Sunday, August 02, 2009

Using jEdit to Edit PeopleSoft Files

A couple of years ago, Chris Heller wrote a great article on editing PeopleSoft files with the Notepad++ text editor. Since I prefer jEdit over Notepad++ (my jEdit fascination dates back to my Java programming roots and, more recently, the jEdit Ruby plugin). I have a collection of custom jEdit syntax files in my box.net jEdit shared folder. In this folder, you will find DMS and PeopleCode syntax files (unlike Notepad++, jEdit includes SQR syntax files out of the box). Feel free to download and use these files. Caveat: these files are far from complete. I add to them on an as-needed basis. If you find errors and/or omissions, please leave a comment here, and I'll do my best to update my shared syntax files. See the jEdit help file for how to add these syntax files to jEdit (hint: jEdit calls syntax files "Edit Modes").

By the way, jEdit has a Code2HTML plugin. I use the syntax files in my shared folder along with the Code2HTML plugin to generate the syntax highlighting used on this blog.

18 comments:

Andrew said...

Do you know how to change the catalog file? I cannot seem to change it to include a reference for the PeopleCode file...

Jim Marion said...

@Andrew, Yes, I do know how to edit the catalog. Copy the xml files into your %USERPROFILE%\.jedit\modes directory (or ~/.jedit/modes depending on your OS). Next, open the %USERPROFILE%\.jedit\modes\catalog.xml file and add the following text inside the <MODES> element:

<MODE NAME="datamover" FILE="dms.xml"
FILE_NAME_GLOB="*.dms" />

<MODE NAME="peoplecode" FILE="PeopleCode.xml"
FILE_NAME_GLOB="*.pc" />

<MODE NAME="pl-sql" FILE="pl-sql.xml"
FILE_NAME_GLOB="*.pls" />

<MODE NAME="iCal" FILE="iCal.xml"
FILE_NAME_GLOB="*.ics" />

Andrew said...

Thanks a lot Jim. I had been trying to edit the catalog file in the c:\program files\jEdit\modes directory...

Unknown said...

hi Jim, i am a big fan of your blog and came across this post. i have been using the JEdit to edit peoplecode for long time. i have downloaded the "peoplecode.xml" which is used for peoplecode syntax highlighting in Crmson Editor. Just wanted to let you know. Thanks for bringing this out.

Jim Marion said...

@ponnusamy, please let me know if you find any corrections you think I should make to the file. I know it is far from complete.

Iouri Chadour said...

Does jEdit provide intellisense feature? I have been using notepad++ primarily for this reason - if enabled the Ctrl-Space Bar recognises the keywords. I hope I will have time to update the syntaxt file to reflect the function usage as well.

Iouri
www.workingscripts.com

Jim Marion said...

@Louri, I don't believe jEdit offers IntelliSense without a plugin. I know the Java plugins provide it for Java, but I don't think jEdit offers it for standard syntax files

Praj Basnet said...

Hi Jim, when I visit the link to the jEdit syntax files it takes me to box.net site, but not sure what to do next to get to the files? Do I need to sign up? Are the files still hosted there?

Jim Marion said...

@Praj, thank you for the note! Something must have changed with the box.net URL syntax. I grabbed a fresh link to the folder and updated the blog post. I really appreciate you alerting me to this issue! Try the link above again, and let me know if there are any more issues.

Praj Basnet said...

I can get to the syntax files now :) Thanks for that.

TheAksReflection said...

Hi..
I would like to install peoplesoft in my personal comp. Could you please tell how should I go about doing it.
I came accross the site edelivery.oracle.com providing the files for downloading and installation of peoplesoft.
But if somebody could guide me on which files are mandatory and can i install only peopletools first ..is the HRMS/CRM package type necessary to be installed.
And I already have oracle 10g installed on my pc.Should I still download the files related to oracle database from the site.

Please advise.
Thanks in advance.

Jim Marion said...

@idontwanttowrite, take a look at Nicolas's Blog. He has very good instructions for installing PeopleSoft.

Srini said...

Hi Jim,

I implemented your method of achieving syntax highlighting in Blogger and it worked like a charm. I have converted it to a tutorial so that it will be useful for the community. Thanks for pointing us towards a neat approach that does not use Javascript.

/Srini

mutyalarao said...

This is a cool editor! Thanks Jim. But is there any plugin to list all the procedures/sematic blocks in a pane(similar to what PSPad has)?

Jim Marion said...

@mutyalarao, The structure browser might help.

Kevin Garlow said...

Here is the updated link to Chris Heller's blog post on Notepad++.

Itzik said...

Hi Jim, I'm happy to read your blog every time...
In other but same issue...
is there a way of extending the built-in function of peoplecode ?
For Ex... add "Trim" function for string.
I Know about the PeopleCode.jar ->
Func... buy they are only Interfaces.
Thanks
Itzik Aloni

Jim Marion said...

@Itzik, you have to create your own versions of functions if you want them to behave differently.