Text editor for scripting?

[Ruckus 0]

Can anyone recommend a good text editor to use for scripting? Years back I used to have one that would highlight C++ keywords and the { } higherarchy.

anyone use one that might have some of this functionality that would be freeware or shareware?

[mattxr 9]

Check out the OFP Script Editor.. Its still good for ArmA and it color codes everything.

[canukausiuka 1]

I use Notepad++... I started an OFP script syntax highlighting at one time, but never got very far with it.

[Moktar 0]

In general, I use SciTE for all my small developments. Nice tool and many language syntax highlighting.

[fasad 1]

I've been using crimson editor. It's free and I've made a basic ArmA syntax highlight/colour coding definition.

[snkman 351]

Well to me the best editor ever is Chris' OFP Script Editor 3.1

[baddo 0]

Hi

Flaws that I have found in the latest publicly released version of Chris' OFP Script Editor:

- no code folding

- no line numbering

- syntax highlighting doesn't work correctly:

- if the comment character ; is not the first item in a line then that comment is not coloured as it should be

- SQF syntax highlighting is not working as it should, impossible to fix without source code to the program

- program is very slow when opening a file, probably related to the syntax highlighting...

- if a line exceeds the width of the text box, when writing more characters to the end of the line there is something wicked going on; I assume that it is the cursor that jumps back and forth between the start of the line and the end of the line, causing the view changing quite disturbingly. This is very uncomfortable and annoying and alone is a reason not to use this program for editing files.

Yes I've sent these comments to Chris also a good time ago, so he should be aware of my complaints

I read from another thread a comment from someone that a new version of this program is on the works so maybe these issues will go away with a next version of the program if it comes out.

Positive thing in this program is that it is customized for use in OFP editing (this is a flaw too at the same time).

So what do I recommend, then? As I write scripts/other code files on Linux most of the time, I use Kate which is more than adequate for the task of writing source code.

On Windows I have used Chris' OFP Script Editor up to the point where I couldn't stand its flaws anymore, and then I've used a couple of other programs too, most of which has been mentioned in this thread already. UltraEdit is good too, but I think Kate beats it up as it has a cleaner user interface (not so many unnecessary features).

Best Regards,

Baddo.

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

I use an app called Textpad.

Mainly I use it because:

It's got integrated syntax checking and compiling for java and I work with java often.

It offers customisable code highlighting.

Sadly, it doesn't do any code folding (possible I'm wrong, but not likely), but given the length of arma scripts, that's not that big a deal to me.

Most importantly, it's pretty highly customisable. You can customise it to handle any group of extensions with different properties for line wrapping, fonts (colors and sizes too), encoding, line number display, etc for each extension.

You can also create custom syntaxes easilly by editing a text file. Just make a coppy of a "syn" file, let's say c++'s, remove the default keywords, put any and all commands you want highlited in there (I just copy+pasted off the biki commands list), customise how comments are done, set case sensitivity to whatever you desire, and voila, finished.

So basically, since I already use it for java and it's pretty customisable, it's the most ligical choice for me at least.

There's a few others mentioned here too, and honestly, geeks can argue for days on end which text editor they prefer. That doesn't even take into account what os they want it on. They come in a *lot* of different flavors. The range of features, style, and ease of use on each is very different. You're going to just have to try a few to see for yourself which one you prefer since it boils down to taste.

If you want to give it a try, check out their website. It's full featured unlimited time shareware with an occasional nag message I believe. Although I can't remember for sure, since I bought it a while back now. If you PM me for them, I'll send you the syntax files I'm using too (one for sqs, and one for sqf).

[Ruckus 0]

Thanks for your input guys. I've tried the OFP Script editor and it seems fine to me as I'm not creating very large scripts.

I haven't had a chance to try any of these other ones yet.

[crashdome 3]

I can be such a TEASE  

sorry for the crappy compression of the movie... I had no choice.

A little birdy says that next Monday will be more interesting.

[nubbin77 0]

I've been dying to respond to these threads regarding text editors for scripting. From first hand experience, this is THE editor.

[Guest]

I can be such a TEASE  

Thats the best news I saw in a while here.

Looking forward to it

[baddo 0]

I can be such a TEASE

Looks good...

...does it work in Linux?

[ColonelSandersLite 0]

That actually looks pretty good.

Pretty influenced by the .net platform ide if I'm not mistaken.

Does it do customisable color schemes? Gotta have my black background with green text

[CarlGustaffa 4]

Not free, but UltraEdit has rocked my world when it comes to text editing.

[Shadow_Spyder 0]

I can be such a TEASE

sorry for the crappy compression of the movie... I had no choice.

A little birdy says that next Monday will be more interesting.

Is that Monday - April 30th, or Monday - May 7th? Plz let it be the 30th lol. Nice B-day present for me

P.S. That is VERY nice. Should help newb scripters like myself A LOT! Thanks!

[HulkingUnicorn 0]

I currently use jEdit, but...

Looks like I'll switch to something else one of the next mondays...

[Synide 0]

Hmmmm.... very impressive... yes, .net is defintely the way to go isnt it?

you're 'community spirit' and dedication will be 'lauded' throughout the lands methinks.

[the unknown 0]

Cant wait to give it a try looks very usefull.

I only hope it wont be to diffecult to use

[[aps]gnat 28]

<span style='font-size:10pt;line-height:100%'><span style='color:DarkRed'>WOW</span></span> .... that looks awsome!

[hardrock 1]

Cool stuff, Crashdome! So my guess wasn't too bad in the other thread about the SQF syntax in BNF

Since you showed the XML-Based header in the last example - is there any form to edit the XML header included? Or better yet, what would you think about implementing JavaDoc-like syntax, which is much faster and more lightweight to write?

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">/**

* Summary in one sentence

*

* Optional longer description

*

* @param Object Unit Unit of which to move

* @param Array Position Position in 3D format

*

* @author Mr. X <mrx@mail.com>

* @version 1.0.0

* @modified 1.1 Added section ...

* @modified 1.2 Fixed bug

*/

Script code ...

Something that would be very nice in combination with JavaDoc-like headers or your XML-Header would be some sort of automated version control - maybe everytime you save and close s script, the build number gets incremented?

[Synide 0]

integration with the XNA framework would be great.