Using Notepad Plus Plus as a script editor

Revision as of 10:20, 13 August 2011

Notepad++ is a powerful text editor based on Scintilla (which is where UniSciTE is also based from). It is available only in Windows.

Advantages:

• it can manage more than ten text files opened simultaneously
• customizable color scheme

Notepad++ editing a Unityscript file.

Directions

1. Notepad++ can be found in http://notepad-plus.sourceforge.net/uk/site.htm. Download and install.
2. Change your External Script Editor to Notepad++ (In Unity, Edit> Preferences > General)
3. Unity should now open Notepad++ whenever you double-click a script (or any text file actually).

How to add searching of Unity Documentation within Notepad++

1. Download the Language Help Plugin via the Plugin Manager: Plugins > Plugin Manager > Show Plugin Manager. Then choose "Language Help" from the list, and click Install.
2. Go to Plugins > Language Help > Options...
3. Click Add and put these values

Name: Unity

Extension List: "js" (and/or "cs" if you're using C#)

Extended help file path: http://unity3d.com/support/documentation/ScriptReference/30_search.html?q=$word$

Now whenever you press ctrl+f1 while your cursor is on a word, it will search that word in the Unity documentation. (You can change the key binding via Settings > Shortcut Mapper)

How to enable highlighting of Unity "keywords" within Notepad++

1. Open "C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Data\Tools\UniSciTE\unitykeywords.properties" This text file contains all the unity keywords.
2. In Notepad++ go to Settings > Style Configurator...
3. In the "Language:" list, select your appropriate language.
4. In the "Style:" list, select Keyword (or Instruction Word).
5. Add the keywords from the unitykeywords.properties file (the big block of text) into the "User-Defined Keywords" box.
6. Note that the textbox may have a character limit so pasting here may not save all the Unity "keywords". Test by typing zero, that should highlight as a Unity keyword. If not, try the manual directions below.
7. Save & Close. Close and open Notepad++. Voila.

How to enable highlighting of Unity "keywords" manually

1. Open "C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Data\Tools\UniSciTE\unitykeywords.properties" This text file contains all the unity keywords.
2. Open "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\stylers.xml" (If you're using a custom theme, open C:\Program Files\Notepad++\themes and open the theme XML file you are using instead.) NOTE: For Windows 7 the file is located in \users\yourusername\AppData\Roaming\Notepad++\stylers.xml
3. In stylers.xml (or your theme's XML file), find: <LexerType name="javascript" desc="Javascript" ext="">
4. Find the coressponding: <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD" styleID="47" fgColor="000080" bgColor="F2F4FF" fontName="" fontStyle="3" fontSize="" keywordClass="instre1"> (If there is none, add it)
5. Insert all the unity keywords (found from the unitykeywords.properties you opened earlier) inside that <WordsStyle name="KEYWORD"...> tag
6. Save it. Close and open Notepad++. It should highlight the Unity keywords now.

How to add Intellisense (called Auto-Completion in Notepad++) for Unityscript

1. Turn on Auto-Completion by going to: Settings > Preferences > Backup/Auto-Completion. Check "Function parameters hint on input"
2. Open "C:\Program Files\Notepad++\plugins\APIs\javascript.xml" (As of version 3.4, the Javascript and C# API are the same, therefore editing "cs.xml" will also work.)
3. Depending on your version of Unity, copy and paste contents of the file specified below to anywhere inside the <AutoComplete> tags of the "javascript.xml" (or cs.xml) file. If you have trouble saving, try running Notepad++ as an administrator.:
   1. If you use Unity 3.3: http://unity.igorrafael.com/home/UnityAPI_JS.xml
   2. For Unity 3.4: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25260770/Unity-Notepad%2B%2B/UnityApi_to_Npp-3.4.txt
4. Close and open Notepad++. A function tooltip should now appear whenever you type in an open parenthesis after a Unity function.

Note: The files provided are created from the file found as "C:\Program Files\Unity\Editor\Data\Tools\UniSciTE\UnityJS.api" (or UnityCS.api), using a program made by AnomalousUnderdog (http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25260770/Unity-Notepad%2B%2B/UnityJSapi_to_Npp.py). If ever the UnityJS.api or UnityCS.api changes again (in case of a Unity update), just run the python script and post the link here for others.

How to make Notepad++ jump to the correct line number from the error console

1. Download the Unity External Script Editor Helper (Located at http://dl.dropbox.com/u/25260770/Unity-Notepad%2B%2B/UnityExternalScriptEditorHelper-1.0.7z)
2. Extract the files and follow the instructions in the README.txt