Highlight on Copy

Highlights the text that was just copied to the clipboard with customizable colors and blinking effects.

Demo

See the plugin in action - when you copy text, it highlights with a customizable blinking effect:

Before Copy	After Copy (Highlighted)

Features:

• 🎨 Highlights copied text with configurable background and foreground colors
• ✨ Configurable blinking effect with customizable blink count and interval
• 🎯 Multi-cursor support with intelligent selection handling
• 📄 Smart line copying when no text is selected (copies entire line)
• ⚙️ Easy configuration through IDE settings (Tools → Highlight on Copy)
• 🔄 Works with ANY copy action - Ctrl+C, Edit menu, right-click copy, etc.
• 🎨 Supports both standard (#RRGGBB) and alpha (#RRGGBBAA) hex colors

Perfect for visual feedback when copying code, making it immediately clear what was just copied to the clipboard.

Usage:

• Copy text using any method (Ctrl+C, Edit menu, right-click) - copied text will blink
• With no selection, copy action will highlight the entire line
• Multiple cursors supported - all selections will be highlighted
• Configure colors, blink count, and timing in Settings → Tools → Highlight on Copy

Installation

• Using the IDE built-in plugin system:

  Settings/Preferences > Plugins > Marketplace > Search for "Highlight on Copy" > Install

• Using JetBrains Marketplace:

  Go to JetBrains Marketplace and install it by clicking the Install to ... button in case your IDE is running.

  You can also download the latest release from JetBrains Marketplace and install it manually using Settings/Preferences > Plugins > ⚙️ > Install plugin from disk...

• Manually:

  Download the latest release and install it manually using Settings/Preferences > Plugins > ⚙️ > Install plugin from disk...

Development

Building

./gradlew build

Testing

./gradlew test

Running in Development IDE

./gradlew runIde

Features

• 🎨 Customizable highlighting: Configure background and foreground colors
• ✨ Configurable blinking: Control blink count and timing
• 🎯 Multi-cursor support: Handles multiple selections intelligently
• 📄 Smart line copying: Highlights entire line when no text is selected
• ⚙️ Easy configuration: Simple settings panel in IDE preferences
• 🔄 Works with any copy method: Ctrl+C, Edit menu, right-click copy
• 🎨 Alpha color support: Use transparent colors with 8-character hex codes

Installation

From Source (Development)

1. Clone this repository:

   git clone https://github.com/Hazzajenko/Jetbrains-Highlight-on-Copy.git
   cd Jetbrains-Highlight-on-Copy

2. Open in IntelliJ IDEA:

   • File → Open and select the project directory
   • Wait for Gradle to sync

3. Build and run:

   ./gradlew runIde

   This will start a new IDE instance with your plugin loaded.

From JetBrains Marketplace

1. Go to File → Settings → Plugins (or IntelliJ IDEA → Preferences → Plugins on macOS)
2. Search for "Highlight on Copy"
3. Click Install and restart the IDE

Or install directly from the JetBrains Marketplace

Usage

Basic Usage

The plugin listens for any copy action and provides visual feedback. When you copy text:

1. With text selected: Highlights the selected text with a blinking effect
2. With no selection: Highlights the entire current line
3. With multiple cursors: Highlights all selections
4. Works with any copy method: Ctrl+C, Edit menu, right-click copy, etc.

Configuration

1. Go to File → Settings → Tools → Highlight on Copy (or IntelliJ IDEA → Preferences → Tools → Highlight on Copy on macOS)

   

2. Available settings:

   • Background Color: Color of the highlight background (default: light red #E66159)
   • Foreground Color: Text color during highlight (leave empty for no change)
   • Number of Blinks: How many times the text blinks (default: 1)
   • Blink Interval: Time between blinks in milliseconds (default: 150ms)
   • Highlight Timeout: Legacy setting for backwards compatibility (default: 1000ms)

Copy Methods

The plugin works with all copy methods:

• Keyboard shortcut: Ctrl+C / Cmd+C
• Edit menu: Edit → Copy
• Right-click context menu: Copy
• Any other copy action in the IDE

Development

Building

# Build the plugin
./gradlew buildPlugin

# Run tests
./gradlew test

# Run IDE with plugin
./gradlew runIde

# Verify plugin compatibility
./gradlew verifyPlugin

Testing

The plugin includes comprehensive tests:

./gradlew test

Test coverage includes:

• Simple text selection copying
• Empty selection (line copying)
• Multi-cursor selections
• Action availability checks

Key Implementation Details

Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch: git checkout -b feature-name
3. Make your changes and add tests
4. Run tests: ./gradlew test
5. Submit a pull request

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

Changelog

1.0.1

Added

• Comprehensive unit test suite covering all core functionality
• Tests for color parsing with various hex formats including edge cases
• Tests for settings persistence and state management
• Tests for UI configuration components and lifecycle

Changed

• Migrated from deprecated addAnActionListener to declarative listener registration using message bus infrastructure for better performance and future compatibility

Fixed

• Fixed an issue where text selections were not restored after the highlight animation finished.
• Fixed a bug where copying a line with no selection would cause the entire line to become selected after the highlight.

Removed

• Removed deprecated HighlightOnCopyAction and HighlightOnCopyActionTest as its not needed anymore.

1.0.0

Added

• Visual feedback when copying text to clipboard with customizable blinking effect
• Multi-cursor support with intelligent selection handling
• Smart line copying - highlights entire line when no text is selected
• Configurable background and foreground colors for highlights
• Support for both standard (#RRGGBB) and alpha (#RRGGBBAA) hex color formats
• Adjustable blink count and timing interval settings
• Compatibility with all copy methods (Ctrl+C, Edit menu, right-click copy)
• Easy configuration through IDE settings panel at Tools → Highlight on Copy

Support

If you encounter any issues or have suggestions:

1. Check the Issues page
2. Create a new issue with:

• IDE version
• Plugin version
• Steps to reproduce
• Expected vs actual behavior