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#797 Allow custom word delimiters

closed-fixed
None
6
2009-03-03
2006-09-26
CyberShadow
No

Please add an edit box in Options -> Editor -> Line
Difference Coloring, to allow users to specify their
own punctuation characters.

This has been discussed before in a thread on the
developer forum ( http://sourceforge.net/forum/
message.php?msg_id=3032117 ), but no actual action
seems to have been taken.

I would like to bring this issue into view once again.

IMHO the punctuation characters should include all non-
identifier characters (all characters except [0-9a-zA-
Z_]), because right now WinMerge starts/ends in-line
highlighting at completely unrelated points containing
identical stuff, making it actually hard to spot the
change of one identifier in a long expression. But,
since my opinion will most likely differ, I suggest
making it an option.

Thank you.

Discussion

  • elsapo

    elsapo - 2006-09-28

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    user_id=1195173

    I think that your suggestion will be good for English but
    bad for almost all other languages -- specifically, calling
    all these letters as "punctuation characters" will be
    anti-intuitive and pretty undesirable for everyone: é, í, ì,
    ñ, ü, and many others, especially including every Korean
    syllable and letter, every Japanese katakana and hiragana,
    every Chinese character, every Russian letter, every Greek
    letter, every Arabic letter...

     
  • elsapo

    elsapo - 2006-09-28

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    user_id=1195173

    Altho I think your definition for punctuation characters
    will be terrible for everyone except people who only deal
    with English, I wholeheartedly agree with you that an option
    is needed -- I would say, desparately needed. But, as I
    mentioned in the linked thread, I punted because I didn't
    feel like figuring out the DBCS implications.

    It ought to be doable, and it shouldn't be that hard; it
    just needs someone to do the coding, and, optimally, to
    review the DBCS ramifications, at least briefly.

     
  • CyberShadow

    CyberShadow - 2006-09-28

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    user_id=1223596

    elsapo,

    Please do not misunderstand my suggestion.

    The part I really mean is:

    > Please add an edit box in Options -> Editor -> Line
    > Difference Coloring, to allow users to specify their
    > own punctuation characters.

    The 2nd part of my suggestion above is simply an example of
    how I would use this feature, and why is it important for
    me.

    Thank you.

     
  • elsapo

    elsapo - 2006-10-04

    Logged In: YES
    user_id=1195173

    What I do, is get a version of the code that I can compile,
    and then I edit the source to add the word delimiters I want.

    Look in file stringdiffs.cpp at function isWordBreak, and of
    course just add in the characters you want.

    I agree with you that this would be much better with a GUI;
    I'm just giving you a workaround that you can use now.

     
  • Kimmo Varis

    Kimmo Varis - 2007-01-29
    • priority: 5 --> 6
     
  • Kimmo Varis

    Kimmo Varis - 2007-01-29

    Logged In: YES
    user_id=631874
    Originator: NO

    Get sources, modify sources and compile is poor advice or workaround. Most people just cannot compile WinMerge.

    I personally think we should get some kind of GUI for this pretty soon. Of course there will be problems, but it is also a lot easier to solve them after we have basic infrastructure in place.

     
  • Kimmo Varis

    Kimmo Varis - 2009-03-02

    I finally have a patch for this:
    #2655563 Add option to set wordbreak characters for highlight
    http://winmerge.org/patch/2655563

     
  • Kimmo Varis

    Kimmo Varis - 2009-03-02
    • assigned_to: nobody --> kimmov
     
  • Kimmo Varis

    Kimmo Varis - 2009-03-03

    This feature is not available in latest 2.13.4 experimental release.

    So closing this item as fixed.

     
  • Kimmo Varis

    Kimmo Varis - 2009-03-03
    • status: open --> closed-fixed
     

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