The UDL configuration is easiest to do when working on an existing file. Enter the extension for the configuration files (excluding the period), and future files opened with this extension should automatically load the UDL (User Defined Language). In the top-right of the dialog, there is a textbox captioned “Ext”. Next, associate the file type extension for the language. An example of the keywords could be as follows:

When the list of keywords is complete, open the Styler dialog to select the color for the syntax highlighting. Since these are JSON configuration files, enter double-quotes around each keyword and be sure to select the “Prefix mode” checkbox.Īll the keywords that share a single code highlighting color can be entered in one “group” textbox, separated by a single space. These will be customized to the grammar of the configuration file. Next, add custom keywords to the “Keywords” lists. Select the “Comment & Number” tab, and enter “//” under the Open textbox, and select a green color as the “Foreground color” under the Styler dialog. As a first configuration step, we will enable the comments we created in the previous post. To create a new language, click the “Create New…” button, and enter the language name. On certain versions of Notepad++, this could be under the “View” menu instead, under the menu item “User Defined Languages”. After installation of the Notepad++ program, simply open the “Language” menu and select “Define your language…” from the drop-down. Notepad++ makes it easy to create custom code and syntax highlighting for custom grammars and languages.

For instance, when creating a configuration-based platform for software development, a custom editor can help reduce errors and make it easier to read and modify the configuration files. We will now create a custom editor that supports those comments and the custom configuration keywords.Īlthough the editors provided by Dreamweaver and Eclipse can be used to edit JSON files, there are times when a fully customized editor can help simplify the development process. In the previous post, we reviewed how to add comments to a JSON configuration file.

With hundreds of plugins, the tool can be configured as an editor to almost any development workflow. The Notepad++ editor is the Swiss Army knife of text editing.

Custom notepad++ themes