Command like "Balance Parens" from sc.app

[jamshark70]

I raised this suggestion in #444, but it got lost. It would be very useful to be able to select not only "regions" delimited by () but also to expand the selection to include everything in the next outer layer of brackets. I used this feature a lot in sc.app, and in emacs, I could get close to the same functionality using C-M-f and C-M-b. There is nothing in the ide that does anything like this, and sometimes, I really wish it were easier.

[sidechained]

I'd like to see this too!

Graham
On Oct 14, 2012 3:39 PM, "jamshark70" notifications@github.com wrote:

I raised this suggestion in #444#444,
but it got lost. It would be very useful to be able to select not only
"regions" delimited by () but also to expand the selection to include
everything in the next outer layer of brackets. I used this feature a lot
in sc.app, and in emacs, I could get close to the same functionality using
C-M-f and C-M-b. There is nothing in the ide that does anything like this,
and sometimes, I really wish it were easier.

—
Reply to this email directly or view it on GitHubhttps://github.com//issues/602.

[mtmccrea]

+1. This would be great!

[jamshark70]

Bumping with a question for Jakob: If I wanted to implement this, where would I begin?

I just had to hunt by hand for the closing brace of a long if-branch. Why isn't the IDE searching for that brace for me? (Compare emacs: cursor before the opening brace, then ctrl-alt-F.)

Tired of it -- I want to implement it myself. We really need this feature.

[jleben]

Hi James,

I'm glad you want to contribute :)

You'll need to add some key handling in ScCodeEditor::keyPressEvent() at:
/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/sc_editor.cpp

If you need to search for existing brackets in the document, take a look at how TokenIterator class is used, for example in ScCodeEditor::matchBrackets() in the same file. Also take at look at its header file, because it has useful comments about its methods:
/editors/sc-ide/widgets/code_editor/token.hpp

Cheers

[jleben]

Hmm, couple more thoughts:
Instead of handling key press events directly, it's better to make it an "action" with configurable shortcut.
See MultiEditor::createActions():
/editors/sc-ide/widgets/multi_editor.cpp

The action will need to be connected to the signal multiplexer just as the SelectRegion action, which will distribute the action trigger to whatever editor is currently active. Then you add the corresponding "slot" method to ScCodeEditor where you implement the functionality.

Moreover there are already GotoPreviousBlock and GotoNextBlock actions which will jump to next/previous outer bracket. Maybe it would make sense to rather just add SelectToNextBlock and SelectToPreviousBlock which would do the same, only it would select everything between old cursor position and new position after the jump.

[jleben]

Done.

[mtmccrea]

Perhaps this should be a new issue, but...

It seems that the functionality is currently selecting a Region not the Enclosed Block. The shortcut assigned to Select Enclosed Block appears to select the Region, while the shortcut for Select Region, doesn't do anything.

SC IDE 3.6.6

[telephon]

Works as expected here (in 3.7alpha): cmd-shift-R selects region, cmd-shift-B selects block.