RSyntaxTextArea is a customizable, syntax highlighting text component for Java Swing applications. Out of the box, it supports syntax highlighting for 40+ programming languages, code folding, search and replace, and has add-on libraries for code completion and spell checking. Syntax highlighting for additional languages can be added via tools such as JFlex.

RSyntaxTextArea is available under a modified BSD license. For more information, visit http://bobbylight.github.io/RSyntaxTextArea/.

Available in the Maven Central repository (com.fifesoft:rsyntaxtextarea:XXX). SNAPSHOT builds of the in-development, unreleased version are hosted on Sonatype.

Branch "burp-plugin" (Federico Dotta)

The branch "burp-plugin" contains some editing to make the library work when used in a Burp Suite plugin. In that situation, when loading, unloading and reloading the plugin, the RSyntaxTextArea does not accept keyboard input anymore. With these modifications the RSyntaxTextArea works correctly also in this particular situation. Use at your own risk: the modified code has not been deeply tested!

Building

RSyntaxTextArea uses Gradle to build. To compile, run all unit tests, and create the jar, run:

./gradlew build

RSTA requires a Java 8 JDK to compile, but builds classes with Java 6 binary compatibility if possible (and indeed, the artifacts in Maven Central are Java 6-compatible). To that end, the boot classpath will be set to accommodate this if a variable java6CompileBootClasspath is set to the location of rt.jar in a Java 6 JDK. This can be added to <maven-home>/gradle.properties if desired, to avoid diffs in the project's gradle.properties.

Example Usage

RSyntaxTextArea is simply a subclass of JTextComponent, so it can be dropped into any Swing application with ease.

import javax.swing.*;
import org.fife.ui.rtextarea.*;
import org.fife.ui.rsyntaxtextarea.*;

public class TextEditorDemo extends JFrame {

   public TextEditorDemo() {

      JPanel cp = new JPanel(new BorderLayout());

      RSyntaxTextArea textArea = new RSyntaxTextArea(20, 60);
      textArea.setSyntaxEditingStyle(SyntaxConstants.SYNTAX_STYLE_JAVA);
      textArea.setCodeFoldingEnabled(true);
      RTextScrollPane sp = new RTextScrollPane(textArea);
      cp.add(sp);

      setContentPane(cp);
      setTitle("Text Editor Demo");
      setDefaultCloseOperation(EXIT_ON_CLOSE);
      pack();
      setLocationRelativeTo(null);

   }

   public static void main(String[] args) {
      // Start all Swing applications on the EDT.
      SwingUtilities.invokeLater(new Runnable() {
         public void run() {
            new TextEditorDemo().setVisible(true);
         }
      });
   }

}

Sister Projects

RSyntaxTextArea provides syntax highlighting, code folding, and many other features out-of-the-box, but when building a code editor you often want to go further. Below is a list of small add-on libraries that add more complex functionality:

• AutoComplete - Adds code completion to RSyntaxTextArea (or any other JTextComponent).
• RSTALanguageSupport - Code completion for RSTA for the following languages: Java, JavaScript, HTML, PHP, JSP, Perl, C, Unix Shell. Built on both RSTA and AutoComplete.
• SpellChecker - Adds squiggle-underline spell checking to RSyntaxTextArea.
• RSTAUI - Common dialogs needed by text editing applications: Find, Replace, Go to Line, File Properties.

Getting Help

• Add an issue on GitHub
• Peruse the wiki
• Ask in the project forum
• Check the project's home page