#367 Missing indent for multiline comments

[pustekuchen]

Option: Indend Comments active

  TSampleClass = class(TObject)
    procedure functionx(); { this is multiline comment
    ---- ----- ---- --------------------------------- -- -------
    ----------
    ----
    }
    procedure functiony();                   //test
  end;

Expected

  TSampleClass = class(TObject)
    procedure functionx(); { this is multiline comment
      ---- ----- ---- --------------------------------- -- -------
      ----------
      ----
      }
    procedure functiony();                   //test
  end;

[Thomas Mueller]

That's a really odd one. I don't use this option myself, but I just played a bit with it in the Code Formatter Config window. It definitely doesn't work as expected, e.g.

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
        { this is a comment
-- with
  -------- multiple
  --------lines
  --
   }
  end;

gets formatted as

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
    { this is a comment
-- with
-------- multiple
--------lines
--
}
  end;

And the more spaces I put in front of the first line, the less the following lines get indented. I'm not quite sure how it actually should work.

[Thomas Mueller]

Actually, it might be working as designed:
The formatter determines the indent of the 2nd and later lines relatively to the first comment line. So given this input:

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
        { this is a comment <-- Indent is 8
-- with  // indent is 0, so the relative indent is -8
  -------- multiple // indent is 2, so the relative indent is -6
  --------lines // indent is 2, so the relative indent is -6
  -- // indent is 2, so the relative indent is -6
   }  // indent is 3, so the relative indent is -5
  end;

Since the first line gets indented

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
    { this is a comment // new indent is 4
-- with // new indent is 4-8 -> 0
-------- multiple // new indent is 4-6 -> 0
--------lines // new indent is 4-6 -> 0
-- // new indent is 4-6 -> 0
} // new indent is 4-5 -> 0
  end;

So it works as designed for this, trying to keep the relative indentation inside the comment.

[Thomas Mueller]

Different example:

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
 { this is a comment // indent is 1
          -- with // indent is 10, relative indent is 9
    -------- multiple // indent is 4, relative indent is 3
     --------lines // indent is 5, relative indent is 4
             } // indent is 13, relative indent is 12
  end;

Output:

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
    { this is a comment // new indent is 4
             -- with // new indent is 4 + 9 = 13
       -------- multiple // new indent is 4 + 3 = 7
        --------lines // new indent is 4 + 4 = 8
                } // new indent is 4 + 12 = 16
  end;

Again, this looks just like it should

[pustekuchen]

Would it be possible to create an option that ignores the relative indent for comments and puts everything on one level?

[pustekuchen]

clang format does it job very well in c/c++ context. Maybe the reflow style option would be an possibility.
https://clang.llvm.org/docs/ClangFormatStyleOptions.html#reflowcomments

[Thomas Mueller]

Example where the comment starts after a procedure like in the original post:

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
procedure bla; { this is a comment // indent is 0 (the indent of the line!)
       -- with // indent is 7, relative indent is 7
 -------- multiple // indent is 1, relative indent is 1
  --------lines// indent is 2, relative indent is 2
          } // indent is 10, relative indent is 10
  end;

Output:

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
    procedure bla; { this is a comment // new indent is 2 (the indent of the line!)
    -- with // new indent is 4 but should possibly be 2 + 7 = 9
-------- multiple // new ident is 0 but should possybly be 2+1 = 3
--------lines // new ident is 0 but should possibly be 2 + 2 = 4
       }
  end;

This looks wrong. I'm not quite sure what to make of this. Maybe I'm interpreting it wrongly. (Remember: I didn't write this code, it was donated to GExperts from the original author Egbert van Nes, so I have to guess what he intended.)

[Thomas Mueller]

Playing with it a bit further, it turns out that the comments are always indented relativ to the first full comment line, so:

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
procedure bla; { this is a comment // indent des not matter
       -- with // first full comment line, indent is 7
 -------- multiple // indent is 1, relative indent is -6
  --------lines// indent is 2, relative indent is -5
          } // indent is 10, relative indent is 3
  end;

Output:

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
    procedure bla; { this is a comment // indent des not matter
    -- with // new indent is 4
-------- multiple // new ident is 0 because 4-6 < 0
--------lines // new ident is 0 because 4-5 < 0
       } // new indent is 7 = 4 + 3
  end;

another example, where it works:

type
  TSampleClass = class(TObject)
    procedure functionx(); { this is multiline comment
   ---- ----- ---- --------------------------------- -- ------- //indent is 3
      ---------- // indent is 6, relative indent is 3
        ---- // indent is 8, relative indent is 5
    } // indent is 4, relative indent is 1
    procedure functiony();                   //test
  end;

Output

type
  TSampleClass = class(TObject)
    procedure functionx(); { this is multiline comment
    ---- ----- ---- --------------------------------- -- ------- // indent is 4
       ---------- // indent is 7 = 4 + 3
         ---- // indent is 9 = 4 + 5
     } // indent is 5 = 4 + 1
    procedure functiony(); //test
  end;

So this seems to be how it is intended to work.

[pustekuchen]

For

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
procedure bla; { this is a comment // indent des not matter
       -- with // first full comment line, indent is 7
 -------- multiple // indent is 1, relative indent is -6
  --------lines// indent is 2, relative indent is -5
          } // indent is 10, relative indent is 3
  end;

i would expect.

type
  TClass = class(TObject)
  private
    procedure bla; { this is a comment 
      -- with
      -------- multiple 
      --------lines
      } 
  end;

[Thomas Mueller]

Please give some more examples on how you expect this to work. I'm not sure I understand your request. What is the purpose of the lines in your original report? Are they just place holders for some text? Why do you think the formatting is wrong?

[pustekuchen]

The main problem in my eyes is that if you have a multiline comment that is not indented, it is visually more difficult to distinguish from the next line. In this case the line with "procedure functiony();".
Each comment line (1+) of the multiline comment should start at the same indentation level.

[Thomas Mueller]

fixed in revision #5175