SlickEdit 2009 broke parenth highlighting

[_fragment_]

I'm not sure if this could be the problem, but did you check to make sure the color of the highlighted brace is different than the normal color of braces? (black).

Tools->Options->Appearance->Colors->Highlighting->Block Matching

It could be that the braces are being highlighted, but the highlighted color is black, so you don't notice.

I thought of that, too. Just to be sure I tried several of the provided color schemes, both light and dark backgrounds. At the moment, I have the default color scheme selected while troubleshooting this issue. The option you mention above is set to a blue color against a white background. My braces and parens do not show any signs of blue.

Dave

[_fragment_]

When you started with the default config using the -sc command line switch, did you make any changes after that? It's important that you work in a completely default config while we're trying to debug this. For example, it's possible that a color scheme might make the paren highlighting difficult or impossible to see.

Once we determine what's happening in a default config, then we can start to make changes and see which settings are causing the problem.

The only changes I made involved the series of dialogs that popped up, during which I selected brief emulation, selected the brace formatting style for all languages, etc. Do I need to try this again and just click "next" at each step with no selection at all? What about the tag files dialog - should I skip that as well?

Dave

[chrisant]

Try selecting CUA emulation, keep everything else at the defaults, and as a time-saver you can skip tagfiles since they should be unrelated.

Using CUA emulation both syntax expansion (the scenario you mentioned about typing "if" followed by a paren) and paren/brace highlighting are working fine for me.

If they work fine for you with CUA emulation, that's a useful data point.  E.g. next you could try selecting Brief emulation and if they stop working then it would seem to be specific to Brief emulation (or at least not related to CUA emulation ).

Or if they don't work with CUA emulation either, then the mystery deepens.

[ScottW, VP of Dev]

Do as chrissant suggested, try a default config with no changes in the Quick Start Configuration Wizard. Then we can take it one step at a time and pin this down.

Be sure to delete the directory you specified with -sc before you restart. You'll know you're in a clean config if the wizard comes up. You can just click "Finish" and you'll have totally default settings. Then load your workspace and try the things that aren't working. If they work. Then we'll have you go through the wizard, selecting Tools > Quick Start Configuration from the main menu and changing one thing at a time, beginning with the emulation.

[_fragment_]

Try selecting CUA emulation, keep everything else at the defaults, and as a time-saver you can skip tagfiles since they should be unrelated.

Using CUA emulation both syntax expansion (the scenario you mentioned about typing "if" followed by a paren) and paren/brace highlighting are working fine for me.

If they work fine for you with CUA emulation, that's a useful data point.  E.g. next you could try selecting Brief emulation and if they stop working then it would seem to be specific to Brief emulation (or at least not related to CUA emulation ).

Or if they don't work with CUA emulation either, then the mystery deepens.

It deepens. I deleted everything in the c:\config directory and ran vs -sc c:\config and let it default to CUA and did not run the setup wizard (that is I just clicked finish). No change, I still don't get brace highlighting. This would not have been workable anyway. I'm too used to the nice advantages of brief emulation.

In response to my support case, I was told that effectively v14 has been recalled for a few days to fix some bugs. Whether that will address my issues remains to be seen. They suggest I go back to v13 for a few days in the mean time.

Dave

[ScottW, VP of Dev]

No, the changes we have made will not address your problems. Wow!  I'm really stumped. We'll have to think about this some more. Those features work great for us under test. So, other than your config, I can't figure what might be causing this.

[SlickEdit Support]

Two quick things to try.

With the cursor on the left brace under the if statement, what happens if you hit Ctrl+], which runs find-matching-paren?

if( foo )
<cursor>{
    bar();
}


After you've tried the above, go to Macro-->Load Module and nav to C:\Program Files\SlickEdit 2009\macros\ and reload pmatch.e

Best,
SlickEdit Support

[SlickEdit Support]

If the previous two items do nothing (find-matching-paren and loading pmatch.e), please try a Repair of your SlickEdit installation. In Add/Remove Programs, highlight SlickEdit 2009 and click on the link that says "Click here for support information". The resulting Support Info dialog will provide a Repair button to complete the repair.

Then let us know if the same thing is happening.

Thanks,
SlickEdit Support

[_fragment_]

I tried some more experiments. I opened a new file, selected C/C++. Then I typed:

int main( void )

After the 2nd paren, they parens highlighted blue. Then I hit return and typed {. The matching braced was filled in below. So I hit enter. Now I've got:

int main( void )
{

}

Next, I typed for and then (. The matching paren was filled in, along with a pair of braces (using the style I don't prefer). So now we have:

int main( void )
{
    for( ) {
    }
}

All 3 of the last braces are now highlighted ORANGE!?! I move the cursor to the first brace, and it highlights blue, but the last brace stays orange as do the other 2. There's something very strange going on here.

I repeat the experiment with v14 launched from the desktop icon so I get my brief emulation, etc, and get similar results. So now I open an existing file, which happened to have the cursor on an existing brace, which is highlighted blue along with its match. As soon as I move the cursor away and back, the highlight is gone and won't come back. If I start a new line and type "for(" or "if(" nothing happens. It's like all highlighting and syntax completion just quits.

I don't know if any of this is useful, but there it is. I'm going back to v13, where things are predictable and make sense. Oh, I just noticed some new suggestions came in while I was typing.

Dave

[_fragment_]

Two quick things to try.

With the cursor on the left brace under the if statement, what happens if you hit Ctrl+], which runs find-matching-paren?

if( foo )
<cursor>{
    bar();
}


After you've tried the above, go to Macro-->Load Module and nav to C:\Program Files\SlickEdit 2009\macros\ and reload pmatch.e

Best,
SlickEdit Support

This did not change anything. I redid my experiments described above, with the same results: with a newly created file I get syntax completion and strange colored highlighting. With existing files I get no syntax completion and no highlighting. In either case ctrl+] moves to the matching brace without problems.

I guess I'm off to try to repair the install.

Dave

[chrisant]

I started SE14 with a fresh config, and created a file following the steps you suggested, and for me the braces are not orange, and highlighting works as usual.

In your Color settings, what does orange correspond to?  Once you think you've found the setting, try changing it and confirm that the braces change color along with it.  (There are a lot of color settings to check out, I know ).

Were you running as an Administrator when you installed SlickEdit?  Or if you are on Vista, did you elevate the installation to run as Administrator?  Just grasping at straws, but perhaps one or more built in macros didn't compile successfully due to permission problems -- the permissions stuff got some attention before SE14 was released, but maybe a case got overlooked?

[_fragment_]

No, I'm on XP with service pack 3. I have Administrator rights. Not sure what the orange corresponds to, but it is the default color scheme. But why does it sort of work on a newly created file, but refuse to do any highlighting or syntax completing in an existing file?

(Still waiting for Windows to populate the add/remove list).

Dave

[_fragment_]

If the previous two items do nothing (find-matching-paren and loading pmatch.e), please try a Repair of your SlickEdit installation. In Add/Remove Programs, highlight SlickEdit 2009 and click on the link that says "Click here for support information". The resulting Support Info dialog will provide a Repair button to complete the repair.

Then let us know if the same thing is happening.

Thanks,
SlickEdit Support

Sadly, the repair seems to have changed nothing. The experiments listed above gave the same results. Strange highlighting on newly created files and no highlighting or syntax completing on existing files. Sorry to keep stumping everyone, but I'm quite stumped myself. The only thing that works rock solid for me is to go back to v13.

Dave

[ScottW, VP of Dev]

I'm sorry to keep asking you try things, but we're fairly stumped by this one. Using a default config, can you create a workspace as follows:
1) Select Project > New
2) Click the Cancel button in the "New Project" wizard.
3) Expand the "C/C++" node in the Project type tree and select "GNU C/C++ Wizard"
4) Enter a Project name, Location, and leave "Create new workspace" selected.
5) Click "OK".
6) In the wizard, select "Executable" for the project type and "C++" for the Source type.
7) Click "Next"
Select "A 'Hello World' application" for Application Type.
9) Click "Next"
10) Leave "Build without a makefile..." selected.
11) Click "Finish" and then click "OK" on the screen that reviews your choices.

This creates a very basic C++ application. First try paren matching.  Position the cursor near the braces and see what happens. Please post a screen shot if you are getting weird colors again.

Next try syntax expansion. Insert a new line at the top of the main function. Type "if" followed by a space. Post a screen shot of the result.

We'll want to use the default config and this basic workspace as the primary testbed to figure out the problem. It cuts down on the number of things we have to explore.

[_fragment_]

Following these steps, everything seems to be working fine. I've never used SlickEdit projects, but just used SlickEdit as a code editor. I already have to create a project in MPLAB to use the Microchip compiler, and I create projects in my source control software, so I figure that's plenty of projects. Also, I'm coding all of my embedded projects in C, not C++.

So, let me guess: you have no problems creating a new C file outside of a SlickEdit project and coding with highlighting and syntax completion (like my experiments yesterday). I didn't realize you could post screenshots here. If it helps, I can reproduce the odd highlighting and post a screenshot.

Dave