[ jEdit-users ] Request for comments: jEdit 3.1 to do list

[Slava P. <sp...@gj...>]

Hello everybody,

Here is my to do list for jEdit 3.1. Tell me what you think.

* Folding

When a file is being loaded, jEdit will scan for "{{{" and "}}}"
strings, and insert folds at the appropriate locations.

+ Commands:

- View->Folding->Add Fold (C+e C+f): surrounds selection with
  <commentStart>{{{<commentEnd> and <commentStart>}}}<commentEnd>

- View->Folding->Expand Fold (A+ENTER): expands the fold at the current
  line

- View->Folding->Collapse Fold (A+BACKSPACE): collapses

- View->Folding->Expand All [0-9] (C+e ENTER n): expands all folds, up
  to level n. If n is zero, all folds will be expanded

- View->Folding->Collapse All [0-9] (C+e BACKSPACE n): collapses all
  folds of level n

* Gutter changes

Fold arrows will be shown in the gutter. Because of this, it will always
have a minimal width; it won't be possible to collapse it fully. The
'Gutter Expanded' command will be removed, replaced by a single 'Line
Numbering' command which, if selected, widens the gutter appropriately
and shows line numbers.

The gutter will no longer be resizable, and it's size will instead be
determined by the width of the longest line number.

* Sessions

When files are opened, they will automatically be added to the 'current'
session. The 'Load Session' and 'Save Session' commands will be replaced
with a 'Current Session' submenu in the Utilities menu. Selecting a new
session will close all open buffers and load files from that session.
I might rename sessions to 'workspaces'.

* LineInfo array moved

The lineInfo array and associated methods (markTokens(), insertLines(),
deleteLines()) will be moved from the TokenMarker class to the Buffer
class.

* Image preview

When opening a buffer, if its filename matches a glob
(*.{gif,jpg,jpeg,png}) the resulting buffer will be read only with no
text in it. The contents of the file will be loaded into an 'image'
buffer-local property. The text area will check for this property and if
it exists, display the image and adjust the scroll bars accordingly.

* Make split configuration persistent

The editor will remember all split locations and what buffers were open
in which.

* Simplify XMode DTD

- Remove WHITESPACE rule
- Remove KEYWORDS.IGNORE_CASE attribute; instead, keywords will inherit
  the setting of the RULES.IGNORE_CASE attribute

* Change mode loading code

The mode-cache thing was cool with a small number of modes, but if we
ever start to have, say, 70 or 80 edit modes, creating the mode cache
will be unbearably slow, even if it only has to be done once.

So, in 3.1 there won't be a mode cache at all. Instead, each mode
directory will have a 'catalog' file, with the following contents:

<MODES>
  <MODE NAME="java" FILENAME_GLOB="*.java" GRAMMAR="java.xml" />
  <MODE NAME="shellscript" FIRSTLINE_GLOB="#!*sh*" GRAMMAR="shellscript.xml" />
  <!-- and so on -->

  <!-- and it will also be possible to do stuff like -->
  <MODE NAME="xml" ... GRAMMAR="xml.xml" />
  <MODE NAME="sgml" ... GRAMMAR="xml.xml" />
  <!-- and have different editor settings for XML and SGML files, but the
       same highlighting -->
</MODES>

Mode files will no longer need to specify a name, or the firstline glob
and filename glob properties.

This will make it a bit harder to create new edit modes, but I think
the change is worth it.

* Faster HyperSearch

When searching a directory, instead of loading each file into memory
entirely, HyperSearch will read them from an input stream. This will
speed things up a lot.

* Two-pane view in file system browser

An optional two-pane view, with a directory tree at the top and a file
list at the bottom.

* More minor changes

- The File->Current Directory menu will not list backups and autosaves.

- All available fonts will be shown in the font selector.

- The base Metal L&F font will be configurable.

- The abbrev option pane will edit the currently selected abbrev in a
  text area.

* UI changes

I think the marker commands should be moved from the 'Search' menu to an
'Edit->Markers' submenu. The 'clear marker' and 'go to marker' submenus
will be replaced with commands that display a list dialog box. I haven't
decided what keyboard shortcuts these commands will have yet.

* API changes

The lineInfo change will break Code2HTML. I don't anticipate any other
major API changes.

Slava