to set text width in notepad++.

fml2

@h-jangra said in Feature Request / Question: Soft Wrap at Vertical Edge (Column 80) regardless of window size:

I have added this in NppVim plugin [. . .]I am not sure how to set text width in notepad++

That’s interesting! I’d think that a NP++ plugin can only do things that are also possible in NP++ itself since the underlying engine is the same.

Thorsten Heuer

@h-jangra I apologize, but I can’t find a way to set “:set tw=60 and :wrap or gq” in “NppVim”. I’m not a very experienced user; perhaps I’m missing some basic knowledge.

h-jangra

@Thorsten-Heuer You can set the text width in command mode by typing :set tw=80. This defines an 80-column wrap limit.

After that, use V to select the line (visual line mode) and press gq to reflow it according to that column width.

Currently, this setting isn’t persistent between sessions. If you’d like it to be configurable (similar to Vim), feel free to open an issue, I can look into adding support for it.

h-jangra

@Thorsten-Heuer
You can set vertical edge though but then wrap will not work according to that.

Settings → Preferences → Margins/Border/Edge
Enable Vertical Edge
Set it to 80

fml2

@h-jangra I’ve tried it out:

Installed the NppVim plugin
entered the commands set tw=30 and wrap.

After the first command, a thin vertical line is displayed at the position 30; the second command activates text wrapping. But, as in the “usual” NP++, the wrapping is made at the windows right edge, not at the width set with tw.

It works exactly the same way it works in NP++ without NppVim. Which is not surprising because everything is backed by NP++ and Scintilla in the end.

It’s very surprising that Scintilla does not have an option to soft wrap the text at a specified width (not window edge).

Coises

@fml2 said in Feature Request / Question: Soft Wrap at Vertical Edge (Column 80) regardless of window size:

It’s very surprising that Scintilla does not have an option to soft wrap the text at a specified width (not window edge).

I must be missing something… it’s very surprising to me that if this is important to you, you wouldn’t just resize the window so the edge is where you want the file to wrap.

Two alternatives (though I admit I don’t see why either would be better than just resizing the window):

Open something in a docking panel, like View | Document Map, and drag the divider so that it lines up with the place you want to wrap.
Open a new tab, move it to the second view, and drag the divider to the place you want to wrap.

M Andre Z Eckenrode

@Coises

Not that soft wrapping of text at a specified column other than window width is something I do, but I can think of a few reasons why one may wish to avoid resizing the window, particularly so that it’s only 80 columns wide, to accomplish the desired effect: So that the menus and tool bar aren’t adversely affected.

If I wanted to achieve custom soft wrapping myself, I’d prefer NOT changing my window size specifically because I prefer having NPP open in the same custom location and size every time I run it, and I’d have to reverse my window size changes before closing NPP in order to maintain that.

One could also increase the zoom level until the desired wrapping occurs, though that, too, would have the potentially negative side effect of reducing the amount of text visible at a time.

Coises

@fml2 said in Feature Request / Question: Soft Wrap at Vertical Edge (Column 80) regardless of window size:

That’s interesting! I’d think that a NP++ plugin can only do things that are also possible in NP++ itself since the underlying engine is the same.

There is a way to do it in Scintilla:
SCI_SETMARGINLEFT and SCI_SETMARGINRIGHT set margins, in pixels.

A plugin, or a PythonScript, could determine the displayable text width of the Scintilla control (I think that would require getting the client width of the Scintilla control with GetClientRect, then using SCI_GETMARGINS to find the number of active margins and iterating through them with SCI_GETMARGINWIDTHN to subtract the margins; there might be an easier way that hasn’t occurred to me) and the width of a string of characters of the desired length (SCI_TEXTWIDTH with style 0), subtract, divide by two and set that margin on each side.

fml2

@Coises said in Feature Request / Question: Soft Wrap at Vertical Edge (Column 80) regardless of window size:

There is a way to do it in Scintilla:
SCI_SETMARGINLEFT and SCI_SETMARGINRIGHT set margins, in pixels.

Not that I’d use it much, but there were a couple of times I wished the feature was there. Now you have pointed out what the underlying engine can do for this (it works, I’ve checked!).

For the real life, it’s of no use though. Who would want to set the width in pixels? To be usable by an end user, it needs a script that would calculate pixel width for the current font and also handle widows resize.

These are just theoretical thoughts since you also advised a practicl way to set the desired width (with side panels).

Thank you!

h-jangra

@fml2 Yes, currently gq in visual line mode works with custom width. I haven’t thought about that and didn’t update wrap command.

PeterJones

@fml2 said in Feature Request / Question: Soft Wrap at Vertical Edge (Column 80) regardless of window size:

To be usable by an end user, it needs a script that would calculate pixel width for the current font and also handle widows resize.

Which is why @Coises suggested that the plugin or PythonScript do the calculation, including getting the active window (or really, editor sub-window) size, the margins, and calculating character width based on the font size.

The one thing he didn’t suggest is hooking this function to a specific notification (for “handle windows resize”), but that was rather implied by the solution. In case you’re not sure, I believe that handling SCN_UPDATEUI is the right notification, because there isn’t one specific to resize. In PythonScript, that hook would be set using editor.callback(functionNameHere, [SCINTILLANOTIFICATION.UPDATEUI]) – so functionNameHere() would be the function that does the calculations and then sets the marginleft/marginright. (personally, I’d recommend just changing the margin-right based on the full width, rather than dividing it by 2 and splitting between left-and-right)

PeterJones

My rough implementation of @Coises suggestion is as follows

# encoding=utf-8
"""in response to https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/27351/

Trying to implement @Coises idea for setting the wrap to exactly 80
"""
from Npp import *
import ctypes
from ctypes import wintypes

# Define the RECT structure to match Win32 API
class RECT(ctypes.Structure):
    _fields_ = [
        ("left", wintypes.LONG),
        ("top", wintypes.LONG),
        ("right", wintypes.LONG),
        ("bottom", wintypes.LONG)
    ]

    def width(self):
        return self.right - self.left

    def height(self):
        return self.bottom - self.top

def pysc_setWrap80(ed=editor):
    #console.write("ed={}\n".format(ed))

    WRAPCHARS = 80

    # Setup the Win32 function prototype
    user32 = ctypes.windll.user32
    user32.GetClientRect.argtypes = [wintypes.HWND, ctypes.POINTER(RECT)]
    user32.GetClientRect.restype = wintypes.BOOL

    def get_window_size(hwnd):
        # 2. Instantiate the RECT structure
        rect = RECT()

        # 3. Call GetClientRect passing the rect by reference
        if user32.GetClientRect(hwnd, ctypes.byref(rect)):
            # 4. Parse the results
            # Client coordinates: top-left is always (0,0)
            return rect
        else:
            raise Exception("GetClientRect failed")

    sz = get_window_size(ed.hwnd)
    #console.write("{} => {}\n".format(ed.hwnd, {"width": sz.width(), "height": sz.height()}))

    usableWidth = sz.width()
    for m in range(0, 1+ed.getMargins()):
        w = ed.getMarginWidthN(m)
        usableWidth -= w
        #console.write("m#{}: {} => usableWidth: {}\n".format(m, w, usableWidth))

    widthWrappedChars = ed.textWidth(0,"_"*WRAPCHARS)+1 # one extra pixel to be able to show the VerticalEdge indicator line
    wantMargin = usableWidth - widthWrappedChars
    if wantMargin < 1:
        wantMargin = 0
    #console.write("{}\n".format({"windowWidth": sz.width(), "usableWidth": usableWidth, "pixelsFor80Char": widthWrappedChars, "wantMargin": wantMargin}))
    ed.setMarginRight(wantMargin)
    ed.setMarginLeft(0)

def pysc_setWrap80e1(args=None):
    pysc_setWrap80(editor1)

def pysc_setWrap80e2(args=None):
    pysc_setWrap80(editor2)

def pysc_setWrap80eX(args=None):
    pysc_setWrap80(editor)

editor.callback(pysc_setWrap80eX, [SCINTILLANOTIFICATION.PAINTED])
console.write("SetWrap80 registered callback\n")

(this script tested in PythonScript 3)

The FAQ (https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/23039/faq-how-to-install-and-run-a-script-in-pythonscript) explains how to run a script, or how to make it run automatically at startup

The script registers the PAINTED notification – I found that UPDATEUI doesn’t happen everytime you change the window width, whereas PAINTED does… but it means that the callback is running a lot. I wish I knew of a notification that was better suited to just-on-resize, but I don’t. Maybe one of the other PythonScript experts can chime in with a better notification to use (or other suggestions for improvements). I just figured I’d do a proof of concept.

If you aren’t changing window size all that often, then it would be better to make a copy of that script that just re-adjusts the 80-character margin on demand (ie, when you run the script) by not using the editor.callback(...) line, and instead just calling pysc_setWrap80(editor) at the end.

Alan Kilborn

@PeterJones said:

I wish I knew of a notification that was better suited to just-on-resize

Hook the message loop and look for WM_SIZE messages?

PeterJones

@Alan-Kilborn ,

Okay, since I didn’t know how to hook the message loop I found this old post by you (I remembered you had done it for the alt+scrollwheel, thankfully), and I was able to use that as a basis for a two-file solution to @fml2’s request

file 1: MsgHooker.py

# -*- coding: utf-8 -*-
# original author: @Alan-Kilborn
# reference: https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/post/100127
# modified by: @PeterJones
#   - updated to add the .unhook() and .__del__() methods

import platform
from ctypes import (WinDLL, WINFUNCTYPE)
from ctypes.wintypes import (HWND, INT, LPARAM, UINT, WPARAM)

user32 = WinDLL('user32')

GWL_WNDPROC = -4  # used to set a new address for the window procedure

LRESULT = LPARAM

WndProcType = WINFUNCTYPE(
    LRESULT,  # return type
    HWND, UINT, WPARAM, LPARAM  # function arguments
    )

running_32bit = platform.architecture()[0] == '32bit'
SetWindowLong = user32.SetWindowLongW if running_32bit else user32.SetWindowLongPtrW
SetWindowLong.restype = WndProcType
SetWindowLong.argtypes = [ HWND, INT, WndProcType ]

class MH(object):

    def __init__(self,
            hwnd_to_hook_list,
            hook_function,  # supplied hook_function must have args:  hwnd, msg, wparam, lparam
                            #  and must return True/False (False means the function handled the msg)
            msgs_to_hook_list=None,  # None means ALL msgs
            ):
        self.users_hook_fn = hook_function
        self.msg_list = msgs_to_hook_list if msgs_to_hook_list is not None else []
        self.new_wnd_proc_hook_for_SetWindowLong = WndProcType(self._new_wnd_proc_hook)  # the result of this call must be a self.xxx variable!
        self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict = {}
        for h in hwnd_to_hook_list:
            self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict[h] = SetWindowLong(h, GWL_WNDPROC, self.new_wnd_proc_hook_for_SetWindowLong)
            v = self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict[h]
            #print(f"add {h:08x} => {v}")

    def __del__(self):
        self.unhook()

    def unhook(self):
        #print(f"unhook: self:{self} => <{self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict}>");
        mykeys = []
        for h in self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict.keys():
            orig = self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict[h]
            print(f"\tdel {h:08x} => {orig}")
            SetWindowLong(h, GWL_WNDPROC, orig)
            mykeys.append(h)
        for h in mykeys:
            del self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict[h]

    def _new_wnd_proc_hook(self, hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam):
        retval = True  # assume that this message will go unhandled (by us)
        need_to_call_orig_proc = True
        if len(self.msg_list) == 0 or msg in self.msg_list:
            retval = self.users_hook_fn(hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam)
            if not retval: need_to_call_orig_proc = False
        if need_to_call_orig_proc:
            retval = self.orig_wnd_proc_by_hwnd_dict[hwnd](hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam)

        return retval

file 2: the main script:

# encoding=utf-8
"""in response to https://community.notepad-plus-plus.org/topic/27351/

Trying to implement @Coises idea for setting the wrap to exactly 80
"""
from Npp import *
import ctypes
from ctypes import wintypes
from MsgHooker import MH as MsgHook
WM_SIZE = 0x0005

# Define the RECT structure to match Win32 API
class RECT(ctypes.Structure):
    _fields_ = [
        ("left", wintypes.LONG),
        ("top", wintypes.LONG),
        ("right", wintypes.LONG),
        ("bottom", wintypes.LONG)
    ]

    def width(self):
        return self.right - self.left

    def height(self):
        return self.bottom - self.top

def pysc_setWrap80(ed=editor):
    #console.write("ed={}\n".format(ed))

    WRAPCHARS = 80

    # Setup the Win32 function prototype
    user32 = ctypes.windll.user32
    user32.GetClientRect.argtypes = [wintypes.HWND, ctypes.POINTER(RECT)]
    user32.GetClientRect.restype = wintypes.BOOL

    def get_window_size(hwnd):
        # 2. Instantiate the RECT structure
        rect = RECT()

        # 3. Call GetClientRect passing the rect by reference
        if user32.GetClientRect(hwnd, ctypes.byref(rect)):
            # 4. Parse the results
            # Client coordinates: top-left is always (0,0)
            return rect
        else:
            raise Exception("GetClientRect failed")

    sz = get_window_size(ed.hwnd)
    #console.write("{} => {}\n".format(ed.hwnd, {"width": sz.width(), "height": sz.height()}))

    usableWidth = sz.width()
    for m in range(0, 1+ed.getMargins()):
        w = ed.getMarginWidthN(m)
        usableWidth -= w
        #console.write("m#{}: {} => usableWidth: {}\n".format(m, w, usableWidth))

    widthWrappedChars = ed.textWidth(0,"_"*WRAPCHARS)+1 # one extra pixel to be able to show the VerticalEdge indicator line
    wantMargin = usableWidth - widthWrappedChars
    if wantMargin < 1:
        wantMargin = 0
    #console.write("{}\n".format({"windowWidth": sz.width(), "usableWidth": usableWidth, "pixelsFor80Char": widthWrappedChars, "wantMargin": wantMargin}))
    ed.setMarginRight(wantMargin)
    ed.setMarginLeft(0)

def HIWORD(value): return (value >> 16) & 0xFFFF
def LOWORD(value): return value & 0xFFFF

def pysc_size_callback( hwnd, msg, wParam, lParam):
    #console.write(f"cb(h:{hwnd}, m:{msg}, w:{wParam}, l:{lParam}) => {LOWORD(lParam)} x {HIWORD(lParam)}\n")
    if hwnd == editor1.hwnd:
        pysc_setWrap80(editor1)
    elif hwnd == editor2.hwnd:
        pysc_setWrap80(editor2)
    return True

pysc_setWrap80(editor1)
pysc_setWrap80(editor2)
pysc_size_hook = MsgHook([ editor1.hwnd, editor2.hwnd ], pysc_size_callback, [WM_SIZE])
console.write("SetWrap80 registered WM_SIZE callback\n")

def pysc_unsetWrap80(args=None):
    """
    To stop
    pysc_unsetWrap80()
    """
    editor1.setMarginRight(0)
    editor2.setMarginRight(0)
    global pysc_size_hook
    if pysc_size_hook:
        pysc_size_hook.unhook()
    del pysc_size_hook

# use the following in the console (no #) to stop it from always wrapping at 80
#
# pysc_unsetWrap80()

You run the main script (or call it from startup.py) to get it to start watching for WM_SIZE, and when it gets that, it does the calcs needed to keep the wrap margin at 80 characters (+1 pixel so that the Vertical Edge line would be visible if you’ve got it on)

Both scripts should go in the main %AppData%\Notepad++\plugins\Config\PythonScript\scripts directory (or equivalent for non-AppData setups, or you need to have added their parent directory to sys.path)