Homepage: https://emacswiki.org/emacs/download/ctypes.el
Author: Anders Lindgren
Updated:
Enhanced Font lock support for custom defined types
{{{ Documentation
Background:
As most Emacs users know, Emacs can fontify source code buffers
using the `font-lock' package. Most of the time it does a really
good job. Unfortunately, the syntax of one of the most widely
spread languages, C, makes it difficult to fontify variable
declarations. For example, what does the following line mean:
hello(foo * bar);
1) A new function `hello' that takes one argument `bar' that is a
pointer to a `foo', or;
2) call the function `hello' with the result of `foo' multiplied
by `bar'.
To answer the question correctly you must know whether `foo' is a
type or not. Unfortunately, font-lock has no way of knowing this.
This package:
This package can search through source files hunting down typedefs.
When found, font-lock is informed and your source code will be even
more beautifully colored than before.
Each major mode has it's own set of types. It is possible for one
major mode to inherit the types of another mode.
Currently, this package can parse C and C++ files. (However, since
I do not use C++, the probability is high (about 12, on a scale
from 1 to 12) that I've missed something). By default C++ inherits
the types defined for C mode.
Installation:
Place this file in any directory in the emacs load path
and add the following line to your init file:
(require 'ctypes)
Or, if you should prefer to load ctypes only when needed:
(defun my-activate-ctypes () (require 'ctypes))
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'my-activate-ctypes)
(add-hook 'c++-mode-hook 'my-activate-ctypes)
Of course, you must also activate font-lock. I also recomend using
lazy-lock since adding types requires refontification of all
buffers. (Should you use many small buffers, consider lowering
`lazy-lock-minimum-size' aswell.)
Defining types:
The following commands are available to define and remove types:
`ctypes-define-type' Add a type.
`ctypes-define-type-in-mode' Add a type to another major mode.
`ctypes-buffer' Scan a buffer for types.
`ctypes-all-buffer' Scan all buffer for types.
`ctypes-tags' Search through all files in a TAGS table.
`ctypes-dir' Search a directory hierarchy for files.
`ctypes-file' Search in a file for types.
`ctypes-remove-type' Remove one type.
`ctypes-remove-type-in-mode' Remove one type in another mode.
`ctypes-clear-types' Forget all types.
`ctypes-clear-types-all-modes' Forget all types in all major modes.
Edit types:
If you would like to view or change the types found you can use the
function `ctypes-edit'. When done press C-c C-c. Should you like
do discard your changes just kill the buffer with C-x k.
To edit the types for another major mode use the command
`ctypes-edit-types-for-mode'.
Saving types:
The commands `ctypes-write-file' and `ctypes-read-file' can be used
to save your hard-earned collection of types to a file and to
retrieve it later.
The default file name is stored in the variable `ctypes-file-name'.
Note that only one collection of types are managed. Should you
prefer to keep one type file per project, remember to clear the set
of known types (using the command `ctypes-clear-types-all-modes')
before each new set is generated.
At Load:
It is possible to automatically add new types, or read specific
type files, when Emacs opens a file.
By adding a "Local Variables" section to the end of the file
containing the variables `ctypes-add-types-at-load' and/or
`ctypes-read-files-at-load' this can be accomplished.
For example:
/*
* Local Variables:
* ctypes-add-types-at-load: ("MyType" "YourType")
* ctypes-read-files-at-load: (".ctypes")
* End:
*/
The `Auto Parse' mode:
This package can automatically search for new types in all visited
files. Activate the minor mode `ctypes-auto-parse-mode' to enable
this feature.
Add the following line to your startup file to automatically
scan all visited files:
(ctypes-auto-parse-mode 1)
Example 1:
The following setup is for the really lazy person. The keywords
collected during one session will be kept for the next, and all
visited files will be parsed in the boldly search for new types.
I would recomend using this approach only when you are keeping all
your types in one file.
(require 'ctypes)
(setq ctypes-write-types-at-exit t)
(ctypes-read-file nil nil t t)
(ctypes-auto-parse-mode 1)
Example 2:
In this example, ctypes will not be not loaded until either c-mode
or c++-mode is activated. When loaded, ctypes will read the type
file "~/.ctypes_std_c" (containing, for example, all types defined
in the standard C header files).
(defun my-c-mode-hook ()
(require 'ctypes)
(turn-on-font-lock))
(add-hook 'c-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)
(add-hook 'c++-mode-hook 'my-c-mode-hook)
(defun my-ctypes-load-hook ()
(ctypes-read-file "~/.ctypes_std_c" nil t t))
(add-hook 'ctypes-load-hook 'my-ctypes-load-hook)
Home Page:
You can always find the latest version of this package on my Emacs
page:
http://www.andersl.com/emacs
Reporting bugs:
Out of the last ten bugs you found, how many did you report?
When reporting a bug, please:
* Send a mail the maintainer of the package, or to the author
if no maintainer exists.
* Include the name of the package in the title of the mail, to
simplify for the recipient.
* State exactly what you did, what happened, and what you expected
to see when you found the bug.
* If possible, include an example that activates the bug.
* Should you speculate about the cause of the problem, please
state explicitly that you are guessing.
CTypes, the true story:
Well, brave reader, are you willing to learn what this package
really is capable of?
Basically, it is a general purpose parsing package. The default
settings just happened to specify a parser that looks for C
typedefs, and that the default action is to add the types found to
font-lock.
Be redefining the variable `ctypes-mode-descriptor' you can change
the behavior totally. For example, you can use it to search for
all occurrences of XX (replace XX with whatever you like) in all
files edited in major mode YY (ditto for YY) and to perform ZZ-top
whenever a new XX is found. (However, it might be difficult for
Emacs to grow a beard).
I will, however, in the document string, write "search for types"
when I really mean "Call the parser routine as specified by
`ctypes-mode-descriptor'". Also, I write "Informing font-lock"
whenever I mean "Performing the default action as specified in
`ctypes-mode-descriptor'".
The future:
Should this package be included in future versions of Emacs almost
all of the font-lock code could be removed. Also there will be no
need to load font-lock to determine which version of
ctypes-mode-descriptor to use.
}}}