GTags plugin for Notepad++
This is a frontend to GNU Global source code tagging system (GTags) for Notepad++. It provides various functions to ease project code navigation - search for file, definition, reference, literal, regular expression, perform auto-completion.
You'll need GTags binaries for Win32 to use this plugin. Those are supplied with the plugin binary for convenience. You can also download them from GNU Global official website - look for the Win32 port. Put GTags Win32 binaries in folder named NppGTags.
Copy NppGTags.dll and NppGTags folder containing GTags binaries to your Notepad++ plugins directory, start Notepad++ and you are ready to go.
You can find all supported commands in the NppGTags plugin menu. To make your life easier use Notepad++'s shortcut settings to assign whatever shortcuts you like to the plugin commands. There are no predefined shortcuts in the plugin to avoid possible conflicts with other Notepad++ plugins.
Use plugin Settings to tune its operation. There you can select the code parser to be used. The default is the built-in GTags parser but it supports only C, C++, Java and several other languages at the time this doc was written. Ctags supports considerably more languages but does not allow reference search. Pygments also supports lots of languages + reference search but requires external Python library (Pygments) that is not supplied with the plugin.
To start using the plugin first you need to create GTags database for your project - Create Database. In the dialog simply select your project's top folder and GTags will index recursively all supported by the chosen parser source files. It will create database files (GTAGS, GRTAGS and GPATH) in the selected folder. Delete Database invoked from any openned file in the project will delete those.
If you run one of the plugin's Find commands (including Search) from any openned file in the project it will search the database for:
- what you have selected if there is selection;
- the word that is under the caret if there is no selection;
- what you have entered in the search box that will appear if there is no word under the caret.
The search box allows choosing case sensitivity and regexp for the Find command where applicable. It also provides search completion list where possible which appears when you enter several characters in the box. If the Find command is started without the search box (case 1 and 2) the search is case sensitive and literal (no regexp).
Find File command will skip step 2, it will directly go to step 3 if there is no selection. It will automatically fill the search box (from step 3) with the name of the current file without the extension to make switching between source - header file easier. Find File will search for paths containing the given string. All paths are relative to the project's directory.
In GTags' terminology, Symbol is reference to identifier for which definition was not found. All local variables are symbols for example. If you search for Definition / Reference and GTags doesn't find anything the plugin will automatically invoke search for Symbol. This will be reported in the search results window header.
Search will search for a string either "literally" (not using regular expressions) or using regular expressions if that is selected through the search box options.
As a summary, Find Definition / Reference will search for identifiers (single whole words) whereas Search will search for strings in general (parts of words, several consecutive words, etc.) either literally or using regular expressions.
AutoComplete will show found Definitions + found Symbols. It will always look for the whole word under the caret.
While auto complete results window is active you can narrow the results shown by continuing typing. Backspace will undo the narrowing one step at a time (as the newly typed characters are deleted). Double-clicking or pressing Enter, Tab or Space will insert the selected auto complete result.
AutoComplete Filename is useful if you will be including headers for example.
AutoComplete and Find Definition commands will also search library databases if such are used. That is configured through the plugin's Settings window.
All Find commands will show Notepad++ docking window with the results. Each such command will place its results in a separate tab that will automatically become active. Clicking on another tab will show that command's results. You can also use the Left and Right arrow keys to switch between tabs.
Double-clicking, hitting Space or Enter on search result line will take you to the source location. You can also do that by left-clicking on the highlighted searched word in the result line. Your current location will be saved - use Go Back command to visit it again. You can 'undo' the Go Back action by using Go Forward command.
Right clicking or hitting ESC will close the currently active search results tab.
Left-clicking in the margin area ([+] / [-] signs) or pressing '+' / '-' keys will unfold / fold lines. To fold a line it is not necessary to click exactly the [-] sign in the margin - clicking in any sub-line's margin will do.
The results window is Scintilla window actually (same as Notepad++). This means that you can use Ctrl + mouse scroll to zoom in / out or you can select text and copy it (Ctrl + 'C').