Author Topic: Looking for a text editor that can colorize text (Read 32,973 times)

kartal · « **on:** April 30, 2009, 02:33 AM »

Hi

I guess today is my wanting day.

I am looking for a general purpose text editor that relies mostly on coloring text to improve readability and usability. I will be using for browsing text or code. What I am looking for is not code highlighting though(might be part of he deal ). I want this editor to be able to recognize indents, tabs, groups, occuring sentences, words, grammar rules etc and color them either randomly or based on predefined rules. For example one paragraph could be orange the next one would be dark blue etc.

Once I improve my coding I will write one myself but I need one right now

rjbull · « **Reply #1 on:** April 30, 2009, 09:02 AM »

It goes against the grain for me to say this, seeing I've been fulminating against word processors elsewhere on DC - but would you be better off with a simple word processor that does RTF? Maybe Jarte or Polyedit? Otherwise, EmEditor can colourise strings. However, I don't know anything that will do exactly what you seem to want.

kartal · « **Reply #2 on:** April 30, 2009, 03:36 PM »

rjbull, why do you think colorizing can be done only by word processors? Most of the text editors offer code highlighting, this I assume means these apps can colorize any text, they just need little different coloring rules to eachieve what I am looking for. I was just looking for a a new way to create structrured relationships inside any text block basically.

Btw based on features listed on those pages I do not think any of these can do what I am looking for. I am not looking for colorizing a selection(having it would be nice) but really I would not spend money just to colorize some selection.

Btw Emeditor offers quite a bit of features, it sounds pretty cool.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #3 on:** April 30, 2009, 04:28 PM »

2kartal
I think I saw once an application which could help you (partially at least). It was text editor (of course) with the possiblity to use diffrerent syntax highlight schemes for different parts of the text. It was possible to have i.e. first 10 lines coloured as HTML and other 20 as C++. With such functionality and own schemes it could be helpful.

I will try to recall its name but my memory has few holes

kartal · « **Reply #4 on:** April 30, 2009, 04:45 PM »

fenixproductions, sounds like I can use that one. I hope you remember

muntealb · « **Reply #5 on:** April 30, 2009, 06:12 PM »

I think EditPad Pro can do what you want. It has a Custom Coloring Syntax Editor that can be used to colorize text based on rules created using regular expressions. This software is free, but only for those that have purchased EditPad Pro.

http://www.editpadpro.com/cscs.html#editor

kartal · « **Reply #6 on:** April 30, 2009, 06:16 PM »

Hmm yeah that is interesting, I do not know how much of what I want it can achieve but sure it looks like powerful option.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #7 on:** April 30, 2009, 06:34 PM »

2kartal
Sorry but I can't find it. I've checked most of the links from my Miranda archive without success. When I lost conversations from few days because of crash I thought nothing important was there. I was wrong

kartal · « **Reply #8 on:** April 30, 2009, 06:37 PM »

fenixproductions, No problemo. Thanks for trying

housetier · « **Reply #9 on:** April 30, 2009, 07:30 PM »

I MUST say this: I wonder if vim can do this...

kartal · « **Reply #10 on:** May 01, 2009, 03:18 AM »

housetier, probably it can. I know how powerful it is but I have no knowledge of its scripting so i was looking for a ready made app. If I cannot find any I am going back to Vim

4wd · « **Reply #11 on:** May 01, 2009, 06:24 AM »

What about SciTE ?

Both Notepad++ and Notepad2 are based on it and both it and they have code highlighting which is rule based I believe.

Also, PSPad allows you to edit the highlighter settings.

kartal · « **Reply #12 on:** May 01, 2009, 06:30 AM »

Well as I said I am not looking for code highlighting. What I am looking for is an advanced text pattern processor kind of thing that can analyze the text and create different color blocks based on words, repeats, indents, based on anything text pretty much. Trying to create rules for this kind of stuff is I doubt possible with those editors. It looks like Vim scripting is not that hard I will try later somethings with it.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #13 on:** May 01, 2009, 06:32 AM »

Quote from: 4wd on May 01, 2009, 06:24 AM

What about SciTE ?

Both Notepad++ and Notepad2 are based on it and both it and they have code highlighting which is rule based I believe.

Also, PSPad allows you to edit the highlighter settings.

Speaking of Scite.. do you happen to know how to bring up an ahk script without folding? Most of my scripts are 2 screens so I really don't need them folded. Drives me nuts to have to open the menu and hit the Toggle All Folds every time I open a script. (If I can sneak in a tech support question here)

MilesAhead · « **Reply #14 on:** May 01, 2009, 06:35 AM »

Quote from: kartal on May 01, 2009, 06:30 AM

Well as I said I am not looking for code highlighting. What I am looking for is an advanced text pattern processor kind of thing that can analyze the text and create different color blocks based on words, repeats, indents, based on anything text pretty much. Trying to create rules for this kind of stuff is I doubt possible with those editors. It looks like Vim scripting is not that hard I will try later somethings with it.

Hmmm, you might be able to code it into Emacs if you're willing to lisp(probably supports other script languages by now but lisp is the only one I'm sure about.)

4wd · « **Reply #15 on:** May 01, 2009, 06:48 AM »

Quote from: MilesAhead on May 01, 2009, 06:32 AM

Quote from: 4wd on May 01, 2009, 06:24 AM
What about SciTE ?

Both Notepad++ and Notepad2 are based on it and both it and they have code highlighting which is rule based I believe.

Also, PSPad allows you to edit the highlighter settings.

Speaking of Scite.. do you happen to know how to bring up an ahk script without folding? Most of my scripts are 2 screens so I really don't need them folded. Drives me nuts to have to open the menu and hit the Toggle All Folds every time I open a script. (If I can sneak in a tech support question here)

The only time I use SciTE is for AutoIT scripts and they always open fully unfolded.

Found it: Edit Global Options and change 'fold.on.open=1' to 'fold.on.open=0'

That should fix it......I think.

MilesAhead · « **Reply #16 on:** May 01, 2009, 05:38 PM »

Thanks 4wd. You saved my sanity!! The global has it set as you say but I added that line to the ahk.properties and it worked.

tinjaw · « **Reply #17 on:** May 01, 2009, 05:50 PM »

I should research this before I post, but...

My guess is that what you need is a text editor that supports language templates and a good helping of regular expressions. Try playing with Notepad++ and create your own language template. If nothing else, it will give you a starting point upon which to build.

DMcCunney · « **Reply #18 on:** May 06, 2009, 09:16 PM »

There are lots of text editors that can do syntax highlighting and colorizing, and many are configurable. I agree with the suggestion of SciTE. SciTE is based on Neil Hodgson's Scintilla edit control, which includes code folding and syntax highlighting as part of what it does. As previously mentioned, Notepad++ and Notepad2 are also based on Scintilla, as are a number of other editors.

But whichever you choose, you'll still be faced with creating the rules the editor will use to do the coloring, and adding those rules to the existing lexer files the editor has. You probably want to spend some time thinking about just how you want your text to be colored, and under what circumstances, to have an idea of what your rules should be. Then you can look at some editors with configurable highlighting and see what would be involved in getting them to do what you want.

Stop by TextEditors.org and poke around. It's a wiki devoted to text editors that is trying to be as comprehensive as possible. If it's a text editor, the site wants to list it. Mainframe, mini, Unix box, PC, PDA - whatever platform and OS. You can probably find some candidates to investigate. (There are enough Scintilla based editors to merit their own Family.)
______
Dennis

Tinman57 · « **Reply #19 on:** May 07, 2009, 02:26 AM »

PSPad - free

http://www.pspad.com/en/

kartal · « **Reply #20 on:** May 07, 2009, 05:50 AM »

Hmm thanks guys but I do not think my main request is well understood. I am not looking for a text editor that can do syntax highlighting. I am looking for an application or text editor that can process text and create semantic blocks that are represented by colors. Syntax highlighting is a very primitive form of what I am talking about because it is just based on simple word recognition rules. It just colors when there is a match. I am looking for something that can do and play with color in a more experimental way.

Btw I have been using Pspad for long time, I like it but as I said it cannot do what I am looking for as far as I can tell.

I am hoping that VIM will replace all my editors in the end because it is more extensible than anything on the list plus it has a nice scripting language.

kartal · « **Reply #21 on:** May 07, 2009, 05:56 AM »

tinjaw, I have been avoiding regex for a while but I think the time has come. Vim also supports Regex. Someone in the topic mentioned Editpad pro`s syntax regex editor. I have not checked it out but it look pretty good indeed.

The main problem with syntax highlight stuff is that once you have a template you cannot change the colors, you need to edit the template so it is not really that flexible approach.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #22 on:** May 07, 2009, 10:00 AM »

2kartal
Maybe draw sample mock-up to explain what do you have on mind

This is what I've understood:

Basing on that, text editor with syntaxt highlight could be OK if it allows to use multiple highlighting schemes in one document. It would work with TXT+project files in similar way to HTML (with divs) + CSS.

kartal · « **Reply #23 on:** May 07, 2009, 03:21 PM »

fenixproductions

I guess what I am looking for is an editor that would let me color things freely+based on rules(would let mixed style). The rules should be permanent as most Text editor can do but temporary selections or colorings does not need to be saved with the file since this wouldnot be possible with programming editors. It just helps to be able to select some sentence or block and color it temporarily, in my case it increases readability. I can use word processing for that but then this is like back and forth between applciations which renders unusable for me.

A I said rule based highlighting coloring is good but it does not let me change things on the fly. For example if I select Python syntax highlighting, I need to stick that if I want to change any color, I need to edit the original Python sytax doc to achieve what I want, whcih is not the way I would like to deal with.

So what you have up there looks like something I can benefit from.

fenixproductions · « **Reply #24 on:** May 07, 2009, 04:02 PM »

Quote from: kartal

So what you have up there looks like something I can benefit from.

If it only exist…

Unfortunately, the picture from above is just and idea (made with Notepad++, Paint.NET and Inkscape).

BTW There was nothing about permanent rules for sections in my mock-up. I admit the lack of description but the way I saw it was that all colouring (both: simple and with syntax) should be based on easily editable templates. Clicking on presented icons would allow you to change colour or rules easily. Of course it could be applied for paragraph, lines or maybe separate words.

I also understand that text cannot store formatting information and that is why I have mentioned "project files".

The simplest way I saw it was: select text, RMB, choose rule (either complex syntax or colour only), done (with some indicators in gutter). That's all.

What I've made is just one fake screen of something bigger.