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The vim module

This module highlights code snippets using vim as a syntax highlighter. Such a task may appear pointless at first glance. After all, ConTeXt provides excellent syntax highlighting features for TeX, Metapost, XML, and a few other languages. And in MkIV, you can specify the grammar to parse a language, and get syntax highlighting for a new language. But writing such grammars is difficult. More importantly, why reinvent the wheel? Most editors, and many other syntax highlighting programs, already syntax highlight many programming languages. Why not just leverage these external programs to generate syntax highlighting? This module does exactly that.

Table of Contents

Compatibility

This module works with both MkII and MkIV.

To get colors with MkII, use

\setupcolors[state=start]

If avoid -- and --- to turn into – and — in MkII, use

\usetypescript [modern] [texnansi]
\setupbodyfont [modern]

Both colors and no ligatures work out of the box in MkIV.

Installation

This module depends on the t-filter module. If you are using ConTeXt standalone, you can install the module using

first-setup.sh --modules="t-filter,t-vim"

Depending on your TeX distribution, you may already have the module. To verify, check if

luatools t-vim.tex

returns a meaningful path. If not, you have to manually install the module. Download the latest version of the filter and vim modules from https://github.com/adityam/filter/downloads and unzip them either $TEXMFHOME or $TEXMFLOCAL. Run

mtxrun --generate

and

mktexlsr

to refresh the TeX file database (for MkIV and MkII, respectively). If everything went well

luatools t-vim

will return the path where you stored the file.

Unfortunately, that is not enough. For the module to work, TeX must be able to call an external program. This feature is a potential security risk and is disabled by default on most TeX distributions. To enable this feature in MkII, you must set

shell_escape=t

in your texmf.cnf file. See this page http://wiki.contextgarden.net/Write18 on the ConTeXt wiki for detailed instructions.

Usage

Include the module

\usemodule[vim]

Suppose you want to syntax highlight Ruby. In particular, you want

\startRUBY
  # Wow, my first ruby program
  print("Hello World")
\stopRUBY

to be printed with Ruby syntax highlighting. To get that, define

\definevimtyping [RUBY]  [syntax=ruby]

Yes, its that easy. To get syntax highlighting for a particular language, all you need to know what is its filetype in vim. If you don't know that, start vim and type :help syntax.txt and go through the list of supported languages to find the name of the language that you are interested in. (Oh, and in case you don't know how to quit vim, type :qa!.) Vim supports syntax highlighting for more than 500 programming languages; the t-vim module enables you to use any of them with just one \definevimtyping.

The command

\definevimtyping [RUBY]  [syntax=ruby]

defines three things:

  1. An environment

     \startRUBY
   ...
 \stopRUBY

    The contents of this environment are processed by a vim script (2context.vim) and the result is read back in ConTeXt.

  2. A macro

     \inlineRUBY{...}

    The contents of this macro are processed by a vim script (2context.vim) and the result is read back in ConTeXt.

  3. A macro

     \typeRUBYfile{...}

    The argument of this macro must a file name or a url (urls work in MkIV only). That file is processed by 2context.vim and the result is read back in ConTeXt. For controling how frequently a remote file is downloaded when processing a url, see the Processing remote files section of the t-filter manual.

  4. A macro

     \processRUBYbuffer[...]

    The argument to the macro is the name of a buffer, which is written to an external file, processesd by 2context.vim and the result is read back in ConTeXt.

In all the four cases, the t-filter module takes care of writing to external file, processing by 2context.vim, and reading the contents back to ConTeXt. The t-vim module simply defines the macros that are used by 2context.vim.

Start and stop lines

The \start<vimtyping> ... \stop<vimtyping> environment and the \type<vimtyping>file macro take an optional argument that is used to set options.

For example, to typeset lines 15 through 25 of a ruby file rails_install.rb, use:

\typeRUBYfile[start=15,stop=25]{rails_install.rb}

To exclude 10 lines from the end, set stop=-10.

Changing tab skip

By default, a literal tab (0x09 or ^I) character has a width of 8 spaces. For most cases, this is too excessive. To reduce the shift of a tab, use the tab key. For example:

\definevimtyping
  [...]
  [...
   tab=4,
   ...]

changes the tab width to four spaces.

Avoid clutter

Running an external file through vim is slow. So, t-vim reprocesses a snippet or a file only if its contents have changed. To check if the contents have changed, it writes each snippet to a different file and stores the md5 sum of that snippet. As a result, the working directory gets cluttered with lot of temporary files. To avoid this clutter, write the temporary files to a different directory using the directory key. For example,

\definevimtyping[...]
                [directory=output/]

ensures that all the temporary files are written to the output directory. See the section on Output Directory in the documentation of t-filter module for more details.

Before and after

Like most ConTeXt environments, \definevimtyping also accepts the before and after options. These can be used, for example, to enclose the output in a frame, etc.

Changing the color scheme

This module provides two colorschemes

  • pscolor based on ps_color colorscheme for vim by Shi Zhu Pan.
  • blackandwhite based on print_bw colorscheme for vim by Mike Williams.

A particular color scheme may be chosen using the options:

\definevimtyping
  [...]
  [...
   alternative=pscolor,
   ...]

The default color scheme is pscolor. See below for instructions on how to define a new colorscheme.

Line numbering

Note: Currently only works in MkIV. In principle, it should also work in MkII, but for some reasons it does not.

To enable line numbering for a particular snippet, use:

\start<vimtyping>[numbering=yes]
  ...
\stop<vimtyping>

To enable line numbering for all code snippets, use:

\definevimtyping
  [...]
  [...
   numbering=yes,
   ...]

If you want a particular snippet not to have line numbering, use

\start<vimtyping>[numbering=no]
  ...
\stop<vimtyping>

By default, numbering starts from one, all lines are numbered, numbering is reset at each snippet, and numbers are displayed on the left. All these defaults can be changed.

Number of the first line

By default, the numbering starts from one (that is, the first line is numbered 1). If you want the first line to be numbered something else, say 15, you need to set

  \start<vimtyping>[numberstart=15]

If you want the numbering to continue from where the previous snippet ended, use

  \start<vimtyping>[numbercontinue=yes]

By default, consecutive lines are numbered. If you want alternate lines to be numbered, use

  \start<vimtyping>[numbertstep=2]

If you want every fifth line to be numbered, use

  \start<vimtyping>[numbertstep=5]

Standard options for line numbering

Note: Linenumbering options can only be set using \definevimtyping[...][...] or \setupvimtyping[...][...]. They do not work when used with \start<vimtyping>. All the line numbers on a given page have the same properties. So, if you change these properties in the middle of the page, it will effect all the listings on that page, even those defined earlier!

  • To change the color or style of the numbers, use the numbercolor=... and numberstyle=... options. By default numbercolor is not set, while numberstyle is set to \ttx.

  • To change the alignment of numbers, use the numberalign=... option. Default value is flushright.

  • To change the width of the box in which the numbers are typeset, use numberwidth=... option. Default value is 2em.

  • By default, the numbers are placed on the left of the text area. To change the distance between the numbers and the text area, use numberdistance=... option. Default value is 0.5em.

  • To change the conversion of numbers, use numberconversion=... option. Default value is numbers.

  • Use numberleft=... and numberright=... options to typeset something on the left and right of the number. By default, these options are not set.

  • numbercommand=... is used to set a command for typesetting the number.

  • numberlocation=... is used to set the location of the numbers. Default value is left. Change this to right if you want the numbers on the right.

Spaces

By default, the space is invisible. If you want to make the space visible, set

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     space=on,
     ...]

The default value is space=off.

Removing leading spaces

If you are listing a code snippet inside another environment, it is common to indent the TeX code. For example:

\definevimtyping[C][syntax=C]
\definevimtyping[ruby][syntax=ruby]

\startitemize
    \item A hello world example in C
        \startC
          #include<stdio.h>

          int main()
          {
            printf("Hello World")
          }
        \stopC
    \item A hello world example in ruby
        \startruby
          puts "Hello World"
        \stopruby
\stopitemize

By default, the leading whitespace is stripped so that the output is the same as

\startitemize
\item A hello world example in C
\startC
#include<stdio.h>

int main()
{
  printf("Hello World")
}
\stopC
\item A hello world example in ruby
\startruby
puts "Hello World"
\stopruby
\stopitemize

If you want to disable this, set

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     strip=no,
     ...]

The default value of strip is ψyes.

Adding left margin

By default, a <vimtyping> environment resets the left skip to 0pt, so each line is aligned to the left edge. Use the margin key to change the left skip of each line:

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     margin=<dimen>,
     ...]

where <dimen> is a valid TeX dimension. Note that this does not change the location of the line numbers. So, if you are using line numbers along with margin, also change the numberdistance. For example,

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     margin=4em,
     numberdistance=-3.5em,
     ...]

will place the numbers 4em - 3.5em = 0.5em to the left of the code.

Wrapping lines

By default, long lines are not wrapped. If your source code has long lines, there are two alternatives. First, you can allow the lines to break at spaces by setting

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     lines=split,
     ...]

The default value is lines=fixed.

Second, you can allow lines to break between compound words, such as long/path, long-path, long+path, etc by setting

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     option={packed,hyphenated},
     ...]

The default value of option is packed.
[Note: This option is not yet working in LMTX.]

Note that with both these alternatives do not hyphenate a word, merely break lines at spaces or at the boundary of compound words. If you really need to hyphenate words, use

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     option={packed,hyphenated},
     align=hyphenated,
     ...]

Note that you have to add both option=hyphenated and align=hyphenated. The default value of align is nothypenated. [Note: This option is not yet working in LMTX.]

Highlighting lines

Sometimes you want to draw attention to a particular line (or set of lines). One way to do so it to highlight the lines by a background color. This can be done using:

\start<vimtyping>[highlight={<list>}]
  ...
\stop<vimtyping>

where <list> is a comma separated list. For example, if you want to highlight lines 1 and 5, you may use:

\start<vimtyping>[highlight={1,5}]
  ...
\stop<vimtyping>

This will highlight lines 1 and 5 with gray background color. To change the highlight color use

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     highlightcolor=<color>,
     ...]

where <color> is any valid ConTeXt color.

When you pass a comma list to highlight, the 2context.vim script wraps each of those line around \HGL{....} macro. The \HGL is, in turn, set to the value of highlightcommand key. So, if you want to change the way highlighting works, change the highlightcommand:

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     highlightcommand=<command>,
     ...]

where <command> is any valid ConTeXt command. The default value is highlightcommand is \syntaxhighlightline; in MkIV, \syntaxhighlightline is defined as a bar; in MkII, \syntaxhighlightline is defined as a text background. The bar mechanism is more efficient but both mechanisms behave differently. The text background starts from the left edge of the line, while the bar starts from the first non-blank character.

Using TeX code in Comments

Sometimes one wants to use TeX command in code. There are two different methods to do so.

The first method is primarily aimed towards writing math in comments. To enable this, use

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     escape=comment,
    ]

For backward compatibility, this feature can also be enabled using escape=on.

When escape=comment is enabled, the 2context.vim script passes the Comment syntax region (as identified by vim) verbatim to TeX. So, we may use TeX commands inside the comment region and they will be interpreted by TeX. For example

\definevimtyping[C][syntax=c, escape=comment]

\startC
/* The following function computes the roots of \m{ax^2+bx+c=0}
 * using the determinant \m{\Delta=\frac{-b\pm\sqrt{b^2-2ac}}{2a}} 
 */
    double root (double a, double b, double c) {....}
\stopC

Note that only \ { } have their usual meaning inside the Comment region when escape=comment is set. Thus, to enter a math expression, use \m{...} instead of $...$. Moreover, spaces are active inside the math mode, so, as in the above example, avoid spaces in the math expressions.

The second method is to imitate the behavior of \starttyping environment, where one can write arbitrary TeX commands in code inside /BTEX ... /ETEX delimiters. To enable this, use

\definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     escape=command,
    ]

When escape=command is enabled, the 2context.vim script defines a new syntax region using

syntax region ... start="/BTEX" end="/ETEX" transparent oneline containedin=ALL contains=NONE

and passes content of this region verbatim to TeX. So, any TeX commands used inside this region are interpreted by TeX. For example,

\usemodule[vim]
\definevimtyping[C][syntax=c, escape=command]

\starttext
\startC
   /* Here is a comment describing a complicated function */
   /BTEX\startframedtext[width=\textwidth,corner=round]/ETEX
    double complicated (...) 
    {
      ....
    }
  /BTEX\stopframedtext/ETEX
\stopC
\stoptext

Note that as in the case for escape=comment, only \ { } have their usual meaning inside /BTEX ... /ETEX. Moreover, spaces are active characters. So, using a space between \startframedtext and [ or between after the comma in the options to \startframedtext will result in an error.

Another, common use case is the referencing on individual lines, which this mode makes possible. For example,

\usemodule[vim]
\definevimtyping[python][syntax=python, numbering=yes, escape=command]

\starttext
\startpython
import sys

def eprint(*args, **kwargs):/BTEX\startline[eprint]/ETEX
    """Print something on stderr."""
    print(*args, **kwargs, file=sys.stderr)/BTEX\stopline[eprint]/ETEX

print("something")
eprint("on stderr")/BTEX\someline[eprint-use]/ETEX
\stoppython

The function \inlinepython{eprint} is defined in \inline[eprint] and used in \inline[eprint-use].
\stoptext

Clearly, /BTEX ... /ETEX is not a valid syntax in any language, so if these tags are used outside of a comment region (as is the case in the above example), the code will not compile. So, if the code also needs to run, then these annotations have to be restricted to the comment region of the code or the output typeset by ConTeXt has to be manually tested for correctness prior to the release of your document.

Although, in practice, the use of both escape mechanisms is restricted to comments, the two mechanism have subtle differences. When using escape=comment, the 2context.vim script simply passes the content of the comment region to TeX. This content is still typeset inside a \SYN[Comment]{...} group. While when using escape=command, the 2context.vim script identifies the content of /BTEX .. /ETEX and passes it to TeX without wrapping it insider any \SYN[..]{...} group. This has an advantage when we want to use commands that cannot be used inside a group (e.g., \inmargin). For example, if we want to define a \callout macro that displays a note in the margin which we can refer to later, we can use:

\usemodule[vim]
\define[1]\callout{\inmargin{\rm #1}}
\definevimtyping[C][syntax=c, escape=command]

\starttext
\startC
   /* Here is a comment describing a complicated function */
   double complicated (...) 
   {
      ... // /BTEX\callout{Fancy trick!}/ETEX
   }
\stopC
\stoptext

Finally, note that the value of escape set using \definevimtyping is not used to \inline<vim>typing. If for some reason, you do need the escape mechanism for inline code, use

 \inline<vim>typing[escape=command]{...}

Tuning color schemes

Some vim syntax files have optional features that are turned on or off using variables. To enable these optional features, you need to first create a vimrc file and then use it.

To create a vimrc file, use

\startvimrc[name=...]
...
\stopvimrc

The name=... is necessary. To enable the settings in this vimrc file, use:

 \definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     vimrc=...,
     ...]

The value of vimrc key needs to be the same as the value of the name key in \startvimrc. You may set the vimrc file for a particular code snippet by

\start<vimtyping>[vimrc=....]
..
\stop<vimtyping>

To disable loading of vimrc file, use

 \definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     vimrc=,
     ...]

The default is not to use any vimrc file.

A vimrc file gets loaded before syntax highlighting is enabled. If you want to override the default syntax highlighting scheme, add the appropriate syn ... commands to a vimrc file, and source that using

 \definevimtyping
    [...]
    [...
     extras=<name of vimrc file>,
     ...]

For example, suppose you are using a C++ library that defines uDouble as a keyword, so you want to highlight it in your code. Use

\startvimrc[name=cpp_extras]
syn keyword Type uDouble
\stopvimrc

\definevimtyping
  [cpp]
  [
    syntax=cpp,
    extras=cpp_extras,
  ]

Messages and Tracing

The vim module uses the filter module in the background. The filter module outputs some diagnostic information on the console output to indicate what is happening. For example, for each code snippet, you will see messages like

t-filter        > command : vim -u NONE -e -s -C -n -c "set tabstop=4" -c "syntax on" -c "set syntax=scala" -c "let contextstartline=1" -c "let contextstopline=0" -c "source kpse:2context.vim" -c "qa" scala-temp-SCALA-0.tmp scala-temp-SCALA-0.vimout

If, for some reason, the output file is not generated, or not found, a message similar to

t-filter        > file matlab-temp-MATLAB-0.vimout cannot be found
t-filter        > current filter : MATLAB
t-filter        > base file : matlab-temp-MATLAB-0
t-filter        > input file : matlab-temp-MATLAB-0.tmp
t-filter        > output file : matlab-temp-MATLAB-0.vimout

is displayed in the console. At the same time, the string

[[output file missing]]

is displayed in the PDF output. This data, along with the filter command, is useful for debugging what whet wrong.

Yes, on, whatever

ConTeXt has two ways of indicating binary options:

  • option=yes and option=no
  • option=on and option=off

The core commands freely switch between the two. In some cases, option=yes has a different meaning than option=on. To avoid confusion, I have made these synonyms. Thus, whenever the documentation says option=yes, you may use option=on. And vice-versa. One less thing to worry about!

Name (and location) of the VIM executable

By default, the t-vim module calls the program vim to do syntax highlighting. If the vim program is not in the $PATH, the vimcommand option may be used to specify the compete path of vim:

\setupvimtyping[vimcommand=/path/to/vim]

This option may also be used to call Neovim instead of vim to do syntax highlighting, by either using

\setupvimtyping[vimcommand=nvim]

or, if nvim is not in the $PATH, using

\setupvimtyping[vimcommand=/path/to/nvim]

As of 2020.04.29, nvim is about 10% faster than vim.

Defining a new colorscheme

Vim recommends the following names for syntax highlighting groups (information copied from :help group-name):

	*Comment	any comment

	*Constant	any constant
	 String		a string constant: "this is a string"
	 Character	a character constant: 'c', '\n'
	 Number		a number constant: 234, 0xff
	 Boolean	a boolean constant: TRUE, false
	 Float		a floating point constant: 2.3e10

	*Identifier	any variable name
	 Function	function name (also: methods for classes)

	*Statement	any statement
	 Conditional	if, then, else, endif, switch, etc.
	 Repeat		for, do, while, etc.
	 Label		case, default, etc.
	 Operator	"sizeof", "+", "*", etc.
	 Keyword	any other keyword
	 Exception	try, catch, throw

	*PreProc	generic Preprocessor
	 Include	preprocessor #include
	 Define		preprocessor #define
	 Macro		same as Define
	 PreCondit	preprocessor #if, #else, #endif, etc.

	*Type		int, long, char, etc.
	 StorageClass	static, register, volatile, etc.
	 Structure	struct, union, enum, etc.
	 Typedef	A typedef

	*Special	any special symbol
	 SpecialChar	special character in a constant
	 Tag		you can use CTRL-] on this
	 Delimiter	character that needs attention
	 SpecialComment	special things inside a comment
	 Debug		debugging statements

	*Underlined	text that stands out, HTML links

	*Ignore		left blank, hidden  |hl-Ignore|

	*Error		any erroneous construct

	*Todo		anything that needs extra attention; mostly the
			keywords TODO FIXME and XXX

The names marked with * are the preferred groups; the others are minor groups. For the preferred groups, the "syntax.vim" file contains default highlighting. The minor groups are linked to the preferred groups, so they get the same highlighting. You can override these defaults by using ":highlight" commands after sourcing the "syntax.vim" file.

The syntax highlighting files for almost all languages define other highlight groups most of which get mapped to these basic groups. To define a new colorscheme, we need to define color mappings for each of these groups.

The basic syntax for defining a new color scheme is:

\startcolorscheme[name-of-scheme]
...
\stopcolorscheme

where the name-of-scheme is whatever name you want to call your colorscheme. This name has to be used as the value for alternative key in \definevimtyping or setupvimtyping.

The bare-minimum setup needed to define a new colorscheme is as follows:

\startcolorscheme[name-of-scheme]
    % Vim Preferred groups
    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Constant]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Identifier]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Statement]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [PreProc]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Type]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Special]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Comment]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
         [Ignore]
         [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Todo]
        [...]


    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Error]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Underlined]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Todo]
        [...]

    \setups{vim-minor-groups}

\stopcolorscheme

The detailed syntax of \definesyntaxgroup will be explained in a bit. The \setups{vim-minor-groups} line at the end maps the minor color groups to the preferred color groups, as per the default mappings in vim. Suppose you want to override the default mappings for Number and Function, then you define those mappings after \setups{vim-minor-groups}.

\startcolorscheme[name-of-scheme]
    % Vim Preferred groups
    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Constant]
        [...]

    ....

    \setups{vim-minor-groups}

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Number]
        [...]

    \definesyntaxgroup
        [Function]
        [...]

\stopcolorscheme

A full setup for defining a new color scheme will be add \definesyntaxgroup for all the basic vim syntax highlighting groups listed from the vim help above. If you define the mappings for all groups, then you can omit the \setups{vim-minor-groups} line above.

The \definesyntaxgroup command has the following syntax:

\definesyntaxgroup
    [name-of-group]
    [
      color=...,
      style=...,
      command=...,
    ]

where color is the name of any predefined color in ConTeXt, style can be any predefined style alternative (such as bold, italic, etc.) or an explicit style formatting command (such as \bf, \it, etc.), and command can be any ConTeXt macro which takes one argument.

For example, if you want to highlight Todo with a frame, use can use:

\definesyntaxgroup
    [Todo]
    [command=\inframed]

A convinience interface for color: A colorscheme uses a lot of colors and defining all of them just for the purpose of defining a new colorscheme can be cumbersome. So, the \definesyntaxgroup macro provides a shorthand:

\definesyntaxgroup
    [...]
    [
      color={r=..., g=..., b=...},
    ]

where r, g, b, values are the red, green, and blue values (between 0 and

  1. of the color, or
\definesyntaxgroup
    [...]
    [
      color={h=...},
    ]

where the h value is the hex value of the color.

Modifying an existing color scheme

It is possible to modify an existing color scheme by simply redefining some of the syntax highlighting groups. For example, if we want to update pscolor so that Identifier group is typeset in red color and Function is typeset in bold red, we can use:

\startcolorscheme[pscolor]
  \definesyntaxgroup
      [Identifier]
      [color=red]

  \definesyntaxgroup
      [Function]
      [color=red, style=bold]
\stopcolorscheme

XML Export

The vim module provides a basic support for XML export. If the user-document contains

\setupbackend[export=yes]

or other valid options to export such as export=xml, then the vim typing environments are exported as well. For example,

\definevimtyping[PYTHON][syntax=python]
\startPYTHON
# Python program listing
def foobar
    print("Hello World")
\stopPYTHON

is exported as

<vimtyping detail="pscolor">
 <verbatimline><syntaxgroup detail="vimComment"># Python program listing</syntaxgroup></verbatimline>
 <verbatimline><syntaxgroup detail="vimStatement">def</syntaxgroup> <syntaxgroup detail="vimFunction">foobar</syntaxgroup></verbatimline>
 <verbatimline>    <syntaxgroup detail="vimFunction">print</syntaxgroup>(<syntaxgroup detail="vimString">"</syntaxgroup><syntaxgroup detail="vimString">Hello World</syntaxgroup><syntaxgroup detail="vimString">"</syntaxgroup>)</verbatimline>
</vimtyping>

The name of the exported envionment is vimtyping.

Inline environments such as

\definevimtyping[PYTHON][syntax=python]
\inlinePYTHON{print("Hello World")}

is exported as

<inlinevimtyping detail="pscolor"><verbatimline><syntaxgroup detail="vimFunction">print</syntaxgroup>(<syntaxgroup detail="vimString">"</syntaxgroup><syntaxgroup detail="vimString">Hello World</syntaxgroup><syntaxgroup detail="vimString">"</syntaxgroup>)</verbatimline></inlinevimtyping>

The name of the exported envionment is inlinevimtyping.

In both the display and inline environments, the name of the programming language (value of the syntax key) is not exported since it is not needed to display the parse output. Instead the name of the colorscheme (value of the alternative key) is exported as the parameter detail of vimtyping. Each line is exported as a verbatimline. Each syntaxgroup is exported as <syntaxgroup detail="...">. The value of defail equals to the name of the syntax highlighting group prepended with vim. The name is prepended with vim to avoid name clashes with other elements in the exported XML. Strictly speaking this is not necessary, but it does make it easier to write CSS selectors.

The module comes with a CSS file with default mappings for the two colorschemes that are provided with the module (pscolor and blackandwhite). This is meant as a simple solution which gives approximately the same output as the PDF file. To use this CSS file, add

\setupexport[cssfile=\vimtypingcssfile]

If you already have other values for cssfile, then use:

\setupexport[cssfile={...,...,\vimtypingcssfile}]

Note that the macro \vimtypingcssfile is defined in the vim module, so the above line has to come after the vim module has been loaded.

If you make changes to the default colorschemes, define colorschemes of your own, or want to tweak the visual appearance of the output, you need to tweak the default CSS file to suit your needs. It is suggested that you copy the default css file and tweak it. You can find the location of the default CSS file using

luatools vimtyping-default.css

Copy it under a different name and tweak it as desired.

A bit of a history

Mojca Miklavec germinated the idea of using vim to get syntax highlighting. Below is her message to the ConTeXt mailing list (circa Sep 2005):

I am thinking of piping the code to vim, letting vim process it, and return something like highlight[Conditional]{if} \highlight[Delimiter]{(} \highlight[Identifier]{!}.

One could modify the 2html.vim file. Vim can already transform the highlighted code to HTML, so ConTeXt should not be so difficult. Vim already has over 400 syntax file definitions, probably equivalent to some hundred thousand lines of syntax definition in ConTexT. Well, I don't know (yet) how to do it, but if someone on the last has more experience with vim, please feel free to contribute.

A few months later (circa Dec 2005), Nikolai Webull provided such a modification of 2html.vim and called it 2context.vim. That file was the foundation of t-vim module.

About two years later (circa June 2008), Mojca and I (Aditya Mahajan) pickup up on this idea and released t-vim. Over the next few years, nothing much changed in the module, except a few minor bug fixes.

Around June 2010, I decided to completely rewrite the module from scratch. The new version of t-vim relies on t-filter for all the bookkeeping. As a result, the module is smaller and more robust.