I have found this resource for Ruby/Rails snippets, seems like it has lots of cool snippets that I could use with vim.
But since I'm new to vim, I don't know how to enable those snippets to my vim editor. There is no instruction manual as such.
How can I get these kind of snippets enabled in the vim editor?
Those snippets are for the snipMate - TextMate-style snippets for Vim plugin. You need to install it first.
Note that though this plugin isn't maintained any more, it's still working fine (and probably will continue to do so, due to Vim's great record of backwards compatibility), and is still used by many people (me included). There's a renewed fork available, though: garbas/vim-snipmate. A newer, more powerful plugin is UltiSnips - The ultimate snippet solution for python enabled Vim, which can convert the old snipMate snippets into its format. So, there's a lot of choice.
About Snippet Plugin in Vim
I recommend the plugin Neosnippets: https://github.com/Shougo/neosnippet This is the best in my opinion.
Step 1: Install plugin. Recommend using Pathogen to install
step 2: Download/clone a snippet repo you like to local machine, or create your own(recommeneded)
Step 3: Set the path of above repo as Neosnippets's snippets folder in vimrc
let g:neosnippet#snippets_directory='~/path/to/above/snippets/'
Step 4: Customize more if you like, according to the help file.
For the repo you mentioned
I checked it.
One problem is it's out of date, many Rails code are several years ago. They are of little use now.
The other problem is the format is not compatible with NeoSnippet. You can check :help neosnippet-snippet-syntax for how to write snippets for NeoSnippets. It's simple while easy to use.
Related
Would someone be kind enough to show me what exact code is needed in the _vimrc file to get the Python-mode plugin to work! Thanks! (I also read that it is out-dated) is the Jedi plugin that much better? Thanks from the VIM newbie!!!
Bob
You won't be lucky if you expect a single command in your virmrc. Turning vim into a python ide is a collection of multiple plugins you can either manage by hand or use a plugin manager like vundle. Best practice is to use your configuration along with a repository hosted for example on github using git. You can use mercurial or baazar just as well.
Walking through one of the numerous tutorials on the net will be your only chance.
For example here: https://github.com/mbrochh/vim-as-a-python-ide along with the video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhqsjUUHj6g
I typically use an ide for large projects and vi for small single file scripts temporary files etc.
Lately I have heard of people using vi for larger projects too - actually, quite defensive and particular proud to do so.
I have tried, but i found it very cumbersome. Do any other programmers here use vi for and medium - large projects? If so, are there any tips/tricks you can offer for navigating source, looking at multiple files etc?
I have tried using tmux to see if it made things easier - but it still felt quite cumbersome
There is no magical tool that can make everything perfect. Vim is an editor, and it's pretty good at it, but it's not and will never be an IDE.
There used to be the pida project that made an IDE around vim, for better interaction when using python, but it got abandonned.
There is eclim which is a really neat tool that can use eclipse as a backend IDE accessible in a few keystrokes from within vim, while having all the power of eclipse for tagging, refactoring, debugging etc.. But you have to want running eclipse in background, which is like hiding an elephant under the carpet...
There are many little plugins you may want to use, and I'm pretty sure everyone has his favorite set of plugins, that helps navigate easily in the code and help tagging (like fugitive, nerdtree, etc..)
Finally, there is vim, a shell and that's all. Vim does a lot of things correctly, like navigating in the source, launching compilations and parsing the errors etc.. And for what vim is not good at, you can use your shell, to execute, to do git stuff, to open more vim windows to edit code..
Anyway, there's no perfect answer to your question, and I bet your question will be closed because of being "non constructive".
What do you find cumbersome? What works for you? What doesn't? What kind of feature do you need to be able to work efficiently with multiple files? How many are multiple files anyway?
Some people use Vim for working on quite large projects: the Linux kernel, Firefox, Vim itself… I guess that you need to know Vim pretty well to pull that off but it's all very doable, even without many plugins.
But I tend to think "complexity" rather than "quantity".
When I work with "complex" languages+projects (quotes because it is all very subjective) I'll use a more suited IDE with a Vim-emulation plugin: Flash Builder+Vrapper for Actionscript 3, Eclipse+Vrapper (then) Android Studio+IdeaVim (now) for Android.
When I work with "simple" (quotes, again) languages+projects I'll use Vim: that's any project involving HTML/CSS/JavaScript/PHP, from 3 to 50+ files.
File/buffer navigation
Vim is very good at opening files (which sounds funny), even without plugins. :sp **/foo<Tab>, for example, is quick and easy. :Ex foo/bar as well.
Switching buffers is also very easy, if a bit awkward at first. :bn, :bN and :b <Tab> will get you a long way.
And if you don't like those built-in methods, you can create your own cool mappings or choose from many plugins.
"Semantic" navigation
I like to think about my project in class/method names rather than in file names. With an up-to-date tags file (generated with ctags or some compatible program), :tag foo is a very efficient way to move around, <C-]> jumps to the definition of the tag under the cursor and <C-w>} opens that definition in a small preview window. That's more than enough for my needs.
I don't particularly like them but you can also use TagBar or TagList to have something that resembles the class browser of your IDE.
I'd suggest you make your needs more clear and ask more specific questions or look around on SO. The subjects above are pretty well covered.
Just a few pointers: I like NERDTree and CtrlP for easy/powerful file navigation and splits for keeping several files visable and navigatable at the same time.
I am using neocomplcache along with neosnippet and honza's vim-snippets. They are great, except that when I press Ctrl-k, I can go to the next parameter, but I have no way to go back to the previous parameter.
So for example, if I inserted 'for' snippet and made a typo on the index variable, but I already pressed Ctrl-k, am I screwed? Must I go through modifications of all the parameters and then come back to do replace operation? Or is there mapping for select mode that I can help me in this situation? Currently Tab and S-Tab do not do anything.
Lastly, are all snippet plugins like this? Or is neocomplcache just missing this feature (out of the box, at least)?
I encourage you to try UltiSnips. It is much more powerful and mature than vim-snippets or neosnippet. For instance, since UltiSnips is based on Python, it is very extensible. Concerning your problem: yes, you can jump back and forth with UltiSnips. Finally, be sure to check out screencasts (listed in the link) to see all the fancy stuff you can do with it.
For example, I use the following configuration:
let g:UltiSnipsSnippetsDir = '~/.vim/snippets/'
let g:UltiSnipsSnippetDirectories = ['UltiSnips', 'snippets']
let g:UltiSnipsExpandTrigger = '<C-CR>'
let g:UltiSnipsJumpForwardTrigger = '<A-d>'
let g:UltiSnipsJumpBackwardTrigger = '<A-a>'
NOTE: ~/.vim/snippets/ is my directory for custom snippets.
As I've already mentioned UltiSnips uses Python extensively, and therefore requires Vim to be built with Python support. If you are on Windows (especially x64), that might be a trouble, the one I've run into quite some time ago. To save yourself precious time and avoid frustration you may consider downloading my Vim for Windows. Both x86 and x64 architectures are provided, and it supports both Python 2 and Python 3 simultaneously. I can assure you that it is stable. To install properly just follow the instructions. These builds are updated frequently.
The original SnipMate and its fork (the plugins for which vim-snippets is actually meant to be) both allow you to go back to the previous placeholder with <S-Tab>. I believe UltiSnips does too.
Neocomplcache doesn't support snippet expansion out of the box anymore. AFAIK, you need another plugin by the same author called neosnippet which is the one responsible for the <C-k> mapping. A quick look at the doc shows no "reverse jump" mapping, function or command. You can probably create a new issue on neosnippet's Github page.
I am looking for recommendations on using VIM as an IDE. I generally code in a number of programming languages, including C, C++, assembler, MATLAB, Maple, BASH scripts, to name a few.
In general, I like to use a single IDE for the bulk of my projects for the sake of consistency, and I have found that I perform about 90% of all my coding in VIM, and occasionally use Eclipse instead for certain projects in C/C++ (ie: projects people have already put together as an Eclipse project, or PIC24/32 projects from www.microchip.com).
I am already very familiar with the basic functionality of VIM (windows vs buffers, text manipulation, scripting), and would like to use it as my primary IDE. I have already taken a few tips from here:
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Use_Vim_like_an_IDE#Writing_Code
I already use the nerdTree plugin for directory browsing in a project, etc, but I need to do something about code completion and symbol resolution, as those are my two greatest concerns.
Symbol resolution
I have some limited experience in the use of C-tags, and wanted a suggestion on what I should use if I am working with a VERY large code-base that changes frequently. The projects I work on typically are pulling in header files from at least a dozen other projects, and I would like to be able to jump to the file where a function, constant, or macro is defined quickly (ie: like the CTRL-G feature in Eclipse, "jump to definition"), as well as rapidly get a list of all calls/references to a function/macro/constant/etc (ie: like the CTRL-SHIFT-G feature in Eclipse, "Show all references in project or current working directory").
Tab completion
One of the features I really like in Visual Studio and Eclipse, for example, is when I type in a variable name (ie: pointer to struct) and it resolves the names and types of all structure members and gives me a tab completion list to choose the appropriate member. They also point out when I've incorrectly used "." vs "->" for member access. I've tried superTab in VIM, but I just couldn't get it working. I also want the tab-completion feature to use the same C-tags as generated by the symbol resolution plugin
Handling build output
The final concern of mine is having an auto-generated list of build warnings and build errors. When I, for example, just run "make all" at the command-line prompt, it is a pain to have to read through code listings to manually find all build warnings.
I realize this is a lot to ask, and that I could always just fall-back to Visual Studio or Eclipse, but I really want just a simple cross-platform console-capable modal editor for all my development needs, and none of the major IDE's out there fill this need.
Thank you all in advance.
http://eclim.org/ - bring Eclipse functionality to the Vim editor
https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic - syntax checker warnings in quickfix list
I think (but haven't checked) that Eclim satisfies #1 and #2 while I'm sure that Syntastic satisfies #3. More things of interest:
https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline - just nice
https://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim - quick file finder
https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen - plugin manager (to install the others)
And are you aware of omnicompletion via Ctrl-p and Ctrl-n (prev and next) in insert mode? That's not code completion, but frequently does the job.
For the auto-completion part (point 2), I am proficiently using clang_complete.
For a quick setup and reference, try this page: http://zwiener.org/vimautocomplete.html
EDIT: this is for C, C++ and Objective-C only.
I use the following configuration in vim:
zipped file
It has autocomplete based on tag list, ctags, nerd commenter and some more plugins.
Hope it helps.. :)
I have been using Vim as an IDE for about a year now. All of my customization is online at github.
That said, I don't think a Vim beginner should start using vim like this; rather I think the Vim beginner should learn vim incrementally. The only changes that I think are so essential I would make them from the very beginning are:
Remap ESC to jk
Switch : and ;
Set leader key to ,
I have spent lot of time doing research on VIM. I am Windows guy since last 6 yrs and was using VS.
Now started working on Linux. I want to make VIM as close as possible to VS.
I want features like
Project Navigation
Files in Different Tabs
Search in Project
AutoCompletion
I have found plugins for the above requirements
Project Pligin
MiniExplore
Taglist
OmniComplete
I am not able to correctly set vimrc script.
When I try to open file from Project it gets open in different tabs.I want to get it open in different buffers.
Also when I want to close file in buffer , complete window gets closed.
Open taglist and project window makes all mess.
Has any one done settings with these plugin..
Could you guys please post your vimrc files??
It will save lot of time for newbies like me..
Vim is a very different tool than Visual Studio. Plugins may help you get certain bits of functionality you desire, but do not expect them to work exactly like VS, work well together, or even work at all.
If you are looking for a programming environment more like Visual Studio, there are many good graphical IDE's you can use such as NetBeans, Eclipse, Code::Blocks, KDevelop, Anjuta, etc. Some of these tools are, IMHO, better heavyweight IDE's than Visual Studio, and all are available on Linux for free.
You should either learn to use Vim the way it was built to be used, or find a different tool that suits you better. Shoehorning Vim into a surrogate for Visual Studio will probably cause you more pain than it's worth.
Yes it's different to VS, but that doesn't mean it can't be used in the same way. It's just not as easy to do it :)
Personally I go the other way and use ViEmu to get VS to behave like VIM. But I'm not in the same situation as the author of this question.
Why not have a dig through some uploaded vimrc files on dotfiles.org?
You can use the following script, Trinity.
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2347
It will require 3 more scripts, and Vim will look like an IDE.
The TagList at left, a file exporer (NERDTree) at right, and Source Explorer at bottom.
Also, you can find some very useful blog entries at
http://kevin-berridge.blogspot.com/search/label/vim
The author, Kevin, explains how to compile solutions form inside Vim. He also shows interfacing and jumping between them which is very useful too.
Furhermore, there is the script vim-visual-studio which can be found at
http://code.google.com/p/vim-visual-studio/
This script is using Python extension. I have Python 2.5 installed in Windows. I am using Gvim 7.2 which is compiled with Python 2.4. So, I have replaced the executables of Gvim as explained here:
http://www.gooli.org/blog/gvim-72-with-python-2526-support-windows-binaries/
So, Gvim became compatible with Python 2.5 and raised no problems. Also, a menu entry "Visual Studio" has appeared as expected. It connects to Visual Studio itself, and it works perfectly. It does not just compiles a file, it can compile a solution containing more than one project as in Visual Studio. You can even use the Vim's 'quickfix' feature. Hope this helps.
If you really want to have vim as the front end, try Eclim. It uses Eclipse as a backend daemon for code completion and project management, and vim as the interface.
If you only like vim because of the vi key bindings, but want it to be more IDE like, you could try the latest MonoDevelop that has it built in.
These plugins used to exist long before vim had tabs. I'd be quite surprised there isn't a way to tune these plugins to split windows instead of opening tabs.
Now I can't help you much as I don't use these specific plugins but other ones. You should look at their help (:h project, :h taglist, etc)
PS: in vim terminology (it will help you browse the help files), what you call "buffer" is actually called "window", while a "buffer" is just the text you are working on, it may be associated to a file, or not. For a given buffer, there may be no or several window displaying parts of the buffer.
you can give a try to eXvim
http://code.google.com/p/exvim/