[Geany-Users] Looking to contribute

[Lex Trotman]

...
>
>> Correct, its better to submit new lexers there.
>
> Yes, in the end, it will be submitted there.  Should I infer that you prefer
> to see the development and discussion moved to one of its lists?

Up to you, but you are going to want to ask questions of the Scintilla
maintainer (see below) so probably best.

>
>> The speed difference is probably immaterial, what you need is a clear
>> easily maintained implementation for submission to Scintilla, so
>> making it similar to other lexers is the way to go.
>
> Originally, the lexers were written in C.  As Scintilla has evolved into C++,
> some, but I don't think yet all of the old lexers have evolved to C++, and, my
> understanding is that C++ is the preferred approach.

Check with Neil, there are lexers maintained by him in both forms.

>
>> >    * One of the main variations to the basic TWiki Markup language that I
>> >    need
>> >
>> > to handle is that I allow multiple TWiki records to exist in the same
>> > file, You could consider the file to be basically an mbox email file
>> > with TWiki records delimited by mbox From header, but with some
> ------------------------------------------------------^the
>> > restrictions placed on it.
>> >
>> > I'd like the lexing of the From header to be sufficient to confirm that
>> > the header is valid, at least in the applications I use.
>>
>> Scintilla lexers do not do syntax or semantic checking, they are for
>> highlighting only and should be tolerant of erroneous code, since it
>> will exist whilst you are typing.  You would need to put the checking
>> code elsewhere, in a plugin maybe.
>
> In the lexers / folders / syntax highlighters I've developed for other editors
> (Kate and Nedit (with a pseudo-folding feature), I incorporated enough
> checking into them that they can confirm the syntax to a sufficient degree that
> it works in the other applications that I used the files in (currently kmail
> and nmail).

Well I guess you can set a specific style for syntax that you don't
like, the way C files show a specific style for unclosed strings, but
note they only do that if the cursor moves off the line to avoid being
too annoying.

>
> I hope to get the same accomplished for the Scintilla based editors.  I was
> considering a possible fallback (or a simplified initial approach) of having a
> pretty simple check with the lexer / folder (the beginning of each record is
> the top level folding point) and then having something like a Lua "macro"
> perform a more detailed check on demand.  I don't know / remember if Scintilla
> has another macro language or something like that could be called on demand.

No.

>
> Never-the-less, my goal is to eventually have the highlighter check in enough
> detail to be sure the From header works in kmail, nmail, and in the syntax
> highlighter I've written for kate.  (The nedit syntax highlighter I wrote is
> for an older version of my "system" and the data files are not directly
> compatible with the Kate version, and I do not expect them to be compatible
> with the Scintilla version.)
>
> If I hear a positive response from Sujeet (that is, that he is still
> interested, in the next email I'll detail what I need to have a valid From
> header.

Perhaps you should both consider asking on the Scintilla list first
before going too far.

Also there hasn't been a great clamour of interest for a mail file
editor, so it isn't guaranteed to be included.

>
> Randy Kramer
>
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