[Geany-Users] Indentation Control

[Douglas Morris]

Happy Holidays to everyone!
I am struggling to understand the indentation mechanism of geany.  I am aware of:(1) the configuration files, e.g. filetypes.sh under Tools > Configuration Files,(2) Tools > Reload Configuration,(3) Project > Apply Default Indentation, and
(4) Edit > Preferences > Indentation (tab)(5) The notice on the Indentation panel under Edit > Preferences that says: Note: To apply these settings to all currently opened documents, use Project -> Apply Default Indentation.(6) Document > Indent Type

It seems to me that it is either complicated or buggy. It is certainly not intuitive to me. I wonder if the interface could be simplified. I don't know why the Edit > Preference interface could not have a heading that says what the open project is (or is not) rather than having a separate Project > Properties.
As far as controlling indentation, I don't get it. I fiddle around and sometimes get what I want. I have a case where I am not getting what I want. I looked online at the Geany manual and discovered the Document > Indent Type | Indent Width settings.

So let's say I'm editing a sh file without a sh extension, because I am.  And let's say the first line in the file is: #!/bin/sh . And let's say I have no projects open.  To let's say I have the checkbox 'Detect type from file' from item (4), the Preferences > Indentation panel, checked. And I'm using Debian Linux with Geany 1.33.

>From testing, I don't think that Geany recognizes the file as an sh file to apply the filetypes.sh configuration file. It seems that item (2) does not do anything. I'm not surprised, supposing it works only by file extension on open files. I suppose it works by file extension and necessarily using item (2), Reload Configuration to make edits take effect.

I did not notice that using the Apply button of item (4) did anything. I can't remember a case were it did anything to a document.

However, if I followed the item (5) notice and applied item (3), and I have no project open, I got the spaces-and-tabs indentation in my file with a tab width of 8 spaces. Where the hell does that come from? I got nothing set to tab and spaces with width of 8 spaces, well, maybe I had Document > Indent Type > Tabs and Space set already, but I didn't do it. If I set Document > Indent Type > Tabs (only), then I don't. If I do the project apply and with a different open document selected, it makes the document in question go back to Tabs and Spaces per the Document > Indent Type setting.

If I use item (6), Document > Indent Type, there is a 'Detect from Content' choice that does nothing. I mean it has no radio button and no indication that I selected it after I select it and then return to look at it. The 'Detect from Content' choice under Document > Indent Width seems unresponsive too. But I can select and click on them as if they would do something.

If under the Document menu I select Tabs (which deselects 'Tabs' and 'Spaces'), I get the plain tab of a width of four spaces, which btw is what I have set for item (4), the Edit > Prefs > Indentation panel.
Now suppose I uncheck item (4) checkbox 'Detect type from file', recall that's under the Edit menu. The project item (3) does not seem to do anything. At least unchecking the item (4) checkbox has, it seems, the effect of disabling the group application of tabs and spaces, which I don't want applied so that's fine. I'm pretty sure I'm doing it right. Okay not really.

There does not seem to be a way I can apply 4-space tabs to my opened, no extensions, sh script documents all at once. I can only do each document one at a time, which is tedious. I can go to tabs and spaces for everything all at once, which is not what I want. Is there some default for files without a known extension. My files have no dots in the name and so no extensions.

That was really tedious, right? I tried to be clear. I'm not the best with rot memory or logistics. Maybe I'm missing something particular that if identified would clarify the indentation control mechanism to me. If that reads like a mess, then maybe I'm asking the wrong question. I wish I could answer some of the questions I see from this email subscription, but I'm just not that good.

Best wishes to everyone of course. I notice that Lex provides insightful answers on a regular basis. Happy Holidays, Lex! I hope you are doing well and not working too hard. BTW, maybe after switching from Void to Debian I figured out how to apply the Tango Icon Theme, which makes Geany look nice. Now if I had that one icon for making a new file with a tab strip click I'd have it all. lol I'm learning that perfection is not a good goal more and more, at least for me it's not so good. Get off the computer, y'all. Dang, almost 9:30 on a Friday. What the heck. Peace and out.

Douglas Morris
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