The Nightmare %> Issue
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@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:
I’ve posted this bug on GitHub
That would be Issue #17072.
It seems like such an easy fix–I really don’t know why this isn’t getting any traction.
Most likely not an easy fix at all, because this highlighting is applied by the lexer for ASP, which is used by Notepad++ but comes from an entirely different project, Lexilla. I’m not familiar with that code at all, but it looks like similar problems have been around for a long time. It might be a case where attempting to fix one problem causes another and re-engineering the entire approach is just not practical.
My (personal) conclusion is that syntax highlighting in Notepad++ (which depends on Scintilla, which depends on Lexilla) will never be perfect, because it does not do a full syntax analysis. If you want full syntax analysis, you need to use an IDE appropriate to the language(s) in use. A general-purpose text editor like Notepad++ can provide enough syntax highlighting to be helpful most of the time, but especially when one language is embedded in another (like VBScript within HTML in ASP files), it just can’t do the job of a purpose-built IDE.
I don’t know if there is an IDE designed for ASP, but if there is, you might be happier with that.
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@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:
I’ve posted this bug on GitHub, but it hasn’t been fixed. It drives me NUTS.
I can tell you that this is almost certainly a Lexilla problem. I know that doesn’t matter to you as an end user; but as a practical matter, it means that reporting it as a Notepad++ issue is unlikely to yield useful results.
If you care enough about this, your first step should be to try to reproduce the same behavior in SciTE. Since Scintilla, Lexilla and SciTE are all related, it will be easier to get the maintainers of those projects to attend to a bug report if the bug can be demonstrated in SciTE.
If the same bug does not occur in SciTE, then it is a Notepad++ issue after all. Failure to reproduce in SciTE would be information you should definitely add to your Notepad++ issue, as it would indicate the problem isn’t what it appears to be.
If the same bug does occur in SciTE, then the place to document the problem is in the Lexilla issues.
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@PeterJones Thank you for your reply–very much appreciated. However, I didn’t say that it was an “easy” fix. I clearly said, “SEEMS like an easy fix.” I’m just a mere coder, and don’t know anything about the internal workings of NotePad++, so I appreciate that you spent the time to write me a response. I have a work around and will continue to add that space to every comment I make where the <% %> tags are used.
I got used to using NotePad++ based upon the recommendation of another coder. I used to use Homesite Pro and loved it, but it had memory leak issues. Thank you again!
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@PeterJones said in The Nightmare %> Issue:
Just how much did you pay for Notepad++ that you think it warrants you personal bugfixes guaranteed within N days? Especially since every contributor to Notepad++, including the owner, is an unpaid volunteer, in it only for the love of the app – but that means that when they can submit fixes depends on their life and commitments outside N++, and they have to prioritize their contributions accordingly.
With regards to this statement, I wouldn’t mind paying money for NotePad++, but that’s not possible, is it? I appreciate your post, but I think it’s a bit much to be berating me in this manner. Let’s keep things on a professional level please.
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@Bjorgen-Eatinger said :
I didn’t say that it was an “easy” fix. I clearly said, “SEEMS like an easy fix.”
Not much of a distinctions between those two things, unless you’ve looked into it (you haven’t).
I think it’s a bit much to be berating me in this manner
A way to avoid this: Don’t say silly things in your post.
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@Bjorgen-Eatinger
if I were you, I would try to follow @Coises 's suggestion to determinate the source of bug, and provide the necessary information to help us solve your problem, instead of shouting out loud in the forum.Let’s keep things on a professional level please.
I wouldn’t say you’re on the professional level with the following sentence:
I’ve posted this bug on GitHub, but it hasn’t been fixed. It drives me NUTS.If you don’t care about helping us identify the problem, and only come into the forum to complain, why should we help you?
The project has been maintained by volunteers since its creation. As an open-source project, the voice is always given to those who contribute - including people who provide the pertinent information to help. If you don’t know how to gether the information we need, at least be cordial. People here don’t owe you anything.
I hope you understand that.
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@donho Thank you very much for your reply. Please let me know what else you would like me to provide to help out. Thank you very much!
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@Bjorgen-Eatinger said:
I wouldn’t mind paying money for NotePad++, but that’s not possible, is it?
You can donate if you’d like; see HERE.
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@Coises I greatly appreciate your post and kindness. I am not a pro-user by any means. I will take your advice and do my best to report this issue regarding Lexilla on GitHub. I’ll more than likely delete this post here, as the responses were unusual. I’m an older fellow and haven’t been super active other than the work that I do on my own website. I tried to edit the post, but wasn’t allowed to do so. Thank you again!
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@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:
I’ll more than likely delete this post here, as the responses were unusual.
We prefer users to
NOTdelete posts, especially if there have been responses. Imagine some months down the track an initial post is deleted leaving all these responses to some “unknown” question.In fact, us moderators will reinstate a deleted message if there are responses so as to keep that “continuity” of information.
Terry
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@Terry-R Okay, yes you are right. Information is key–the more the better! So I did as @Coises suggested, and download and tested SciTE, and found that it works perfectly. It handles the opening and closing brackets gracefully and correctly when they are a part of a comment. In fact, if I don’t use them correctly (e.g., '<% Hello % >), then it lets me know about it–very nice. Therefore, as @Coises suggests this problem must be in NotePad++ itself. I will update my GitHub post accordingly. Thank you all for all of your posts and guidance. Very much appreciated!
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@Bjorgen-Eatinger said in The Nightmare %> Issue:
So I did as @Coises suggested, and download and tested SciTE, and found that it works perfectly. It handles the opening and closing brackets gracefully and correctly when they are a part of a comment.
Which is odd, because @rdipardo’s experiment, which was included in the Lexilla issue, proves that SciTE does not handle it correctly.
Can you use the
</>button on a post toolbar, and paste in the exact example text that shows Notepad++ not handling it correctly and SciTE is handling it correctly, with screenshots of both?
