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Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #509960]

Mon, 25 January 2010 16:57

Eclipse User

I'm currently writing a text editor plugin for a custom language (there is already a working Netbeans version). Syntax highlighting, partitioning etc. is all working well now.

The editor is for a theorem proof assistant (Isabelle) and thus the user should have the ability to enter math symbols very easily. This leads to two problems I'm facing right now:

I need an IAutoEditStrategy (do I?) that replaces e.g. -> with → (Unicode right arrow). The user should be able to prohibit this transformation by pressing ESC before entering it. But I can't find a way to get that information. There doesn't seem to be a way to listen to key events inside an editor, or I just can't find it.
Isabelle only understands ASCII. That means every unicode character must be replaced by an ASCII representation (e.g. → to "\<rightarrow>"). I also can't find an interface suitable of doing that. I tried to register a new Charset to Java via CharsetProvider, but without luck.

I would be very happy if someone could point me in the right directions. Thank you.

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #510202 is a reply to message #509960]

Tue, 26 January 2010 06:50

Eclipse User

Axel Gneiting wrote:
> I'm currently writing a text editor plugin for a custom language
> (there is already a working Netbeans version). Syntax highlighting,
> partitioning etc. is all working well now.
>
> The editor is for a theorem proof assistant (Isabelle) and thus the
> user should have the ability to enter math symbols very easily. This
> leads to two problems I'm facing right now:
>
>
> I need an IAutoEditStrategy (do I?) that replaces e.g. -> with →
> (Unicode right arrow). The user should be able to prohibit this
> transformation by pressing ESC before entering it. But I can't find a
> way to get that information. There doesn't seem to be a way to listen
> to key events inside an editor, or I just can't find it.
> Isabelle only understands ASCII.That means every unicode character
> must be replaced by an ASCII representation (e.g. → to "\<rightarrow>").
Can you explain in more detail what user types and what you expect to
happen? I'm a bit confused because first you say you want to replace
"->" with the Unicode arrow and then you say it should only allow ASCII.

Dani

> I also can't find an interface suitable of doing that. I tried to
> register a new Charset to Java via CharsetProvider, but without luck.
>
> I would be very happy if someone could point me in the right
> directions. Thank you.

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #510217 is a reply to message #510202]

Tue, 26 January 2010 13:22

Eclipse User

Please reread the question. These are two completely separate problems.

Problem 1: The editor itself needs to display unicode and provide an easy way to enter these symbols fast, because it's a math language.

Problem 2: Loading and saving the unicode characters from/to a custom ASCII encoding, because the theorem proof assistant doesn't understand them.

[Updated on: Tue, 26 January 2010 13:23] by Moderator

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #510369 is a reply to message #510217]

Wed, 27 January 2010 06:26

Eclipse User

Axel Gneiting wrote:
> Please reread the question. These are two completely separate problems.
>
> Problem 1: The editor itself needs to display unicode and have the
> ability to enter these symbols fast, because it's a math language.
The auto-edit strategy + a verify key listener is the right way to go. I
suggest you take a look at
org.eclipse.jdt.internal.ui.text.java.SmartSemicolonAutoEdit Strategy and
org.eclipse.jdt.internal.ui.text.SmartBackspaceManager: they implement
the Java Editor's smart semicolon feature and allow to und the smartness
by pressing the 'Backspace' key.
>
> Problem 2: Loading and saving the unicode characters from/to a custom
> ASCII encoding, because the theorem proof assistant doesn't understand
> them.
That's best done by writing your own document provider where you can do
the conversion in setDocumentContent and doSaveDocument.

Dani

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #510614 is a reply to message #509960]

Wed, 27 January 2010 20:11

Eclipse User

Thank you very much for pointing me in the right directions Smile

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #510882 is a reply to message #509960]

Thu, 28 January 2010 18:31

Eclipse User

One (hopefully) last question? Where do I define a "verify key listener"?

I'm extending "TextEditor" if that is of any help.

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #511641 is a reply to message #510882]

Tue, 02 February 2010 06:08

Eclipse User

Axel Gneiting wrote:
> One (hopefully) last question? Where do I define a "verify key listener"?
Either you also write some sort of manager like the
SmartBackspaceManager and do it there or you directly do it in your editor.

Dani
>
> I'm extending "TextEditor" if that is of any help.

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #511754 is a reply to message #509960]

Tue, 02 February 2010 12:58

Eclipse User

The AutoEditStrategy is working now Smile

But I have a problem with the DocumentProvider:
I use TextFileDocumentProvider, because it allows to open files outside of the project. But apparently there is no way to do the encoding stuff by extending it, or am I missing something?

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #511881 is a reply to message #511754]

Wed, 03 February 2010 00:30

Eclipse User

Axel Gneiting wrote:
> The AutoEditStrategy is working now :)
>
> But I have a problem with the DocumentProvider:
> I use TextFileDocumentProvider, because it allows to open files
> outside of the project. But apparently there is no way to do the
> encoding stuff by extending it, or am I missing something?
You are right. As I outlined before you have to write your own document
provider (which can inherit from the TFDP).

Dani

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #512021 is a reply to message #509960]

Wed, 03 February 2010 11:45

Eclipse User

I wanted to extend TextFileDocumentProvider, but the Problem is, that it does not have the functions setDocumentContent and doSaveDocument.

[Updated on: Wed, 03 February 2010 11:45] by Moderator

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #512145 is a reply to message #512021]

Wed, 03 February 2010 21:50

Eclipse User

Axel Gneiting wrote:
> Yeah, I want to extend TextFileDocumentProvider, but the Problem is,
> that it does not have the functions setDocumentContent and
> doSaveDocument.
Right, those methods are in a different IDocumentProvider
implementation. However, similar methods exist in TFDP, just read the
Javadoc. If you extend the TFDP you need to introduce a second document
because the one in the file buffer will not be the same as the one shown
in the editor.

Dani

Re: Custom TextEditor, key events and custom encoding [message #512239 is a reply to message #509960]

Thu, 04 February 2010 08:34

Eclipse User

I looked at the JavaDoc.

There are at least three different methods for saving:
commitFileBuffer
createFileFromDocument
createFileStoreFromDocument

For read operations I think the ITextFileBuffer is created from FileBuffers.getTextFileBufferManager() when connect is called.
And if that is not working the parent document provider (StorageDocumentProvider per default) is used.

So for saving I could change all three methods, but for reading I still can't find a way to extend this class without reimplementing large parts of it. Is there a alternative to TextFileDocumentProvider with an easier interface?

I'm sorry, but the main problem is that Eclipse has such a huge codebase, and I just don't know where to look at exactly.

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