Feature Request: Show only line-final whitespace.

[guy038]

Hello @salviasage, @scott-sumner, @dail, @vtech7 and All,

Sorry, @salviasage, but Scintilla does not handle a function call, named SCWS_VISIBLEAFTERLASTCHARACTER :-((. Just look at that link, below :

http://www.scintilla.org/ScintillaDoc.html#SCI_SETVIEWWS

But don’t be sad ! It’s quite possible to build two macros, with a specific shortcut, for each of them, which will be able to highlight / un-highlight all the trailing blank characters ( Tabulation or Space characters ) of the current file !

Note that I’m currently using the last 7.5.6 version of N++

---

So :

• Open Notepad++

• Open your active configuration file, named shortcuts.xml

Select the text, below, and place it in the clipboard with Ctrl + C

        <Macro name="Visible Ending Blanks" Ctrl="no" Alt="yes" Shift="no" Key="32">
            <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="\h+$" />
            <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="772" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1615" sParam="" />
        </Macro>
        <Macro name="Invisible Ending Blanks" Ctrl="no" Alt="yes" Shift="yes" Key="32">
            <Action type="3" message="1700" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1601" wParam="0" lParam="0" sParam="^" />
            <Action type="3" message="1625" wParam="0" lParam="2" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1702" wParam="0" lParam="772" sParam="" />
            <Action type="3" message="1701" wParam="0" lParam="1615" sParam="" />
        </Macro>

• Now, place your cursor at the very beginning of the </macros> line, in the shortcut.xml file

• Then paste the clipboard contents, with Ctrl + V

• Save the changes done, in shortcut.xml, with Ctrl + S

• Close and Restart Notepad++ ( IMPORTANT )

• From now on, every time you want :

  • To visualize the ending blank characters, use the Alt + Spacebar shortcut

  • To suppress the previous Find highlighting, use the Alt + Shift + Spacebar shortcut

Of course, you may, also, choose the appropriate macro, in the Macro menu of N++

---

Notes :

• I use the \h+$ regex, in order to see the ending blank characters

• I use the ^ regex, which does not match anything, because it’s a zero-length assertion. ( Instead, you may use, as well, the $ assertion or, even, the zero-length string .{0} ) So, the previous highlighting is simply suppressed :-))

Cheers,

guy038

P.S. :

In the definition of these two macros :

• The sParam string, of message 1601, is the regex to search ( \h+$ or ^ )

• The value 2, of message 1625, refers to the Regular expression search mode

• The value 772 ( 512 + 256 + 4 ) of message 1702, means :

  • Search in Down direction

  • Option Wrap around ticked

  • Option Purge for each search ticked

• The value 1615, of message 1701, refers to the Mark all button

[古旮]

I wonder what is the Original Poster’s need? Why would you need to find a better way to view the trailing spaces?
If you need to trim the trailing spaces, you can do it by Find/Replace, with Find what: set to \h+$ or \s+$, and Regular expression chosen.
If you need to trim the trailing spaces in a lot of files, you can go to the Find in Files… window.
If you just want to view it, you may just use Edit -> Mask…, which you may be already doing, since you said you can mark it manually.

[SalviaSage]

@guy038

Thanks for your wonderful input.

I copy pasted your text into the macros subsection, and it looks correct to me. But, it is not being recognized.
What am I doing wrong?

[guy038]

Hi, @salviasage and All,

You probably didn’t modify the right configuration file. First, you must know where your active configuration files are located :

• Depending on your initial N++ installation ( with the installer OR from a ZIP or 7Z archive ), the active configuration files can be found :

  • In the same folder as Notepad++ .exe, as well as the zero-length file doLocalConf.xml, in case of a local installation of N++

  • And, in case of an usual installation of N++, with the installer :

    • In the folder %AppData%\Roaming\Notepad++, for a W7, W8 or W10 configuration

    • In the folder %AppData%\Notepad++, for a XP or Vista configuration

Notes :

• The environment variable %AppData% represents, generally, the path <Drive Letter>:\Documents and Settings\<User Name>\Application Data

• BEWARE, the Application Data folder is, usually, an hidden folder. So, you’ll need to enable the visualization of hidden folders in Explorer, first !

• I also advice you to BACKUP your active shortcuts.xml configuration file, before any change !

Everything should be OK :-))

Cheers,

guy038

[SalviaSage]

@guy038

You are right. I modified the shortcut.xml in the notepad++ installation directory, turns out this is not where you are supposed to add your own macros. (I discovered this just now)

And as for your macro, I just ran it and it is doing exactly what I want it to do, It marks only the line final spaces and tabs as a pink square.

The only downfault here is, it has to be ran each time and doesn’t update itself realtime. Can this be made so it works in real time as you are typing?

Also, how do you start a macro on startup of notepad++?

[guy038]

Hi, @salviasage and All,

A) Regarding your first question, I’m sorry, but I cannot do better :-( To go further on and add a real-time behavior, it needs the use of a language script, as the Python or Lua N++ plugins… and that task is over my technical skills ! May be some people, of the Community, could help you ?!

However, I really surprised why you do care about seeing trailing blank characters. Indeed, you may, either, use :

• The Edit > Blank operations > Trim Trailing Space option ( You can, even, define a shortcut, using the Shortcut Mapper )

• The Macro > Trim Trailing Space and Save ( Alt + Shift + S ) which, automatically, save your file, without these unneeded blank characters

B) Regarding your second question, presently, if you have a look to ? > Command Line Arguments…, there is not any -Macro argument, which could run a specific macro, on N++ startup. But, I know that some people, already did a request for such a feature !

Best Regards,

guy038

[Scott Sumner]

@SalviaSage

…doesn’t update itself realtime. Can this be made so it works in real time as you are typing?

As I pointed out earlier in this thread, the regular expression solutions aren’t going to do this type of dynamic updating. If you are willing to install the Pythonscript plugin (currently only on 32-bit Notepad++), the script given in this thread is fairly easy to adapt to do what you wish, and it updates dynamically.

I did this modification to come up with this new script, which I call EolWhitespaceHighlighter.py :

try:

    EWH__dict

except NameError:

    EWH__dict = dict()

    EWH__dict['indic_to_use'] = 10  # pick a free indicator number

    def indicatorOptionsSet(indicator_number, indicator_style, rgb_color_tup, alpha, outline_alpha, draw_under_text, which_editor=editor):
        which_editor.indicSetStyle(indicator_number, indicator_style)       # e.g. INDICATORSTYLE.ROUNDBOX
        which_editor.indicSetFore(indicator_number, rgb_color_tup)
        which_editor.indicSetAlpha(indicator_number, alpha)                 # integer
        which_editor.indicSetOutlineAlpha(indicator_number, outline_alpha)  # integer
        which_editor.indicSetUnder(indicator_number, draw_under_text)       # boolean

    for editorX in (editor1, editor2):
        indicatorOptionsSet(EWH__dict['indic_to_use'], INDICATORSTYLE.ROUNDBOX, (255,0,0), 100, 50, True, editorX)  # white box rimmed in "pale violet red 2"

    def EWH__fileIsCloned(file_name_to_test):
        retval = False
        clone_detect_dict = {}
        file_tup_list = notepad.getFiles()
        for tup in file_tup_list:
            (filename, _, _, _) = tup
            if filename not in clone_detect_dict:
                clone_detect_dict[filename] = 0
            else:
                clone_detect_dict[filename] += 1
                if filename == file_name_to_test: break
        if file_name_to_test in clone_detect_dict:
            if clone_detect_dict[file_name_to_test] >= 1: retval = True
        return retval

    def EWH__fileIsClonedAndIsActiveInBothViews(file_name_to_test):
        retval = False
        if editor1 and editor2:
            # both views are in use
            if EWH__fileIsCloned(file_name_to_test):
                curr_doc_index_main_view = notepad.getCurrentDocIndex(0)
                curr_doc_index_2nd_view = notepad.getCurrentDocIndex(1)
                main_view_active_doc_bool = False
                secondary_view_active_doc_bool = False
                file_tup_list = notepad.getFiles()
                for tup in file_tup_list:
                    (filename, _, index_in_view, view_number) = tup
                    if filename == file_name_to_test:
                        if view_number == 0:
                            if index_in_view == curr_doc_index_main_view:
                                main_view_active_doc_bool = True
                        elif view_number == 1:
                            if index_in_view == curr_doc_index_2nd_view:
                                secondary_view_active_doc_bool = True
                        if main_view_active_doc_bool and secondary_view_active_doc_bool:
                            retval = True
                            break
        return retval

    def EWH__getViewableEditorAndRangeTupleListList(work_across_both_views):
        retval = []
        # retval looks like these examples:
        #  [ ( editor, [ (0, 1000), (2020, 3000) ] ) ]
        #  [ ( editor1, [ (0, 1000), (2020, 3000) ] ), ( editor2, [ (4000, 5000), (6020, 7000) ] ) ]
        def consolidate_range_tuple_list(range_tup_list):
            sorted_range_tup_list = sorted(range_tup_list)  # sort criteria is first element of tuple in list
            saved_2element_list = list(sorted_range_tup_list[0])
            for (start, end) in sorted_range_tup_list:
                if start <= saved_2element_list[1]:
                    saved_2element_list[1] = max(saved_2element_list[1], end)
                else:
                    yield tuple(saved_2element_list)
                    saved_2element_list[0] = start
                    saved_2element_list[1] = end
            yield tuple(saved_2element_list)
        def get_onscreen_pos_tup_list(which_editor):  # which_editor is editor1 or editor2 (or maybe even just plain editor)
            # loosely based upon the N++ source for SmartHighlighter::highlightViewWithWord()
            retval_tup_list = list()
            temp_tup_list = []
            MAXLINEHIGHLIGHT = 400
            firstLine = which_editor.getFirstVisibleLine()
            currentLine = firstLine
            nbLineOnScreen = which_editor.linesOnScreen()
            nrLines = min(nbLineOnScreen, MAXLINEHIGHLIGHT) + 1
            lastLine = firstLine + nrLines
            prevDocLineChecked = -1
            break_out = False
            while currentLine < lastLine:
                docLine = which_editor.docLineFromVisible(currentLine)
                if docLine != prevDocLineChecked:
                    prevDocLineChecked = docLine
                    startPos = which_editor.positionFromLine(docLine)
                    endPos = which_editor.positionFromLine(docLine + 1)
                    if endPos == -1:
                        endPos = which_editor.getTextLength() - 1
                        break_out = True
                    if endPos > startPos: temp_tup_list.append((startPos, endPos))
                    if break_out: break
                currentLine += 1
            if len(temp_tup_list) > 0:
                retval_tup_list = list(consolidate_range_tuple_list(temp_tup_list))
            return retval_tup_list
        both_views_open = True if editor1 and editor2 else False
        curr_file_active_in_both_views = EWH__fileIsClonedAndIsActiveInBothViews(notepad.getCurrentFilename()) if both_views_open else False
        if both_views_open:
            ed1_range_tup_list = get_onscreen_pos_tup_list(editor1)
            ed2_range_tup_list = get_onscreen_pos_tup_list(editor2)
        if curr_file_active_in_both_views:
            range_tup_list = list(consolidate_range_tuple_list(ed1_range_tup_list + ed2_range_tup_list))
            retval.append((editor, range_tup_list))
        elif both_views_open and work_across_both_views:
            retval.append((editor1, ed1_range_tup_list))
            retval.append((editor2, ed2_range_tup_list))
        else:
            range_tup_list = get_onscreen_pos_tup_list(editor)
            retval.append((editor, range_tup_list))
        return retval

    def EWH__callback_sci_UPDATEUI(args):

        for (editorX, pos_range_tuple_list) in EWH__getViewableEditorAndRangeTupleListList(True):

            # clear out any existing highlighting in areas the user can currently see
            for (start_pos, end_pos) in pos_range_tuple_list:
                editorX.setIndicatorCurrent(EWH__dict['indic_to_use'])
                editorX.indicatorClearRange(start_pos, end_pos - start_pos)

            def eolws_hilite_regex_search_match_found_callback(m):
                (span_start, span_end) = m.span()
                editorX.setIndicatorCurrent(EWH__dict['indic_to_use'])
                editorX.indicatorFillRange(span_start, span_end - span_start)

            for (start_pos, end_pos) in pos_range_tuple_list:
                editorX.research(
                    r'\h+$',
                    eolws_hilite_regex_search_match_found_callback,
                    0, #re.IGNORECASE,
                    start_pos,
                    end_pos
                    )

    editor.callbackSync(EWH__callback_sci_UPDATEUI, [SCINTILLANOTIFICATION.UPDATEUI])  # install callback

else:

    editor.setSelectionMode(editor.getSelectionMode())  # force manual UPDATEUI to happen

The key area that makes this script different from the one in that other thread is this little segment:

for (start_pos, end_pos) in pos_range_tuple_list:
    editorX.research(
        r'\h+$',
        eolws_hilite_regex_search_match_found_callback,
        0, #re.IGNORECASE,
        start_pos,
        end_pos
        )

Here you can see the regular expression \h+$ that matches trailing whitespace on a line.

[SalviaSage]

Dear Scott Summer, I added your script to the startup.py and it is working perfectly. This is exactly the feature I want it, and now I got it. Thanks.

[SalviaSage]

@dail

Yo dail… According to this page: https://www.scintilla.org/ScintillaDoc.html#SCI_SETVIEWWS
there is a visible only in indent command, which would only show these whitespace characters in the initial indentation area. and no where else.

I am interested in doing that, I wrote the “SCWS_VISIBLEONLYININDENT” instead on your code above, but it didn’t work and syntax errored according to luascripts console.

the error is right where I put this new syntax, so i don’t know if their documentation is wrong or what…

and why are there two editor entries in there? Can you help me please? thx!

[dail]

@SalviaSage

I wrote the “SCWS_VISIBLEONLYININDENT” instead on your code above,

This option is supported starting with Scintilla v3.6.2 and newer, however Notepad++ is using Scintilla v3.5.6…so this is due to Notepad++ using an old version of Scintilla…and nothing LuaScript can do about it.

and why are there two editor entries in there?

If you “move” or “clone” a document within Notepad++ you get a split view and can edit two files at once…each of these is an “editor” thus there is an editor1 and editor2 variable. The editor variable always references the currently active editor.

[SalviaSage]

@dail said:

This option is supported starting with Scintilla v3.6.2 and newer, however Notepad++ is using Scintilla v3.5.6…so this is due to Notepad++ using an old version of Scintilla…and nothing LuaScript can do about it.

Thanks… I am crying a bucket right now :'( …

[SalviaSage]

I found this code:

editor.WhitespaceSize = 0

basically, this hides the spaces indicator and not the tabs indicator.
Since tabs are only found at indents (or at least are supposed to be) we can see this symbol on indents
We can’t see the spaces symbol anywhere, but that’s okay. We will know it is spaces anyway, because if tab was used
then it would show.

Final result:
https://i.imgur.com/rHARxzF.jpg

satisfactory enough for me!

[dinkumoil]

I wrote a plugin that can be used to display whitespace used for indentation normally but after the first visible character, it is shown as dots and arrows. Its name is ExtSettings. You can download it >>> here <<<. It will also be available soon via PluginsAdmin.