[TxMt] A fix for Move Selection Line Up/Down and suggestions for TextMate

[Allan Odgaard]

On 26 Dec 2007, at 14:28, Сергей Яковлев wrote:

> [...] is it possible to put this fix into some standard TextMate  
> bundle like Text.tmbundle, so that all TextMate users enjoy it?

Looks good. I plan to do a TM build in a few days, I will commit your  
macros after that, just to allow for a little time of testing, in the  
case of unforeseen side effects (not that I think there is any).

> [...] What is the best way to do it?

Writing this list or finding someone on IRC with authority is ideal.

> [...]
>   Suggestion 1. It would be useful if TextMate had
>   variables like $TM_SELECTION_START and
>   $TM_SELECTION_END which would return the
>   corresponding offsets in the file (or the cursor
>   offset, if nothing is selected).

It does in the form of a line/column position of the start position.

The reason it does not use a byte offset is that internally TM would  
have to “calculate” this (by adding the length of each line  
preceding the selection) and I am generally wary of exporting shell  
variables that need to be calculated and have an unknown running time  
(i.e. in practice the user could have a million lines and each command  
execution would then always require a million numbers to be added  
together).

>    Suggestion 2. Add a way to set "global"
>    environment variables programmatically (from
>    commands). These "global" variables should be
>    available to all subsequently called commands (and
>    other bundle items) until explicitly unset.

Technically you can store your variables e.g. in /tmp/my_variables.txt  
and let the command work with that file.

Environment variables are inherited by child processes, but the parent  
process cannot read modifications done to the environment inherited by  
the child. So even as a “native” feature, it would not be as  
graceful as simply interacting with the standard environment and  
declaring some variables “global” (like you sort of do with  
“export «variable»” in a shell script).

That said, there could certainly be support surpassing the comfort of / 
tmp/my_variables.txt, and it is being considered :)

>    Suggestion 3. Replace output options "Insert as
>    Text" and "Insert as Snippet" with just one
>    option, "Insert", and add a checkbox "as Snippet"
>    to the right. [...]

In the future the input/output options will (likely) be broken up into  
“location” and “format”, which should give more flexibility yet  
still provide a simple interface.

>    Suggestion 4. Replace All should not alter current
>    selection if no matches are found.

I could have sworn it didn’t ;)

> The only remaining question is what symbol to use as a
> mark. I decided to use √ (221A, SQUARE ROOT character,
> which you can type with Option-V), but I'm not sure
> this is the best choice. Maybe it's better to use some
> character from Private Use Area (E000--F8FF)?

We generally use U+FFFC, OBJECT REPLACEMENT CHARACTER.