&Anders.Lund; &Anders.Lund.mail;

# Working with Plugins

You can enable the individual plugins in the configuration dialog, which also provides access to additional configuration options for plugins that require it.

## &kate; Application Plugins

&kate; plugins are additional functions for the &kate; editor. They can add extra menus and shortcuts, and extend &kate;'s features. You can install as many or as few as you like, from within &kate;. Open &kate;'s configuration dialog with Settings Configure &kate;... Select Application Plugins to choose the wanted plugins.

The available application plugins are:

- External Tools - Run external tools and applications

- Backtrace Browser - C/C++ Backtrace navigation tool view

- Build Plugin - Compile or Make and parse error messages

- Close Except/Like - Close group of documents based on a common path or file extension

- Color Picker - Show preview for known color names

- Colored Brackets - Colored brackets for readability

- CTags - Look up definitions/declarations with CTags

- Document preview - Preview the document in the target format.

- Document switcher - Quick document switching with &Alt;&Tab; behavior

- File System Browser - File system browser tool view

- Document Tree View - Displays the open files in a file tree

- &gdb; - Provides a simple &gdb; frontend

- Project Plugin - Integration with &git; and other source control systems

- Replicode - Constructivist AI language and runtime

- LSP Client - LSP client providing code navigation and code completion for many languages

- Search & Replace - Search and replace in documents, folders, or projects

- Scripts & Snippets tool view - Create or download code snippets and editor scripts

- Keyboard Macros - Record and play keyboard macros (i.e., keyboard action sequences)

- SQL Plugin - Execute query on SQL databases

- Symbol Viewer - Extract and show reference symbols from source

- Terminal tool view - Have a terminal at the ready, using &kde;'s &konsole; widget

- Text Filter - Process text using terminal commands

- &XML; Completion - Lists &XML; elements, attributes, attribute values and entities allowed by DTD

- &XML; Validation- Validates &XML; files using xmllint

- Compiler Explorer- Interface to compiler explorer tool

- Formatting- Code formatting plugin

## External Tools

The External Tools plugin allows to invoke external applications with data related to the current document, for example its URL, directory, text or selection. Once enabled, a config page appears as depicted below that allows to change or remove existing tools. Similarly, new tools can be added to your liking. The tools will then appear in the External Tools submenu of the Tools menu of the application.

The config page allows to add new external tools by clicking on the Add button. In this case, a popup menu appears where one can either add a new external tool, add an existing tool from a predefined list, or add a new category to organize the external tools into categories. Similarly, the existing tools can be modified either by double-click or by invoking Edit..., and Remove removes the selected tools.

### Configuring External Tools

Editing a tool opens a config dialog that allows fine-grained configuration of the tool:

As can be seen, many details can be defined, namely:

  `Name`, the name of the tool, which will later appear in the menu.

  `Icon`, optional icon that is visible in the menu.

  `Executable`, executable including either a full path, or your executable must be in the `PATH` environment variable.

  `Arguments`, optional arguments that are passed to the executable.

  `Input`, optional input that is passed to the process via stdin.

  `Working directory`, the working directory the tool will be started in. If empty, the working directory is set to the current document’s path.

  `Mime types`, if set, the tool is active only if the current document’s mime type matches.

  `Save`, when invoked, saves none, the current document, or all documents.

  `Trigger`, a trigger to execute this tool. A trigger will only affect the currently active document and will only execute if the mimetype of current active document matches the mimetype of the external tool.

  Following triggers are available:

    `None`, this is the default, it means the tool has no trigger.

    `Before Save`, this trigger will execute right before saving the document.

    `After Save`, this trigger will execute the tool after the document was saved.

  `Reload current document after execution`, useful when the current file is modified on disk.

  `Output`, the output defines the target of stdout. It is either set to `Ignored`, `Insert at Cursor Position`, `Replace Selected Text`, `Replace Current Document`, `Append to Current Document`, `Insert in New Document`, `Copy to Clipboard`, or `Display in Pane`.

  `Editor command`, optional command that can be used to invoke the external tool via the built-in command line.

The button Defaults is visible only for tools that are shipped with Kate. When clicked, all tool’s settings reverted to default (aka factory) values.

### Variable Expansion

Some editing fields such as the Executable, the Arguments, the Input and the Working Directory support variables that are expanded on tool invocation. This is indicated by the icon {} that appears once one of these text input fields has focus (see red circle):

Hovering over one of these text input fields also shows a tooltip with the current expanded text. Further, clicking on the {} action will open a dialog that lists all available variables:

This feature provides a lot of flexibility when defining an external tool since all variables of the form `%{...}` are expanded when the tool gets invoked. There are two kind of variables supported:

- `%{variable-name}`

- `%{variable-name:<value>}`

The first form `%{variable-name}` simply replaces the variable with its contents. For instance, the variable `%{Document:FileName}` is replaced by the current document’s filename without its path. The second form `%{variable-name:<value>}` gets the `<value>` as contents. For example, this can be used to expand an environment variable with `%{ENV:HOME}`, or one can obtain the current date in the preferred format like `%{Date:yyyy-MM-dd}`.

Supported variables include:

  `Document:FileBaseName`: File base name without path and suffix of the current document.

  `Document:FileExtension`: File extension of the current document.

  `Document:FileName`: File name without path of the current document.

  `Document:FilePath`: Full path of the current document including the file name

  `Document:Text`: Contents of the current document.

  `Document:Path`: Full path of the current document excluding the file name.

  `Document:NativeFilePath`: Full document path including file name, with native path separator (backslash on Windows).

  `Document:NativePath`: Full document path excluding file name, with native path separator (backslash on Windows).

  `Document:Cursor:Line`: Line number of the text cursor position in current document (starts with 0).

  `Document:Cursor:Column`: Column number of the text cursor position in current document (starts with 0).

  `Document:Cursor:XPos`: X component in global screen coordinates of the cursor position.

  `Document:Cursor:YPos`: Y component in global screen coordinates of the cursor position.

  `Document:Selection:Text`: Text selection of the current document.

  `Document:Selection:StartLine`: Start line of selected text of the current document.

  `Document:Selection:StartColumn`: Start column of selected text of the current document.

  `Document:Selection:EndLine`: End line of selected text of the current document.

  `Document:Selection:EndColumn`: End column of selected text of the current document.

  `Document:RowCount`: Number of rows of the current document.

  `Document:Variable:<variable>`: Expand arbitrary document variables.

  `Date:Locale`: The current date in current locale format.

  `Date:ISO`: The current date (ISO).

  `Date:<value>`: The current date (QDate formatstring).

  `Time:Locale`: The current time in current locale format.

  `Time:ISO`: The current time (ISO).

  `Time:<value>`: The current time (QTime formatstring).

  `ENV:<value>`: Access to environment variables.

  `JS:<expression>`: Evaluate simple JavaScript statements.

  `PercentEncoded:<text>`: Percent encoded text.

  `UUID`: Generate a new UUID.

### List of Default Tools

Several tools are shipped by default. However, if you have more useful tools please contribute those to our GitLab project so that we can add them to this list. All default tools are visible in the list view by default. However, all tools can be changed to your liking, including the category or even deleting tools. Deleted tools can be added back again by clicking on the Add button in the config page as described above.

#### git-cola

git-cola is a graphical git client that enables you to easily stage and commit changes. If installed, it is available also through the command line by typing `git-cola`

  `Name`: git-cola

  `Icon`: git-cola

  `Executable`: git-cola

  `Arguments`: -r %{Document:Path}

  `Editor command`: git-cola

#### gitk

gitk is a git client as well that allows to nicely visualize the git history.

  `Name`: gitk

  `Icon`: git-gui

  `Executable`: gitk

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Editor command`: gitk

#### git blame

Starts git blame to easily follow git changes in the current file.

  `Name`: git blame

  `Executable`: git

  `Arguments`: gui blame %{Document:FileName}

  `Save`: Current Document

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Editor command`: git-blame

#### Run Shell Script

Starts an external konsole in which the current document is executed. The script needs to state the interpreter in the first line via a shebang `#!/path/interpreter`.

  `Name`: Run Shell Script

  `Icon`: system-run

  `Executable`: konsole

  `Arguments`: -e sh -c "cd %{Document:Path} && pwd && chmod -vc a+x %{Document:FileName} && ./%{Document:FileName} ; echo Press any key to continue. && read -n 1"

  `Save`: Current Document

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Editor command`: run-script

#### Google Selected Text

Search in google for the selected text.

  `Name`: Google Selected Text

  `Icon`: globe

  `Executable`: xdg-open

  `Arguments`: "https://www.google.com/search?q=%{Document:Selection:Text}"

  `Editor command`: google

#### Insert UUID

Inserts a new UUID each time this action is invoked.

  `Name`: Insert UUID

  `Executable`: echo

  `Arguments`: %{UUID}

  `Output`: Insert at Cursor Position

  `Editor command`: uuid

#### Clang Format Full File

Runs clang-format on the current file on disk. The document is reloaded afterwards.

  `Name`: Clang Format Full File

  `Executable`: clang-format

  `Arguments`: -i %{Document:FileName}

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Save`: Current Document

  `Reload`: Yes

  `Editor command`: clang-format-file

#### Clang Format Selected Text

Runs clang-format just on the selected text in the current document.

  `Name`: Clang Format Selected Text

  `Executable`: clang-format

  `Arguments`: -assume-fileName: %{Document:FileName}

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Input`: %{Document:Selection:Text}

  `Output`: Replace Selected Text

  `Editor command`: clang-format-selection

#### Qt Quick 2 Preview (qmlscene)

Previews the current qml file in qmlscene.

  `Name`: Qt Quick 2 Preview (qmlscene)

  `Executable`: qmlscene

  `Arguments`: %{Document:FileName}

  `Save`: Current Document

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Editor command`: qml-preview

#### JSON Format Full File

Format the entire JSON file.

  `Name`: JSON Format Full File

  `Icon`: application-json

  `Executable`: jq

  `Arguments`: %{Document:FileName}

  `Save`: Current Document

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Output`: Replace Current Document

  `Editor command`: json-format-file

#### XML Format Full File

Format the entire XML file.

  `Name`: XML Format Full File

  `Icon`: application-xml

  `Executable`: xmllint

  `Arguments`: --format %{Document:FileName}

  `Save`: Current Document

  `Working directory`: %{Document:Path}

  `Output`: Replace Current Document

  `Editor command`: xml-format-file

## Backtrace Browser Plugin

### Using the Backtrace Browser Plugin

This plugin is meant for developers and probably of little use for users. It shows a backtrace delivered by gdb in a listview in a &kate; toolview. Clicking on an item opens the selected file and jumps to the correct line number. It works for backtraces generated on your own machine, but it will also work for backtraces from other people, &ie; with `/home/dummy/qt-copy/…/qwidget.cpp` will still be found on other machines. For that to work, you have to index the directories where the source code is located.

Sometimes there are several files with the same name, &eg;

- `kdegraphics/okular/generators/dvi/config.h`
- `kdepim-runtime/resources/gmail/saslplugin/config.h`

To pick the right choice, the plugin picks the last two parts of the &URL;, in this case this would be

- `dvi/config.h`
- `saslplugin/config.h`

And then usually the plugin finds the correct one.

Indexing master and a branches of course will lead to a clash.

### Configuration

On the configuration page add the directories containing the source code.

Backtrace Browser
Configure Paths in Backtrace browser tool view

Clicking OK will start indexing. When indexing is finished, open the toolview Backtrace Browser.

Now you can load a backtrace from the clipboard (&eg;, when you clicked Copy to Clipboard in &drkonqi;) or from a file.

Salma
Sultana
&TC.Hollingsworth; &TC.Hollingsworth.mail;

## Build Plugin

### Introduction

The Build plugin allows you to run actions like build, clean and compile on a project. You can also automatically run the generated applications. The plugin basically gives you a way to configure sets of commands to run and it can parse the output for links to files and specific lines and columns in those files. So even if the plugin is originally created for compiling C/C++ and mostly tested with it, the plugin can also be useful for other purposes and languages.

### Using the Build Plugin

The Build plugin adds a Build tool view at the bottom and a Build menu on the menu bar. The tool view can be used to select and configure build targets, while the menu and its shortcuts can be used to select and execute the configured shell commands.

Build Output

The Build tool view has two static tabs:

- Target Settings

- Output

#### Target Settings tab

The target settings tab can be used to configure various build targets and define target sets.

A target-set is a group of commands that can be run in a specified working directory. Target sets can be added under either Projects or Session. The custom target-sets added under Projects are stored in a .kateproject.build file in the project root directory and are restored when the project is re-opened. The target-sets added under Session are stored in the current Kate session configuration.

The first row, in a target-set, contains a name for the set in column one, and in column two we have the directory where the commands should be executed. On each following row, we have a name for the command in column one, a build command in column two and a run command in column three. To edit one of these, double-click on the entry or use the edit shortcut (often F2).

Working Directory

  The second column of the first row in a target-set, is used to configure the working directory used for compiling and running commands. If the project plugin is enabled, the working directory string can also contain placeholders for the project base directory path: %B and name: %b

Build Command

  The second column in the "non-first rows", contains the shell command to run in the working directory. Note the word shell. Almost any shell command will do. The build command can contain placeholders. %f for the current file, %d for directory of the current file and %n for the base-name of the current file (file name without suffix).

Run Command

  The third column in the "non-first rows", can contain a shell command, for execution in an actual terminal in the target-set working directory. The terminal is opened as a tab. The plugin will try to reuse the terminal tab, if the same command is executed and the previous application has exited.

On the top of the Target Settings tab, we have a toolbar with a target filter and the following buttons:

- Build the selected target
- Build and run the selected target
- Add a new build target
- Create a new set of targets
- Copy a command or target set
- Delete the current command or target set

#### Output tab

The Output tab shows the console output generated by the running (build) command. If a line contains a file location, that line will be clickable. If the line in the output also shows an error or warning, the line will have a different color.

If the option Add errors and warnings to Diagnostics is enabled in the plugin's settings page in Kate settings, the errors and warnings will also be added to the diagnostics view.

To navigate to the previous error in the diagnostics view, press &Alt;&Shift;&Left;. To navigate to the next error, press &Alt;&Shift;&Right;.

### Menu Structure

Build Select Target...

  The target selection filter is focused in the Target Settings tab. Typing a name will filter out targets that do not match the typed string. It is also possible to use the arrow keys to navigate the tree of targets. When the wanted target is selected, pressing Return or Enter will execute and run the selected target.

Build Build Selected Target

  Builds the last selected target. If none has been selected, it works as Select Target...

Build Build and Run Selected Target

  Builds the last selected target and run the run command after the build command has finished successfully.

Build Compile Current File

  Try to compile the current file by searching for a command in a possible compile_commands.json.

Build Stop

  Stop building a target.

Build Focus Next Tab to the Left

  Focus the next build plugin tab to the left. Or open the build plugin tool-view if it is hidden.

Build Focus Next Tab to the Right

  Focus the next build plugin tab to the right. Or open the build plugin tool-view if it is hidden.

Build Load targets from CMake Build Dir

  Opens the file dialog and let's the user select a CMakeCache.txt. When a file is selected, the plugin generates cmake build command targets that can be executed in the build directory for the CMake based project.

### Thanks and Acknowledgments

The &kate; Build Plugin was written by Kåre Särs.

Special thanks to Google Code-In 2011 participant Salma Sultana for writing much of this section.

## Close Except/Like Plugin

### Introduction

This plugin allows you to close a group of documents based on their extension and path.

### Using the Close Except/Like Plugin

Assumed you have these documents opened in &kate;:

- /tmp/subfolder/test.h
- /tmp/test.cpp
- /tmp/test.txt

Then you have the following options to close documents as displayed in the screenshot:

Close Except

Use the checkbox in the last item of the list to enable or disable a confirmation dialog. The selected option will be applied to both close actions.

### Menu Structure

File Close Except

  Close all open documents, except those which match the path or file extension selected from the submenu.

File Close Like

  Close all open documents which match the path or file extension selected from the submenu.

## Color Picker Plugin

### Introduction

This plugin adds an inline color preview/picker to colors in the text (&eg;, `#FFFFFF`, `white`).

To load this plugin open &kate;'s configuration dialog under Settings Configure &kate;.... Then select Color Picker and close the dialog.

### Configuration

On the Color Picker settings page in &kate;'s configuration, you can configure the following options of the plugin behavior.

Show preview for known color names

  Whether to show the color picker for known color names (&eg;, `skyblue`). See this page for the list of colors.

Place preview after text color

  Whether to place the inline preview after text color in the text.

Hex color matching

  Here, you can choose the best matching option for the colors used in your code.

## Colored Brackets

### Introduction

Colored brackets plugin colors matching bracket pairs in different colors to enhance readability. However, not all brackets get colored. A bracket whose matching opener or closer is not visible will be ignored. Similarly, a bracket pair that is the sole bracket pair on a line will not get colored.

### Configuration

The plugin doesn't provide any configurations.

## CTags Plugin

### Introduction

CTags generates an index (or tag) file of language objects found in source files that allows these items to be quickly and easily located using this plugin in &kate;.

A tag signifies a language object for which an index entry is available (or, alternatively, the index entry created for that object).

Tag generation is supported for these programming languages.

### Configuration

The CTags plugin uses two different database files for the index.

On the CTags settings page in &kate;'s configuration you can add or remove directories containing the source code and regenerate the common CTags database.

#### Common Index

CTags Settings
Configure CTags Global Database

At the bottom of the settings page you can adapt the CTags command.

For more information about all available options please read the CTags man page. This man page is available in &khelpcenter; and you can also enter the &URL; man:/ctags directly into &konqueror;

Clicking Update will start indexing. When indexing is finished, close the dialog.

#### Session Index

To configure the session index open the CTags view.

Index Targets

  On this tab you can add or remove directories containing the source code and manually regenerate the session specific CTags database.

Database
  Database Settings
  Configure CTags Session Database

  Select another CTags database file, configure the CTags command or revert to the default command.

### Using the CTags Plugin

You place the mouse cursor on the language object like function, symbol &etc; that you are interested in and then select one of the actions in the CTags menu to jump to the line and file where the object is defined or declared.

By default the actions in the CTags menu have no shortcuts assigned. Use the keyboard shortcut editor to configure your own shortcuts.

Alternatively use the search field on the Lookup tab of the CTags view.

Entering characters into the search field will start the search and display matching names of language objects like functions, classes, symbols &etc; together with type and filename.

Select an item in the list to jump to the corresponding line in the source file.

### Menu Structure

CTags Jump back one step

  Navigate back in the history to the last visited tag.

CTags Lookup Current Text

  Opens the Lookup tab of the CTags view and displays all language objects matching the current text selection in the list.

CTags Go to Declaration

  If the cursor is in a definition object this will open the document containing the corresponding declaration if needed, activate its view and place the cursor at the start of the declaration.

CTags Go to Definition

  If the cursor is in a declaration object this will open the document containing the corresponding definition if needed, activate its view and place the cursor at the start of the definition.

## Document Preview Plugin

### Introduction

The plugin enables a live preview of the currently edited text document in the final format in the sidebar. So when editing &eg; a &Markdown; text or an &SVG; image, the result is instantly visible next to the source text.

For the display the plugin uses that &kparts; plugin which is currently selected as the preferred one for the &MIME; type of the document. If there is no &kparts; plugin for that type, no preview is possible.

To change the preferred plugin open the File Associations module in the &systemsettings; and edit the Services Preference Order on the Embedding tab.

#### Some available &kparts; plugins

&MIME; type | &kparts; plugin
&Markdown; text | KMarkdownWebViewPart or OkularPart
&SVG; image | SVGPart
&Qt; UI files | KUIViewerPart
&DOT; graph files | KGraphviewerPart

### Menu Structure

View Tool Views Show Preview

  Toggle the display of &kate;'s Document preview in a sidebar.

### Interface

The buttons at the top of the preview window provide these actions:

- Lock the preview to a given document. Selecting this option ensures that if switching the focus to the view of another document in the same &kate; window, the preview will not follow to that document, but keep previewing this document.

- Enable or disable updates of the preview of the current document content

- Manually update the preview of the current document content

- A dropdown menu with actions from the &kparts; plugin

## Document Switcher Plugin

### Menu Structure

&Ctrl;&Tab; View Last Used Views
&Ctrl;&Shift;&Tab; View Last Used Views (Reverse)

  Opens a list with the last viewed documents:

  Last viewed documents

  Keep the &Ctrl; key pressed and use the &Tab; key to cycle forward through the list. Additionally press the &Shift; key to reverse the direction.

  Keep the shortcut &Ctrl;&Tab; pressed and can use the &Up;, &Down;, &Home; or &End; keys to navigate in the list. Pressing a char key consecutively will cycle through all items with the first matching in the list. If you release the shortcut keys the view will switch to the selected document in the list.

## File System Browser

The File System Browser is a folder viewer, allowing you to open files from a displayed folder in the current frame.

### Menu Structure

View Tool Views Show Filesystem Browser

  Toggle the display of &kate;'s Filesystem Browser.

### Interface

From the top down, the Filesystem Browser consists of the following elements:

A Toolbar

  This contains standard navigations tool buttons:

  Back

    Causes the folder view to `cd` to the previously displayed folder in the history. This button is disabled, if there is no previous item.

  Forward

    Causes the folder view to `cd` to the next folder in the history. This button is disabled, if there is no next folder.

  Bookmarks

    Opens a submenu to edit or add bookmarks and to add a new bookmark folder.

  Current Document Folder

    This button will cause the folder view to `cd` to the folder of the currently active document if possible. This button is disabled, if the active document is a new, unsaved file, or the folder in which it resides can not be decided.

  Options
    Short View

      Displays only the filenames.

    Detailed View

      Displays Name, Date and Size of the files.

    Tree View

      Like Short View, but folders can be expanded to view their contents.

    Detailed Tree View

      This also allows folders to be expanded, but displays the additional columns available in Detailed View.

    Show Hidden Files

      Displays files normally hidden by your &OS;.

    Automatically synchronize with current document

      When this option is enabled the filesystem browser will automatically `cd` to the folder of the document currently open in the editing area every time it changes.

A Location Entry

  This displays a breadcrumb navigation to the currently open folder, similarly to &dolphin;. You can click on a any folder to browse to it, or click on one of the arrows to the left of a folder to select any folders beneath it. You may also select from your list of Places by clicking the leftmost icon in the breadcrumb navigation, which displays an icon that represents your current Place.

  You can also click to the right of the breadcrumbs to change them to a text box where you can type the path of a folder to browse. The &URL; entry maintains a list of previously typed paths. To choose one, use the arrow button to the right of the entry.

  The &URL; entry has folder auto-completion. The completion method can be set using the &RMB; menu of the text entry.

A Folder View

  This is a standard &kde; folder view.

A Filter Entry

  The Filter entry allows you to enter a filter for the files displayed in the folder view. The filter uses standard globs; patterns must be separated by white space. Example: `*.cpp *.h *.moc`

  To display all files, enter a single asterisk `*`.

  The filter entry saves the last 10 filters entered between sessions. To use one, press the arrow button on the right of the entry and select the desired filter string. You can disable the filter by pressing the Clear text button to the left of the autocompletion arrow button.

### Configuration

This plugin can be configured on the Filesystem Browser page of &kate;'s configuration.

Toolbar

  Configure the buttons on the Filesystem Browser toolbar by moving the ones you want enabled to the Selected Actions list, and order them using the arrow buttons at the side of the list.

## The Documents List

### Introduction

The documents list displays a list of all documents currently open in &kate;. Modified files will have a small floppy disk icon on their left to indicate that state.

On the top the Documents list has a toolbar with the following buttons:

- Create new document
- Open an existing document
- Previous Document
- Next Document
- Save the current document
- Save the current document under a new name

By default, the Documents list appears in Tree Mode, which displays the folder structure surrounding all currently open documents. Also available is List Mode, which displays a simple list of all open documents. You can switch modes by right-clicking on the list and selecting from the View Mode menu.

If two or more files with the same name (located in different folders) are open in List Mode, the names of the second will be prepended (2) and so on. The tool-tip for the file will display its full name including the path, allowing you to choose the desired one.

To display a document in the currently active frame, click the document name in the list.

The context menu has some common actions from the File menu.

Additionally there are filemanager actions to rename or delete the file. With Copy Location you can copy the full path of the document to the clipboard.

You can sort the list in a few different ways by right clicking the list and selecting from the Sort By menu.

The options are:

Document Name

  Lists the documents alphabetically by their name.

Document Path

  Lists the documents alphabetically by the path to them.

Opening Order

  Lists the documents in the order of opening.

The document list will per default visualize your history by shading the entries for the most recent documents with a background color. If the document was edited, an extra color is blended in. The most recent document has the strongest color, so that you can easily find the documents you are working on. This feature can be disabled in the Documents page of the configuration dialog.

The default location of the document list in the &kate; window is to the left of the editing area.

### Menu Structure

&Alt;&Up; View Previous Document

  Opens the document displayed above the currently open document in the Documents list.

&Alt;&Down; View Next Document

  Opens the document displayed below the currently open document in the Documents list.

View Show Active

  Displays the currently open document in the Documents list.

### Configuration

Background Shading

  This section allows you to enable or disable the background shading visualization of your recent activity, and choose which colors to use if enabled.

Sort By

  Set how you want the document list sorted. This can be set from the &RMB; menu in the document list as well.

View Mode

  This provides two options that effect the display of the Documents tool view. The Tree View option will display the documents in a tree underneath the folders they are in, while the List View option will display a flat list of documents.

Show Full Path

  When Tree View and this option are enabled, the folder entries displayed in the Documents tool view will display the full filesystem path to the folder in addition to the name of the folder. It has no effect in List View.

Show Toolbar

  When Tree View and this option are enabled, a toolbar with actions like Save is displayed above the list of documents. Uncheck this option if the toolbar should be hidden.

Show Close Button

  When this option is enabled, &kate; will show a close button for opened documents on hover.

Martin
Gergov
&TC.Hollingsworth; &TC.Hollingsworth.mail;

## &gdb; Plugin

### Introduction

&kate;'s &gdb; plugin provides a simple frontend to any debugger that supports the Debugger Adapter Protocol. In particular, that includes the GNU Project Debugger, aka GDB, as outlined here.

Previous experience with &gdb; is strongly recommended. For more information on using &gdb;, visit the &gdb; website.

You can enable the &gdb; plugin in the Plugins section of &kate;'s configuration.

If you compile using &gcc;/`g++` you might want to use the ``-ggdb`` command line argument.

After these preparations are made, open the source file in &kate;, select the "debugger profile", enter the path to the executable in the Settings tab of the Debug View tool view, and select Debug Start Debugging from the menu to get started.

The "debugger profile" selects the DAP server to use (e.g. GDB) and the way in which to launch this server. A typical case is to have the server launch a process as specified above, but it may also attach to a running process (in which case a PID will have to be specified rather than an executable). There may also be other modes which are specific to the language and DAP server. See also later for additional background and configuration details on this.

### Menu and Toolbar Structure

All of these options are available in &kate;'s menus, and many are available on the Debug toolbar as well.

View Tool View Show Debug View

  Shows a tool view containing &gdb; output, the &gdb; command line used, and other settings.

View Tool View Show Locals and Stack

  Shows a list of all currently loaded variables and their values and a &gdb; backtrace.

Debug Targets

  A submenu containing a list of targets (executables).

Debug Start Debugging

  Starts &gdb; with a target.

Debug Kill / Stop Debugging

  Stops &gdb;.

Debug Restart Debugging

  Restarts &gdb;.

Debug Toggle Breakpoint / Break

  Set a breakpoint at the current cursor position.

Debug Step In

  Execute the present statement (function call will be debugged).

Debug Step Over

  Execute the present statement (function call will not be debugged).

Debug Step Out

  Resumes execution until the program that is executing terminates.

Debug Move PC

  Move program counter (next execution).

Debug Run To Cursor

  Runs the program until it reaches current cursor position.

Debug Continue

  Ignores any breakpoints and executes program until it terminates (successfully or not).

Debug Print Value

  Prints the value of the variable that the cursor is currently pointing to.

Settings Toolbars Shown&gdb; Plugin

  Display the debugging toolbar.

### Debug View

The Debug View tool view consists of several tabs:

&gdb; Output

  Contains output from &gdb; and a &gdb; command line.

  The Output Tab
  The Output tab.

  The Output tab displaying the output from a debugging session.

Settings
  Executable

    Path to the target (executable) for debugging.

  Working Directory

    The current working directory provided to the target.

  Arguments

    Arguments passed to the program.

  Keep focus

    Keeps focus on the &gdb; command line.

  Redirect IO

    Opens a new IO tab in the Debug View where you can view output and provide input to the running program.

  The Settings dialog
  The Settings dialog

  The Settings dialog displaying the configuration of a debugging session.

IO

  Contains an area that displays output from the running program and a command line where you may provide input to it.

  The IO Tab
  The IO tab.

  The IO tab displaying output from a simple test program.

### Call Stack and Locals

The Call Stack tool view contains a list of the formatted backtrace returned from &gdb;.

The &gdb; Call Stack Tool View
The Call Stack tool view.

The &gdb; Plugin's Call Stack tool view.

The Locals tool view contains a list of all currently loaded variables from the program and their corresponding values.

The &gdb; Locals Tool View
The Locals tool view.

The &gdb; Plugin's Locals tool view.

### Thanks and Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Google Code-In 2011 participant Martin Gergov for writing much of this section.

### Configuration

The plugin's configuration page defines the "debugger profiles" which can be selected. The default configuration (JSON) is shown there, and it can be "overlayed" by a user provided of similar form. An example excerpt is as follows:

    {
        "dap": {
            "debugpy": {
                "url": "https://github.com/microsoft/debugpy",
                "run": {
                    "command": ["python", "-m", "debugpy", "--listen", "${#run.port}", "--wait-for-client"],
                    "port": 0,
                    "supportsSourceRequest": false
                },
                "configurations": {
                    "launch": {
                        "commandArgs": ["${file}", "${args|list}"],
                        "request": {
                            "command": "attach",
                            "stopOnEntry": true,
                            "redirectOutput": true
                        }
                    },
                    "attach": {
                        "commandArgs": ["--pid", "${pid}"],
                        "request": {
                            "command": "attach",
                            "stopOnEntry": true,
                            "redirectOutput": true
                        }
                    },
            },
            "gdb": {
                "url": "gdb",
                "run": {
                    "command": [
                        "gdb",
                        "-i",
                        "dap"
                    ],
                    "redirectStderr": true,
                    "redirectStdout": true,
                    "supportsSourceRequest": true
                },
                "configurations": {
                    "launch (debug)": {
                        "request": {
                            "command": "launch",
                            "mode": "debug",
                            "program": "${file}",
                            "args": "${args|list}",
                            "cwd": "${workdir}"
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

Each of the entries in `configurations` is combined with the `run` data and forms a "profile". This specifies the DAP server to launch along with its arguments, where the latter are specific to the profile (`commandArgs`). The other parts specify the DAP protocol request (`launch` or `attach`), along with DAP specific extensions.

Of course, the specified server should be installed (and typically also in `PATH` for proper execution).

Various stages of override/merge are applied; user configuration (loaded from file) overrides (internal) default configuration, and the "dap" entry in `.kateproject` project configuration in turn overrides.

#### Execution environment setup

More background and specifics can be found in the LSP Client Execution environment section below. But suffice it to say here it may be needed to run the debuggee process (and the DAP server) in a "special environment", whether merely defined by environment variables or some container (providing the required dependencies and circumstances for proper execution).

Similar to the example in the referenced section, the following configuration may be provided in a `.kateproject`.

    {
        // this may also be an array of objects
        "exec": {
            "hostname": "foobar"
            // the command could also be an array of string
            "prefix": "podman exec -i foobarcontainer",
            "mapRemoteRoot": true,
            "pathMappings": [
                // either of the following forms are possible
                // a more automagic alternative exists as well, see referenced section
                [ "/dir/on/host", "/mounted/in/container" ]
                { "localRoot": "/local/dir", "remoteRoot": "/remote/dir" }
            ]
        },
        "dap": {
            "debugpy": {
                "run": {
                    // in this section, it applies to all configurations
                    // this will match/join with the above object
                    "exec": { "hostname": "foobar" },
                    // if server is connected to,
                    // optionally specify explicit port (which is suitable published/forwarded)
                    "port": 5678,
                    // the server may then also have to accept more than localhost
                    "host": "0.0.0.0"
                }
            }
        }
    }

The referenced section should be consulted for details, but in essence the `prefix` will be prepended before the DAP server command line specified elsewhere. The effect is that the server is run within the specified container and then in turn also the launched process. The `pathMapping` arranges for transformation of filepaths between editor's view and DAP server (container) view, e.g. when dealing with setting of breakpoints or handling of reported backtraces. Note that such mapping is optional and may or may not be useful. When dealing with C/C++ code that is compiled on "host", the symbol info references source files on host which do not exist at all in the other environment. However, in other scripted (e.g. python) circumstances, actual runtime files are referenced (on the other environment).

The following must evidently be kept in mind.

- The DAP server must be present in the environment/container, which must be configured to support proper debugger operation (so, if needed, privileged, capabilities).

- Communication between editor and DAP must be possible. In case of a container, the latter should either use host networking, or provide a suitable mapped/published port along with corresponding config snippet as in above example (as an auto-selected one in case of port 0 would not make it through).

- A specified executable/PID should be in "container" perspective, as well as any (debuggee executable) arguments.

Also, as in the LSP case, some environment variables are set; `KATE_EXEC_PLUGIN` is set to `dap`, `KATE_EXEC_SERVER` is set to the debugger/language type (e.g. `python`) and `KATE_EXEC_PROFILE` is set to the configuration entry (e.g. `launch`).

## Project Plugin

### Introduction

The basic idea of the Project plugin is to have a structured list of files belonging to the project with the following properties:

1. Provide a structured view of the files

2. Make it easy and very fast to open and switch projects

3. Support search and replace for a project

4. Provide simple auto completion

5. Make it simple to quickly open files in the project

6. Support for building the project

### Structured View of the Files

Once the Project plugin is loaded in the &kate; configuration page, open a file in a project and a sidebar appears that lists all projects as well as the project files as follows:

Project View

As you can see, the currently active project is Kate, and its contents is listed in the tree view. Clicking on files in the tree view opens the file in the editor. Further, a context menu is provided with which you can open files with other applications, such as a `.ui` file with Qt Designer.

You can filter the items by typing parts of the file name you are looking for into the search bar at the bottom of the list.

### Switching Projects

The idea is that you never have to open a project manually, this is even not supported at all. Hence, what happens if you open a file, the Project plugin quickly scans the folder and its parent folders for a `.kateproject` file. If found, the project is automatically loaded.

Furthermore, if you open another document in &kate;, that belongs to another project, the Project plugin automatically switches the current project. So intuitively, always the correct project is active. Of course, you can also switch the currently active project using the combo box.

### Search and Replace in Projects

&kate; has a Search and Replace plugin that shows up in the bottom sidebar. If a project is loaded, open the Search and Replace sidebar, and switch to the mode to search and replace in the current project:

Search in Projects

### Simple Auto Completion

With the knowledge of all files belonging to a project, the Project plugin provides simple auto completion facilities based on CTags. If a project is initially opened, CTags parses all project files in a background thread and saves the CTags information to `/tmp`. This file then is used to populate the auto completion popup in &kate;.

In contrast, without this auto completion, &kate; is only capable of showing auto completion items based on the words in the current file. So the auto completion provided by the Project plugin is much more powerful.

Completion in Projects

If CTags is missing, a passive popup warns you about this issue. It is also noteworthy, that the CTags file in `/tmp` is cleaned up when &kate; exits, so the plugin does not pollute any folder with unwanted files.

### Support for Building the Project

Another feature is to have support for the Build Plugin, so that it automatically is configured correctly.

### Creating Projects

#### Loading Projects Automatically

The Project plugin has an auto-loading feature. You can read the file list from the version control system. To this end, auto-loading for the respective version control system needs to be enabled in the settings (enabled by default):

Project Plugin Configuration

#### Creating Projects Manually

You just have to create a `.kateproject` file in the root folder of the project. For instance, the Kate `.kateproject` file looks like this:

    {
      "name": "Kate",
      "files": [
        {
          "git": 1
        }
      ]
    }

The file content is written in &JSON; syntax. The project name is Kate, and the files contained in should be read from &git;.

Also supported instead of `git` is subversion through `svn` and mercurial through `hg`.

If you do not want to read files from a version control system, you can just invoke kate from command line as:

    kate /path/to/folder

or you can tell it to recursively load files from directories as follows:

    {
      "name": "Kate",
      "files": [
        {
          "directory": "kate",
          "filters": [
            "*.cpp",
            "*.h",
            "*.ui",
            "CMakeLists.txt",
            "Find*.cmake"
          ],
          "recursive": 1,
          "hidden": 1
        }
      ],
      "exclude_patterns" : [
        "^build/.*"
      ]
    }

Here, subfolders and filters define what’s part of the project. You can also mix version control and files based on filters. Hidden files will not be retrieved if the option `"hidden"` is 0. `"exclude_patterns"` is a list of regex patterns that can be used to exclude folders and files from the project tree. In this example, All files and folders in a directory `build` from the root will be excluded.

If you want to add support for the building, you can write a `.kateproject` like this:

    {
      "name": "Kate",
      "files": [
        {
          "git": 1
        }
      ],
      "build": {
        "directory": "build",
        "build": "make all",
        "clean": "make clean",
        "install": "make install",
        "targets": [
          {
            "name": "all",
            "build_cmd": "ninja"
            "run_cmd": "./bin/kate"
          },
          {
            "name": "kate",
            "build_cmd": "ninja kate-bin"
          }
        ]
      }
    }

The targets specified above will then appear in the Build Plugin under "Project Plugin Targets".

If the `"targets"` array is specified then `"build"`, `"clean"` and `"install"` are ignored. Each element in the array specifies a target. `"name"` is the name of the target, `"build_cmd"` will be used to build the target, `"run_cmd"` will be used to run the target. Most important of all is `"directory"`, this is where the commands will be executed.

In case you have a `.kateproject` file tracked by a control version system, but you need to tweak the configuration for a particular workspace, you can save those changes to a separated file named `.kateproject.local`. The content of this file will take precedence over `.kateproject`.

### Current Project

Using &Alt;1 Projects Go To you can open the Current Project view at the bottom of the editor window with four tabs:

Current Project

Terminal Panel

  A Terminal emulator starting in the root folder of the project.

Code Index

  Entering characters into the search bar will start the search and display matching names of functions, classes, symbols &etc; together with kind, filename and line number.

  Select an item in the list to jump to the corresponding line in the source file.

Code Analysis

  Click Start Analysis to run a static code analysis for the C and C++ using `cppcheck` and to generate a report showing filename, line number, severity (style, warning &etc;) and the issue found.

  Select an item in the list to jump to the corresponding line in the source file.

Notes

  Text entered in this tab will be saved in the file `.kateproject.notes`.

### The Projects Menu

The Projects menu allows you to switch between currently open projects. It is displayed by the Project plugin.

&Ctrl;&Alt;&Left; Projects Back

  Switch to the previous project.

&Ctrl;&Alt;&Right; Projects Forward

  Switch to the next project.

&Alt;1 Projects Go To

  Open the Current Project view at the bottom of the editor window.

## LSP Client Plugin

The LSP Client plugin provides many language features such as code completion, code navigation or finding references based on the Language Server Protocol.

Once you have enabled the LSP Client in the plugin page, a new page called LSP Client will appear in your &kate; configuration dialog.

### Menu Structure

If appropriate, a corresponding LSP command is also mentioned in the explanation below, the documentation of which may then provide additional background and interpretation, though it may vary depending on the actual language. The phrase 'current symbol' refers to the symbol corresponding to the current cursor position, as so determined by the language and server implementation.

LSP Client Go to Definition

  [textDocument/definition] Go to current symbol definition.

LSP Client Go to Declaration

  [textDocument/declaration] Go to current symbol declaration.

LSP Client Go to Type Definition

  [textDocument/typeDefinition] Go to current symbol type definition.

LSP Client Find References

  [textDocument/references] Find references to current symbol.

LSP Client Find Implementations

  [textDocument/implementation] Find implementations of current symbol.

LSP Client Highlight

  [textDocument/documentHighlight] Highlight current symbol references in current document.

LSP Client Hover

  [textDocument/hover] Hover info for current symbol.

LSP Client Format

  [textDocument/formatting] [textDocument/rangeFormatting] Format the current document or current selection.

LSP Client Rename

  [textDocument/rename] Rename current symbol.

LSP Client Quick Fix

  [textDocument/codeAction, workspace/executeCommand] Computes and applies a quick fix for a diagnostic on current position (or line).

LSP Client Show selected completion documentation

  Show documentation for a selected item in the completion list.

LSP Client Enable signature help with auto completion

  Also show signature help in the completion list.

LSP Client Include declaration in references

  Request to include a symbol's declaration when requesting references.

LSP Client Add parentheses upon function completion

  Automatically add a pair of parentheses after completion of a function.

LSP Client Show hover information

  Show hover information upon (mouse cursor) hover. Regardless of this setting, the request can always be manually initiated.

LSP Client Format on typing

  [document/onTypeFormatting] Format parts of document when typing certain trigger characters. For example, this might apply indentation upon newline, or as otherwise determined by LSP Server. Note that editor indentation scripts might be trying to do the same (depending on the mode) and so it may not be advisable to have both enabled at the same time.

LSP Client Incremental document synchronization

  Send partial document edits to update the server rather than whole document text (if supported).

LSP Client Highlight goto location

  Provide a transient visual cue after performing a goto to a location (of definition, declaration, etc).

LSP Client Show diagnostics notifications

  [textDocument/publishDiagnostics] Process and show diagnostics notifications sent by server.

LSP Client Show diagnostics highlights

  Add text highlights for ranges indicated in diagnostics.

LSP Client Show diagnostics marks

  Add document marks for lines indicated in diagnostics.

LSP Client Switch to diagnostic tab

  Switch to the diagnostic tab in the plugin toolview.

LSP Client Close all non-diagnostics tabs

  Close all non-diagnostics (&eg; references) tabs in plugin toolview.

LSP Client Restart LSP Server

  Restart current document's LSP Server.

LSP Client Restart all LSP Servers

  Stop all LSP Servers which will then be (re)started as needed.

### Goto Symbol support

LSP Client can help you jump to any symbol in your project or current file.

To jump to any symbol in the file, use the toolview "LSP Client Symbol Outline" on the right border of kate. This toolview lists all symbols found by the server in current document.

#### Configuring LSP Client Symbol Outline

By default the symbols are sorted by their occurrence in the document but you can change the sort to be alphabetical. To do so, right click in the toolview and check "Sort Alphabetically".

The toolview shows the symbols in tree mode by default, however you can change it to a list using the context menu.

#### Global Goto symbol support

To jump to any symbol in your project, you can open the goto symbol dialog using &Ctrl;&Alt;p. The dialog is empty when it opens but as soon as you type something the dialog will start showing you matching symbols. The quality of matches as well as filtering capabilities depend upon the server that you use. For example, clangd supports fuzzy filtering but some other server may not.

### Other Features

Clangd switch source header command is supported. To switch source header in a C or C++ project either use the "Switch Source Header" option from the context menu or the shortcut F12.

You can jump to a symbol quickly by putting your mouse over the symbol and then pressing &Ctrl; + left mouse button.

### Configuration

The plugin's configuration page mostly allows for persistent configuration of some of the above menu items. However, there is one additional entry to specify the Server Configuration file. This is a &JSON; file that can be used to specify the LSP server to start (and then to communicate with over stdin/stdout). For convenience, some default configuration is included, which can be inspected in the plugin's configuration page. To aid in the explanation below, an excerpt of that configuration is given here:

    {
        "servers": {
            "bibtex": {
                "use": "latex",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^BibTeX$"
            },
            "c": {
                "command": ["clangd", "-log=error", "--background-index"],
                "commandDebug": ["clangd", "-log=verbose", "--background-index"],
                "url": "https://clang.llvm.org/extra/clangd/",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^(C|ANSI C89|Objective-C)$"
            },
            "cpp": {
                "use": "c",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^(C\\+\\+|ISO C\\+\\+|Objective-C\\+\\+)$"
            },
            "d": {
                "command": ["dls", "--stdio"],
                "url": "https://github.com/d-language-server/dls",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^D$"
            },
            "fortran": {
                "command": ["fortls"],
                "rootIndicationFileNames": [".fortls"],
                "url": "https://github.com/hansec/fortran-language-server",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^Fortran.*$"
            },
            "javascript": {
                "command": ["typescript-language-server", "--stdio"],
                "rootIndicationFileNames": ["package.json", "package-lock.json"],
                "url": "https://github.com/theia-ide/typescript-language-server",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^JavaScript.*$",
                "documentLanguageId": false
            },
            "latex": {
                "command": ["texlab"],
                "url": "https://texlab.netlify.com/",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^LaTeX$"
            },
            "go": {
                "command": ["go-langserver"],
                "commandDebug": ["go-langserver", "-trace"],
                "url": "https://github.com/sourcegraph/go-langserver",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^Go$"
            },
            "python": {
                "command": ["python3", "-m", "pyls", "--check-parent-process"],
                "url": "https://github.com/palantir/python-language-server",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^Python$"
            },
            "rust": {
                "command": ["rls"],
                "path": ["%{ENV:HOME}/.cargo/bin", "%{ENV:USERPROFILE}/.cargo/bin"],
                "rootIndicationFileNames": ["Cargo.lock", "Cargo.toml"],
                "url": "https://github.com/rust-lang/rls",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^Rust$"
            },
            "ocaml": {
                "command": ["ocamlmerlin-lsp"],
                "url": "https://github.com/ocaml/merlin",
                "highlightingModeRegex": "^Objective Caml.*$"
            }
        }
    }

Note that each "command" may be an array or a string (in which case it is split into an array). Also, a top-level "global" entry (next to "server") is considered as well (see further below). The specified binary is searched for in the usual way, e.g. using `PATH`. If it is installed in some custom location, then the latter may have to be extended. Or alternatively, a (sym)link or wrapper script may be used in a location that is within the usual `PATH`. As illustrated above, one may also specify a "path" that will be searched for after the standard locations.

All of the entries in "command", "root" and "path" are subject to variable expansion.

The "highlightingModeRegex" is used to map the highlighting mode as used by &kate; to the language id of the server. If no regular expression is given, the language id itself is used. If a "documentLanguageId" entry is set to false, then no language id is provided to the server when opening the document. This may have better results for some servers that are more precise in determining the document type than doing so based on a kate mode.

From the above example, the gist is presumably clear. In addition, each server entry object may also have an "initializationOptions" entry, which is passed along to the server as part of the 'initialize' method. If present, a "settings" entry is passed to the server by means of the 'workspace/didChangeConfiguration' notification. Either of "completionTriggerCharacters" or "signatureTriggerCharacters" may be specified as a JSON object with string members "exclude" and/or "include". These will be used to respectively exclude or add some characters to the respective trigger set as provided by the server.

Various stages of override/merge are applied;

- user configuration (loaded from file) overrides (internal) default configuration

- "lspclient" entry in `.kateproject` project configuration overrides the above

- the resulting "global" entry is used to supplement (not override) any server entry

One server instance is used per (root, servertype) combination. If "root" is specified as an absolute path, then it used as-is, otherwise it is relative to the projectBase (as determined by the Project plugin) if applicable, or otherwise relative to the document's directory. If not specified and "rootIndicationFileNames" is an array as filenames, then a parent directory of current document containing such a file is selected. Alternatively, if "root" is not specified and "rootIndicationFilePatterns" is an array of file patterns, then a parent directory of the current document matching the file pattern is selected. As a last fallback, the home directory is selected as "root". For any document, the resulting "root" then determines whether or not a separate instance is needed. If so, the "root" is passed as rootUri/rootPath.

In general, it is recommended to leave root unspecified, as it is not that important for a server (your mileage may vary though). Fewer server instances are obviously more efficient, and they also have a 'wider' view than the view of many separate instances.

As mentioned above, several entries are subject to variable expansion. A suitable application of that combined with "wrapper script" approaches allows for customization to a great many circumstances. For example, consider a python development scenario that consists of multiple projects (e.g. git repos), each with its own virtualenv setup. Using the default configuration, the python language server will not be aware of the virtual env. However, that can be remedied with the following approach. First, the following fragment can be entered in LSPClient plugin's "User Server Settings":

    {
            "servers":
            {
                    "python":
                    {
                            "command": ["pylsp_in_env", "%{Project:NativePath}"],
                            "root": "."
                    }
            }
    }

The root entry above is relative to the project directory and ensures that a separate language server is started for each project, which is necessary in this case as each has a distinct virtual environment.

`pylsp_in_env` is a small "wrapper script" that should be placed in `PATH` with the following (to-be-adjusted) content:

    #!/bin/bash
    cd $1
    # run the server (python-lsp-server) within the virtualenv
    # (i.e. with virtualenv variables setup)
    # so source the virtualenv
    source XYZ
    # server mileage or arguments may vary
    exec myserver

This is but one example of a more general pattern which may be handled a bit more comfortably as outlined in the Execution environment section below.

#### LSP Server Configuration

Each particular LSP server has its own way of customization and may use language/tool specific means for configuration, &eg; `tox.ini` (a.o. for python), `.clang-format` for C++ style format. Such configuration may then also be used by other (non-LSP) tools (such as then tox or clang-format). On top of that, some LSP servers also load configuration from custom files (&eg; `.ccls`). Furthermore, custom server configuration can also be passed through LSP (protocol), see the aforementioned "initializationOptions" and "settings" entries in server configuration.

Since various level of override/merge are applied, the following example of user specified client configuration tweaks some python-language-server configuration.

    {
        "servers": {
            "python": {
                "settings": {
                    "pyls": {
                        "plugins": {
                            "pylint": {
                                "enable": true
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }

Unfortunately, LSP server configuration/customization is often not so well documented, in ways that only examining the source code shows configuration approaches and the set of available configuration options. In particular, the above example's server supports many more options in "settings". See another LSP client's documentation for various other language server examples and corresponding settings, which can easily and readily be transformed to the &JSON; configuration that is used here and outlined above.

#### LSP Server Format On Save

You can enable "format on save" from LSP settings in configure dialog.

#### LSP Server Diagnostic Suppression

It may happen that diagnostics are reported which are not quite useful. This can be quite cumbersome, especially if there are many (often of the same kind). In some cases, this may be tweaked by language (server) specific means. For example, the clangd configuration mechanism allows tweaking of some diagnostics aspects. In general, however, it may not always be evident how to do so, or it may not even be possible at all in desired ways due to server limitations or bug.

As such, the plugin supports diagnostics suppression similar to e.g. valgrind suppressions. The most fine-grained configuration can be supplied in a "suppressions" key in the (merged) &JSON; configuration.

    {
        "servers": {
            "c": {
                "suppressions": {
                    "rulename": ["filename", "foo"],
                    "clang_pointer": ["", "clang-tidy", "clear_pointer"],
                }
            }
        }
    }

Each (valid) rule has an arbitrary name and is defined by an array of length 2 or 3 which provides a regex to match against the (full) filename, a regex to match against the diagnostic (text) and an optional regex matched against the (source code range of) text to which the diagnostic applies.

In addition to the above fine-grained configuration, the context menu in the diagnostics tab also supports add/remove of suppressions that match a particular diagnostic (text) exactly, either globally (any file) or locally (the specific file in question). These suppression are stored in and loaded from session config.

#### LSP Server Troubleshooting

It is one thing to describe how to configure a (custom) LSP server for any particular language, it is another to end up with the server running smoothly. Usually, the latter is fortunately the case. Sometimes, however, problems may arise due to either some "silly" misconfiguration or a more fundamental problem with the server itself. The latter might typically manifest itself as a couple of attempts at starting the server, as so reported in &kate; Output tab. The latter, however, is only meant to convey high-level messages or progress rather than to provide detailed diagnostics, and even less so for what is in fact another process (the LSP server).

The usual way to diagnose this is to add some flag(s) to the startup command (of the language server) that enables (additional) logging (to some file or standard error), in as far as it does not do so by default. If &kate; is then started on the command line, then one might be able to obtain more (in)sight in what might be going wrong.

It may also be informative to examine the protocol exchange between &kate;'s LSP client and the LSP server. Again, the latter usually has ways to trace that. The LSP client also provides additional debug tracing (to stderr) when &kate; is invoked with the following `LSPCLIENT_DEBUG=1` suitably `export`'ed.

#### Execution environment setup

The python virtualenv example above is but one example of an "execution environment" that operates in a distinct and separate way from the usual host environment. This could be achieved by different variable settings (e.g. virtualenv), or a (s)chroot setup (switching to another dir as new root), a container (e.g. podman, docker), or an ssh session to another host. In each case, the "other environment" is defined by an "execution prefix". That is, some program can be invoked/run in the other environment by means of a "prefix" (a program and arguments) appended with the intended invocation. For example, `podman exec -i containername` or `ssh user@host`.

In particular, as in the previous virtualenv example, one may choose/need to run an LSP server is such a separate environment (e.g. a container with all dependencies needed by some project). The "manual" approach outlined above has as disadvantage that it replaces the standard LSP command-line, which then has to specified and duplicated again in the wrapper script. Also, in some of the other examples mentioned above the "path namespace" of host (as viewed by the editor) may be different from that of the environment. To address these matters in a more systematic way (than a "custom" approach), some additional configuration can be specified.

For example, the following can be specified in a `.kateproject` configuration. Obviously, the "fake" comments should not be included.

    {
        // this may also be an array of objects
        "exec": {
            "hostname": "foobar"
            // the command could also be an array of string
            "prefix": "podman exec -i foobarcontainer",
            "mapRemoteRoot": true,
            "pathMappings": [
                // either of the following forms are possible
                // a more automagic alternative exists as well, see later/below
                [ "/dir/on/host", "/mounted/in/container" ]
                { "localRoot": "/local/dir", "remoteRoot": "/remote/dir" }
            ]
        },
        "lspclient": {
            "servers": {
                "python": {
                    // this will match/join with the above object
                    "exec": { "hostname": "foobar" },
                    // confine this server to this project root,
                    // so it is not used for other projects that may be opened
                    // (other servers may already employ specific roots, but python generally not)
                    "root": "."
                },
                "c": {
                    // as above
                    "exec": { "hostname": "foobar" },
                    "root": "."
                }
            }
        }
    }

So, what happens as a result of the above? As mentioned, the `lspclient` part of the above is merged onto the global config, hence an `exec` section is found (for specified languages). A search is performed for another object (that specifies matching `hostname`) in either `exec` or `lspclient` section, and a matching one is as a basis for a merge. As a result, an LSP server (for C and python) will have its commandline appended to the specified (variable substituted) prefix, and will therefore be started within the given container. Of course, the container must have been created, in a proper started state and equipped with proper LSP servers. One might have been tempted to use the `global` section (within `lspclient`.) That could also work, but then all LSP servers would be started with that prefix, including those for e.g. Markdown, Bash script or JSON. It is more likely that the usual host will still supply these (if in use). So, as always, it depends on your particular setup.

However, the LSP server may now observe different (remote) paths than the (local) ones that are seen and used by the editor. The specified `pathMappings` are used to translate back and forth between either within the communication with the LSP server. That is, of course, as much as possible. Clearly, not all local paths have a remote representation, but the missing ones are also not seen (by the server) and do not pose a problem. Conversely, however, the (remote) server may now see and provide references in the "remote root" which are not evidently/easily represented in the local system. The enabled `mapRemoteRoot` implicitly maps the remote root onto a "local URL" `exec://foobar/`, which is then handled by a plain-and-simple KIO protocol. The latter essentially uses (e.g.) `podman exec -i foobarcontainer cat somefile"` for copy from remote to local (and other such variations using tools from the `coreutils` suite). Suffice it to say it is not meant for general use and claims no performance whatsoever, but it does suffice to get a referenced file quickly and easily loaded into editor.

It is now easily seen that a simplified version of above configuration (without `hostname` or `pathMappings`) could be used to handle the virtualenv without having to duplicate server commandline (in wrapper script).

The following may not be so easily seen, so it is mentioned here explicitly.

- Both a `hostname` and the actual `prefix` define the execution environment (the former by name, the latter by content). Within an editor process instance, the same `hostname` should not be associated with different `prefix`, as such leads to undefined behavior (with no diagnostic required).

- Both `prefix` and `pathMappings` are subject to (editor) variable expansion (but do mind the foregoing item).

- At runtime, some environment variables are also set, which may be used to (subtly) adjust the "prefix launcher"'s behavior (though again mind the first item). In particular, `KATE_EXEC_PLUGIN` is set to `lspclient` and `KATE_EXEC_SERVER` is set to the server's id (e.g. `python`).

- In particular, also `KATE_EXEC_INSPECT` is set to `1`. This notifies the "prefix launcher" that the receiver (Kate plugin) accepts some out-of-band/protocol data. This allows the launcher to use some means to determine path mappings (e.g. `podman inspect`) and to communicate this in suitable format. This will then be removed from the otherwise LSP protocol conforming stream and used to extend any defined path mapping. This may serve as an alternative to specifying e.g. bind mounts explicitly (again, duplicating the container's definition). Concretely, the above snippet could then be used instead;

      {
          // ...
          "exec": {
              "hostname": "foobar"
              // unfortunate repetition of name, but the helper script is plain-and-simple
              "prefix": "exec_inspect.sh foobarcontainer podman exec -i foobarcontainer",
              "mapRemoteRoot": true,
              "pathMappings": []
          }
          // ...
      }

Last but not least, what if the "fallback KIO" approach is not considered adequate? It is in practice often possible to "mount" the remote root into the local filesystem and then specify the latter in a `pathMappings`. For starters, the well-known `sshfs` (fuse) filesystem can mount a (really) remote system into the local one. For a container (podman/docker), most (filesystem driver) setups support the following trick;

    $ rootdir=/proc/`podman inspect --format '{{.State.Pid}}' containername`/root
    # some symlinks may cause issues, see also alternative below
    $ sudo mount --bind $rootdir /somewhere/containername

If that fails, then one could resort to `sshfs`, or in fact a subset thereof to mount the remote/container root;

    # see respective man-pages; sftp-server suffices for actual (unencrypted) file ops protocol
    $ socat 'exec:podman exec -i containername /usr/lib/openssh/sftp-server'
       'exec:sshfs -o transform_symlinks -o passive \:/ /somewhere/containername'
    # ...
    $ fusermount -u /somewhere/containername

Note that such mount of remote root into host filesystem is likely to be specified manually and explicitly in a `pathMappings` section (barring a very intelligent prefix launcher that arranges all such automagically).

&TC.Hollingsworth; &TC.Hollingsworth.mail;

## Search & Replace

### Introduction

&kate;'s Search & Replace plugin allows you to search for text or regular expressions in many different files at once. You can search all open files, all the files in one directory and optionally its subdirectories, or in the active file. You can even filter by filename, for instance searching only files that end with a particular file extension.

### Interface

#### Search Query

The following options are always displayed at the top of the Search in Files tool view:

  You can have as many searches as you want open at the same time. Simply click the new tab button at the top-left corner of the Search tool view and a new results tab will open permitting you to perform another search.

  The button in the top right-corner of the Search in Files tool view will toggle the bottom half of the tool view between displaying additional options for the Search in Folder mode and the results of your search.

Find

  This is where you type in what you want to find. You may enter standard text, or a regular expression if enabled.

Replace (text box)

  Replacement text that will be added to file(s) in place of the text in the Find text box.

Search

  When you've finished configuring everything, just press the Search button to perform your search; to perform the search in a new tab press and hold &Ctrl; before pressing the Search button. You may also press &Enter; in the Find text box to do the same (similarly pressing &Ctrl;&Enter; will perform the search in a new tab).

Replace

  When you've finished configuring everything, just press the Replace button to replace the text entered in the Find text box with that of the Replace text box. You may also press &Enter; in the Replace text box to do the same.

Next

  Go to the next match of your search query, switching files if necessary.

Replace Checked

  The same as Replace, but will only perform replacements in files that are checked in the pane below.

#### Search in Folder Options

These options are displayed below the aforementioned query options. If search results are being displayed instead, press the button to display them.

Search in

  This has three options. Select Open Files to search all files currently open in &kate;. Select Folder to search inside a folder and optionally its subfolders. Select Current File to search only in the active file.

  If the Projects plugin is loaded, you can also search in the Current Project or in All Open Projects.

Match case

  Restricts search results to only those that have the exact same combination of upper and lower case letters as your search query.

Regular expressions

  Permits you to use regular expressions instead of simple text as your search query.

Expand results

  Display all the results found in each file, instead of just a list of files that contain the search query.

Folder

  You may enter the path of the folder you wish to search. For instance, you might enter `~/development/kde/kate/` if you wished to search the &kate; source code. This option is only available when using in Folder mode.

Open file dialog

  Press this button to locate the folder in your desktop's folder browser. This button only works when using Folder mode.

  Press this button to change Folder to the parent of the currently selected folder. This button only works when using Folder mode.

  This button will set the Folder entry to the folder in which the currently open document is located. This button only works when using Folder mode.

Filter

  This permits you to only search filenames that match a particular pattern. For instance, to only search files written in C++, change it to `*.cpp`. To search only files beginning with `kate`, change it to `kate*`. You can enter multiple filters separated with a comma (`,`). This option is not available when using Open files mode.

Exclude

  The opposite of Filter, this prevents &kate; from searching files that match the specified patterns. As with Filter, you can enter multiple patterns separated with a comma (`,`). This option is not available when using Open files mode.

Recursive

  If this option is enabled, &kate; will also search in all subfolders of the selected folder. This option is only available when using Folder mode.

Include hidden

  If this option is enabled, &kate; will also search in files or folders that are typically hidden by your &OS;. This option is only available when using Folder mode.

Follow symbolic links

  The Search in Files plugin typically does not follow symbolic links. When this option is enabled, the plugin will follow them instead and search inside the files or folders they reference. This option is only available when using Folder mode.

  It's possible for symbolic links to reference a folder that is the parent of the folder currently being searched, or other folders that contain symbolic links to their parent. If there is such a link in the folder being searched and this option is enabled, &kate; will repeatedly follow the link and search the folder, and the search will never complete.

Include binary files

  If enabled, &kate; will also search in files that do not appear to be text files.

#### Search Results

The results of your search are displayed below the query options. If options for Search in Folder mode are displayed, simply press the button to display them. They will also automatically be displayed as soon as a search is performed.

The search results display a list of files that contains text that matches your search query, followed by the number of matches found in that file.

To see a list of matches in that file, simply click the expansion arrow to the left of the file name. (If you selected the Expand results option, this will already be done for you.) The line number each match is found on will be displayed, followed by the contents of that line, with your search query indicated in bold text.

To open the file your result was found in, simply double-click it. &kate; will open the file if needed. You can also move the cursor to the location of a particular match by double-clicking on its listing instead of the file name.

### Menu Structure

&Ctrl;&Alt;F Edit Search in Files

  Launches the Search and Replace tool view.

Edit Go to Next Match

  Go to the next match in a search performed by the Search and Replace plugin.

Edit Go to Previous Match

  Go to the previous match in a search performed by the Search and Replace plugin.

View Tool Views Show Search and Replace

  Toggle the display of &kate;'s Search and Replace tool.

Martin
Gergov
&TC.Hollingsworth; &TC.Hollingsworth.mail;

## &kate; Scripts & Snippets

### Introduction

The &kate; Scripts & Snippets plugin allows you to add, and manage your own bits of automation. This can range from static re-useable pieces of plain text, over sophisticated templates with custom automated and scriptable fields, to fully custom &javascript; scripts to modify the contents of your document.

For the most part, these types of content are managed in exactly the same way. Therefore, for ease of reading, the following discussion does not differentiate between static snippets, scripted snippets, and scripts. Rather, the term snippet is used to refer to all of them.

The plugin also supports assigning keyboard shortcuts, and inserting snippets via code completion. Further, you can download collections of snippets (so-called repositories) from the internet.

### Menu Structure

View Tool Views Show Snippets

  Shows snippets panel containing all snippets in your repository that are for the currently opened file type.

Tools Create Snippet

  Create a new snippet, which is a reusable chunk of text you may insert in any part of any document, or a small script.

### Snippets panel

&kate; Snippets Panel
The &kate; snippets panel.

The panel for &kate; Snippets.

In the panel you should see a list of snippet repositories, along with options to create your own, get them from the Internet or load them from a local file. Each repository has a checkbox that can be used to activate or deactivate it. There are also buttons to edit and delete existing repositories.

#### Loading Snippet Repository Files

You can download snippet repositories from the Internet. Just click Get New Snippets and a window with a list of snippet repositories will open. After downloading the desired snippet, make sure that you have activated it.

#### Creating and Editing Repositories

To create a new snippet repository, click Add Repository. You should now see a dialog that asks for the name of the snippet file, license and author. After choosing the desired options, click OK.

Snippet Editor
The repository editor.

The repository editor interface.

The snippet repository editor contains the following options:

Name

  Appears in the list of snippets in the tool view and is also searched when using the code completion feature.

Namespace

  Prefix used while using code completion.

License

  Select the license for you snippet repository.

Authors

  Enter the name(s) of the author(s) of the snippet file.

File types

  Select the file type(s) you want the snippet repository to apply to. It is set to by default, so the repository applies to all files. You can change it to something like `C++` for instance, or select from a list by clicking on the items. You can specify more than one file type pressing the &Shift; while adding types.

#### Creating and Editing Snippets

Snippet Editor
The snippet editor.

The snippet editor interface.

Name

  The name as shown in the list of snippets, and in the completion list (required).

Type

  Snippets may either be defined as text templates or scripts. Both types allow to use &javascript; functions (see below for details), and can thus be used to similar effect. However, as a rule of thumb, text templates will be more suitable if you mostly want to insert text, while scripts are often an easier solution if you want to modify text).

  Kate needs to be compiled against KTextEditor version 6.15.0 or higher, for this feature to be available. For earlier versions, only text template snippets can be used.

Shortcut

  Pressing this shortcut will insert (or run) the snippet into the current document.

Snippet (type `Text Template`)

  The text your snippet will insert into the document.

  A snippet can contain editable fields. They can be cycled by pressing &Tab;. The following expressions can be used in the template text to create fields:

  `${field_name}` creates a simple, editable field. All subsequent occurrences of the same field_name create fields which mirror the contents of the first during editing.

  Field names may contain any character except for the closing curly bracket (`}`).

  To insert `${text}` literally in a snippet, escape the `$` sign with a backslash: `\${text}`. The text will then not be turned into a field. To insert literal backslashes before a field, escape each individual backslash: `\\${field}`, `\\\\${field}`, and so on.

  `${func(other_field1, other_field2, ...)}` creates a field which evaluates a &javascript; function on each edit and is replaced by that function's return value. See the Script Library tab for more information.

  `${field_name=default}` sets a default value for the field. default is a &javascript; expression. Use quotes (`${field_name="text"}`) to specify a fixed string as the default value.

  When using default values (`${field_name=default}`), keep in mind that the default value is evaluated immediately when the snippet is inserted into the document, and it is not updated later when fields are changed.

  You can reference other fields in default values if they are defined before the default value that is being evaluated. However, this will only give you access to the default value of these fields.

  If no custom default value is defined, the default value is a field's name.

  `${cursor}` marks the end position of the cursor after everything else was filled in. Inserting text at this position will finish editing. Plus after pressing &Esc; to finish editing, the cursor will jump to this position.

Snippet (type `Script`)

  The &javascript; code to evaluate for this snippet

  If this code contains a `return` statement, the returned string will be inserted at the current cursor position. You can also use the &kate; scripting API to modify the document directly.

  Additionally, your code may use functions defined in the Script Library tab, which are shared between all snippets in a repository.

Script Library

  &javascript; helper functions to use in your snippets. These functions are shared between all snippets in a repository.

  You can use the &kate; scripting API to get the selected text, full text, file name, and more by using the appropriate methods of the `document` and `view` objects. Refer to the scripting API documentation for more information.

  When a function is called in a field of a `Text Template` snippet, its return value is inserted into the text.

  Using functions in `Text Template` snippets:

  - Functions can access the up-to-date contents of all fields through the `fields` object: use `fields.my_field` or `fields["my_field"]`. When using a function as the default value for a field, only fields defined in the text before are available.

  - Fields can be passed as arguments to functions. The field name can be used directly if it is a valid &javascript; identifier and no variable with that name exists. Otherwise use the `fields` object: `${func(field)}`, `${func(fields.document)}`, `${func(fields["my field"])}`

  - Function fields (e.g. `${func()}`) are re-evaluated every time any field's contents are changed. However, this does not apply to function calls in default values: they are only evaluated once when the snippet is inserted into the document.

  - For more complex scripts it may be important to understand that first, the raw snippet is inserted into the document, and then functions are being evaluated. E.g., if a function retrieves the text on the line where the snippet is being inserted, that text will also contain `${functionCall()}`. Where this causes complications, consider using a `Script`-type snippet, instead.

  - To simply wrap the currently selected text into tags, use: `<strong>${view.selectedText()}</strong>`

  - Remember that only the return value of a function is inserted in a field.

Description

  An optional description of what this snippet does. This will be shown in tooltips. The description may contain basic HTML formatting.

Usage example

  The following example invokes a script that wraps the selected text, or - if there is no selection - a default text, into tags (Snippet type `Script`):

      let range = view.hasSelection() ? view.selection() : new Range(view.cursorPosition(), view.cursorPosition());
      let innertext = range.isEmpty() ? "Bold" : document.text(range);
      document.removeText(range);
      document.insertText(range.start, "<strong>" + innertext + "</strong>");

### Using Snippets

&kate; Snippets in Action
Accessing &kate; Snippets from a tool view and a drop down menu.

Selecting from a list of snippets.

You can call snippets in several ways:

- By clicking on the snippet from the tool view.

- Using a keyboard shortcut, if you have assigned one.

- While writing, you can press &Ctrl; &Space;, which will display all the snippets in a convenient window from which you can choose. This key combination provides functionality similar to code completion.

If the snippet contains variables (besides `${cursor}`) the cursor will automatically go to the first occurrence of a variable and will wait for you to write something. When you are done, you can press &Tab; to move to the next variable, and so on.

### Thanks and Acknowledgments

&kate; Snippets was written by Joseph Wenninger.

Special thanks to Google Code-In 2011 participant Martin Gergov for writing much of this section.

Pablo
Rauzy
r .at. uzy.me

## Keyboard Macros Plugin

### Introduction

Record and play keyboard macros (i.e., keyboard action sequences).

### Basic usage

#### To start recording a keyboard macro:

Tools Keyboard Macros Record Macro... (&Ctrl;&Shift;K).

The plugin will record every key presses until you end recording.

#### To end recording:

Tools Keyboard Macros End Macro Recording (&Ctrl;&Shift;K).

The plugin will stop recording key presses and save the sequence as the current macro.

#### To cancel recording:

Tools Keyboard Macros Cancel Macro Recording (&Ctrl;&Alt;&Shift;K).

The plugin will stop recording key presses but the current macro won't change.

#### To play the current macro:

Tools Keyboard Macros Play Macro (&Ctrl;&Alt;K).

The plugin will play the current macro.

The `kmplay` command without any arguments will also play the current macro.

### Named macros

It is possible to save keyboard macros by giving them a name.

Named macros are persistent between Kate's sessions, they're saved in the `keyboardmacros.json` file in Kate's user data directory (usually `~/.local/share/kate/`).

#### To save the current macro:

Tools Keyboard Macros Save Current Macro (&Alt;&Shift;K).

The plugin will prompt you for a name and save the macro under it.

The `kmsave name` command will save the current macro under the name `name`.

#### To load a saved macro as the current one:

Tools Keyboard Macros Load Named Macro....

The plugin lists saved macros as items in this submenu, activating an item will load the corresponding macro as the current one.

The `kmload name` command will load the macro saved under the name `name` as the current one.

#### To play a saved macro without loading it:

Tools Keyboard Macros Play Named Macro....

The plugin lists saved macros as items in this submenu, activating an item will play the corresponding macro without loading it.

Note that each saved macros is an action that is part of the current action collection so that a custom shortcut can be assigned to it through the Settings Configure Keyboard Shortcuts... interface.

The `kmplay name` command will play the macro saved under the name `name` without loading it.

#### To wipe (i.e., delete) a saved macro:

Tools Keyboard Macros Wipe Named Macro....

The plugin lists saved macros as items in this submenu, activating an item will wipe (i.e., delete) the corresponding macro.

The `kmwipe name` command will wipe the macro saved under the name `name`.

#### Tips for commands:

Note that after the `km` prefix, all these commands use a different letter so you can efficiently call them using tab-completion!

### Limitations

As of now, keyboard macros fail to play properly if some types of GUI widgets are used: QMenu, QuickOpenLineEdit, or TabSwitcherTreeView, for example. I'm not sure why but my first guess would be that these widgets work in a non-standard way regarding keyboard events.

Ömer
Faruk
ORUÇ
&TC.Hollingsworth; &TC.Hollingsworth.mail;

## SQL Plugin

### Introduction

The Structured Query Language (SQL) is a specialized language for updating, deleting, and requesting information from databases.

The &kate; SQL Plugin allows you to:

- Create a database

- Connect to existing databases

- Insert and delete data in the database

- Execute queries

- Display results in a table

### Connecting to a Database

Select Add Connection from the SQL menu or toolbar, and then select the &Qt; database driver you want to use (including QSQLITE, QMYSQL3, QMYSQL, QODBC3, QODBC, QPSQL7, and QPSQL). If you can't see the desired driver, you need to install it. Then, press Next.

If the database you selected uses a file, simply indicate the database's location and press the Next button. If it requires connecting to a server, you must enter the hostname of the server, your username and password, and any other information that particular driver may require. Then press Next.

Finally, give a name to your connection, and press Finish.

### Running Queries

#### INSERT/DELETE/UPDATE

You can insert, delete, and update data using the SQL plugin just as you would from the command line or from within a program. Simply enter a query and press the Run query button in the toolbar or use SQL Run query (&Ctrl;E).

##### Some Example Queries

`INSERT`

      INSERT INTO table_name ("feature1", "feature2", "feature3", "feature4", "feature5")
      VALUES ("value1", "value2", "value3", "value4", "value5" )

`DELETE`

      DELETE FROM table_name WHERE name = "text"

`UPDATE`

      UPDATE table_name SET "feature1" = "text", "feature2" = "text", "feature3" = "text", "feature4" = "text", "feature5" = "text"

#### SELECT

After running a `SELECT` query, you can view the results as a table that will appear in the SQL Data Output tool view at the bottom of &kate;, or as text in the SQL Text Output. If there is an error, you can see it in the text output.

##### Example `SELECT` Query

    SELECT * FROM table_name

In the SQL Data Output tool view, there are several buttons:

Resize columns to contents

  Changes the size of columns to fit their contents.

Resize rows to contents

  Changes the size of rows to fit their contents.

Copy

  Selects all of the table contents and copies it to the clipboard buffer.

Export

  Exports all of the table contents to a file, the clipboard, or the current document in the Comma Separated Values format.

Clear

  Removes everything from the table view.

You can now change the colors displayed in the table in the SQL section of Settings Configure &kate;... .

### Browsing

You can browse your database using the Database schema browser tool view on the left. The information displayed varies depending on which database driver you are using.

To refresh this list, right-click anywhere in the tool view and select Refresh. To generate a query on any entry in the list, right-click on an entry, select Generate, and select the query type (SELECT, UPDATE, INSERT, or DELETE) from the submenu that appears.

### Menu Structure

SQL Add connection...

  Adds a new connection using any database driver.

SQL Remove connection

  Removes the selected connection.

SQL Edit connection...

  Edits the current connection's settings.

Connections

  All database connections you have created are listed between the Edit connection and Run query menu items. Select one to run queries or make modifications to it.

&Ctrl;E SQL Run query

  Runs your query.

### Thanks and Acknowledgments

The SQL Plugin was written by Marco Mentasti.

Special thanks to Google Code-In 2011 participant Ömer Faruk ORUÇ for writing much of this section.

## Symbol Viewer Plugin

### Using the Close Except/Like Plugin

It allows developers to view symbols (functions, macros and structures) from source code.

By clicking the parsed information you can easily browse the code.

At the moment the following languages are supported:

C/C++, &Java;, Perl, PHP, Python, Ruby, XSLT, Tcl/Tk, Fortran

Feature list:

- List/Tree mode
- Enable/disable sorting
- Hide/Show Functions Parameters
- Expand/collapse tree mode
- Auto-update on document change
- Code parsing is based on the Syntax-Highlighting framework from &kde-frameworks;

### Menu Structure

&Ctrl;\ View Tool Views Show Symbol List

  Toggle the display of &kate;'s Symbol List displaying Functions, Macros and Structures of the source code in the active document.

### Configuration

Symbol Viewer

Choose the default parser options

## Terminal Tool View Plugin

The built in Terminal Emulator is a copy of the &kde; &konsole; terminal application, for your convenience. It is available from the View Tool Views Show Terminal Panel menu item and will get the focus whenever displayed. Additionally, if the Automatically synchronize the terminal with the current document when possible option is enabled, it will change to the directory of the current document if possible when it is displayed, or when the current document changes.

The default location in the &kate; window is at the bottom, below the editing area.

You can configure the &konsole; using its &RMB; menu, for more information, see the &konsole; manual.

The built-in terminal emulator is provided by the Terminal Tool View plugin.

### Menu Structure

View Tool Views Show Terminal Panel

  Toggles the display of the built-in terminal emulator.

  When activated for the first time, the terminal will be created.

  When the terminal emulator is displayed, it will get the focus, so that you can start typing in commands immediately. If the Automatically synchronize the terminal with the current document when possible option is enabled in the Terminal page of the Main configuration dialog the shell session will change to the directory of the active document, if it is a local file.

Tools Pipe to Terminal

  Feed the currently selected text into the built-in terminal emulator. No newline is added after the text.

Tools Synchronize Terminal with Current Document

  This will cause the built-in Terminal to `cd` into the directory of the active document.

  Alternatively, you can configure &kate; to always keep the terminal in sync with the current document. See for more information.

Tools Run Current Document

  Run the current document in &konsole;. Only the local documents can be run. &kate; will show a warning before running document because this action can be a serious security threat.

Tools Focus/Defocus Terminal Panel

  Switch the focus from the current document to the terminal and vice versa.

### Configuration

You can configure the Terminal Tool View plugin on the Terminal page of the configuration dialog.

The following options are available:

Automatically synchronize the terminal with the current document when possible

  This will cause the built-in terminal to `cd` into the directory of the active document when launched and when a new document gets the focus. If not enabled, you have to do all your navigation in the terminal on your own.

Set EDITOR environment variable to 'kate -b'

  This sets the `EDITOR` environment variable so programs run in the built-in terminal that automatically open a file in an editor will open them in &kate; instead of the default editor configured in your shell. You will not be able to continue using the terminal until you have closed the file in &kate;, so the calling program is aware you have finished editing the file.

Hide &konsole; on pressing 'Esc'

  This allows closing the built-in terminal by pressing the &Esc; key. May cause issues with terminal applications that use &Esc; key, &eg; vim. Add such applications in the text input box below. The items in the list should be separated with comma.

## Text Filter Plugin

### Using the Text Filter Plugin

You can use this plugin to process selected text using terminal commands. The selection will be used as input for the command, and the output will either replace the selection or be copied to the clipboard, depending on the user's preference.

#### Examples:

- `less /etc/fstab` - paste the contents of this file or copy it to the clipboard

- `wc` - count lines, words and characters of the selection and paste this into the document or copy it to the clipboard

- `sort` - sort lines of the selection and paste the result into the document or copy it to the clipboard

### Menu Structure

&Ctrl;\ Tools Filter Text

  Opens the Text Filter dialog:

  Text Filter dialog

  Enter the shell command into the combobox or select a previous command from the history.

  Copy the result instead of pasting it

    Copy the result to clipboard leaving a document unchanged.

  Merge STDOUT and STDERR

    If checked, an output from STDOUT and STDERR will be merged and no errors will be reported. Otherwise, STDERR will be displayed as a passive message.

&Daniel.Naber; &Daniel.Naber.mail;

## &XML; Validation

This plugin checks &XML; files for validity and being well-formed.

This plugin checks the current file. A list of warnings and errors will appear at the bottom of &kate;'s main window. You can click on an error message to jump to the corresponding place in the file. If the file has a DOCTYPE the DTD given with this doctype will be used to check the file for validity. The DTD is expected at a position relative to the current file, &eg; if the doctype refers to DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd and the file is `/home/peter/test.xml` the DTD is expected to be located at `/home/peter/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd`. However, remote DTDs specified via http are supported.

If the file has no doctype it will be checked for being well-formed.

To learn more about &XML; check out the official W3C &XML; pages.

Internally this plugin calls the external command `xmllint`, which is part of libxml2. If this command is not correctly installed on your system, the plugin will not work.

To load this plugin open &kate;'s configuration dialog under Settings Configure &kate;.... Then select &XML; Validation which will appear in the Application / Plugins section and close the dialog.

### Menu Structure

&XML; Validate &XML;

  This will start the check, as described above.

### Thanks and Acknowledgments

&kate; Plugin &XML; Validation copyright 2002 &Daniel.Naber; &Daniel.Naber.mail;.

Documentation copyright 2002 &Daniel.Naber;

&Daniel.Naber; &Daniel.Naber.mail;

## &XML; Completion

This plugin gives hints about what is allowed at a certain position in an &XML; file, according to the file's DTD. It will list possible elements, attributes, attribute values or entities, depending on the cursor position (&eg; all entities are listed if the character on the left of the cursor is &). It's also possible to close the nearest open tag on the left.

The DTD must exist in &XML; format, as produced by the Perl program `dtdparse`. We will call a DTD in this format meta DTD. Some meta DTDs are supplied. They are installed in `katexmltools/` in ``qtpaths` `--paths GenericDataLocation`` , which is also the default folder when you choose Assign Meta DTD.... To produce your own meta DTDs, get `dtdparse` from http://dtdparse.sourceforge.net.

### How to Use

Start &kate; and open the configuration dialog under Settings Configure &kate;.... Then select &XML; Completion which will appear in the Application Plugins page and close the dialog. After that, select &XML;Assign Meta DTD.... If your document contains no DOCTYPE or the doctype is unknown, you will have to select a meta DTD from the file system. Otherwise the meta DTD that matches the current document's DOCTYPE will be loaded automatically.

You can now use the plugin while typing your text:

< (less than key)

  This will trigger a list of possible elements unless the cursor is inside a tag already. Note that you currently cannot use this to insert the top level element (&eg; <html>).

</(less than key + slash)

  Entering these characters will offer to close the current element (nearest open one to the left of the cursor). Press &Enter; to accept the suggestion. Unlike the Close Element menu item, this works only with a DTD assigned.

" (quote key)

  The quote key will trigger a list of possible attribute values (if there are any) if you are inside a tag.

(space key)

  This key will trigger a list of possible attributes for the current element if you are inside a tag.

& (ampersand key)

  This key will trigger a list of named entities.

### Features and Limitations

You can test all functions and limitations by loading `katexmltools/testcases.xml` in ``qtpaths` `--paths GenericDataLocation`` into &kate; and following the instructions.

### Menu Structure

&Ctrl;&Enter; &XML; Insert Element...

  This will open a dialog that lets you insert an &XML; element. The <, > characters and the closing tag will be inserted automatically. If you have selected text when this menu item is selected, the selected text will be surrounded by the opening and the closing tag. The dialog also offers completion of all elements that may be inserted at the current cursor position if you have assigned a meta DTD by using Assign Meta DTD....

&Ctrl;< &XML; Close Element

  This will search your text for a tag that is not yet closed and will close it by inserting the corresponding closing tag. The search starts at the cursor position and goes left. If it cannot find an open tag nothing will happen.

&XML; Assign Meta DTD...

  This will tell the plugin which meta DTD to use for the current document. Note that this assignment will not be saved. You will have to repeat it when you start &kate; the next time.

### Thanks and Acknowledgments

&kate; Plugin &XML; Completion copyright 2001,2002 &Daniel.Naber; &Daniel.Naber.mail;.

&kde; SC 4 version copyright 2010 Tomáš Trnka

Documentation copyright 2001,2002 &Daniel.Naber;

## Compiler Explorer Plugin

The compiler explorer plugin allows you to use compiler explorer from within Kate. Compiler explorer is usually limited to 1 file only and it is difficult to use it to see the codegen of a file in your project. This plugin aims to simplify this process by automatically detecting compile commands for your file.

### Usage

The first thing you need to do is to open a compiler explorer tab. Hit &Ctrl;&Alt;I to open the command bar and search for "Open Current File in Compiler Explorer" and hit enter. You can add this action to the toolbar or assign a shortcut to it for easier access.

Next you need to setup a local instance of compiler explorer or use the public https://godbolt.org/ instance. See https://github.com/compiler-explorer/compiler-explorer. Once you have an instance, click on Option combobox in the compiler explorer tab you opened earlier and select Change Url... and then enter the url of the compiler explorer server.

Next you need a compile_commands.json if you need to see codegen for a file in your project. Otherwise you can skip this part. This can easily be obtained if you are using a modern build system like CMake or Meson. For CMake it is enough to pass `-DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=ON` when invoking cmake. The `compile_commands.json` should be placed at the root of your project. Close and reopen the compiler explorer tab in Kate. After reopening the tab it should show the compile commands need to compile the file

If you are just using compiler explorer to see the codegen for something temporary, you can just write down the compile commands for your file and click the Compile. Note that auto recompilation on editing is not supported. You need to click Compile every time you want to recompile the file

Once the file is compiled you should see the codegen on the right hand side. You can right-click and select Reveal linked code to see the codegen for a particular line. Similarly on the right hand side, you can right click and select Scroll to source to show the source code for a given codegen line

## Formatting Plugin

The formatting plugin allows one to format code easily. The plugin aims to preserve the document's undo history and user's cursor position when formatting the code so that the formatting of code doesn't disrupt user's work. This is especially important for automatic formatting on save.

### Usage

It allows the user to format code in two ways:

- Manually using the "Format Document" action.

- Automatically on save

You can search for this action in the command bar and bind a shortcut to it for easier access

### Supported languages and formatters

The current list of supported languages and formatters are as follows:

- C/C++/ObjectiveC/ObjectiveC++/Protobuf/GLSL/Java - `clang-format`

- Javascript/Typescript/JSX/TSX - `prettier`

- JSON

  - `prettier`

  - `clang-format`

  - `jq`

- Dart - `dartfmt`

- Rust - `rustfmt`

- Go - `gofmt`

- XML - `xmllint`

- Zig - `zigfmt`

- CMake - `cmake-format`

- D - `dfmt`

- Fish Shell - `fish_indent`

- Bash - `shfmt`

- Nix - `nixfmt`

- QML - `qmlformat`

- HTML - `prettier`

- Swift - `swiftformat`

- Erlang - `erlfmt`

- Godot Script - `gdformat`

- Python

  - `autopep8`

  - `ruff`

- YAML

  - `yamlfmt`

  - `prettier`

### Configuring

The plugin can be configured in two ways:

- Globally, from the Configure dialog

- On a per project basis using the `.kateproject` file

When reading the config, the plugin will first try to read the config from `.kateproject` file and then read the global config. Example:

    {
        "formatOnSave": true,
        "formatterForJson": "jq",
        "cmake-format": {
            "formatOnSave": false
        },
        "autopep8": {
            "formatOnSave": false
        }
    }

The above:

- enables "format on save" globally

- specifies "jq" as the formatter for JSON

- disables "format on save" for cmake-format and autopep8

To configure formatting for a project, first create a `.kateproject` file and then add a `"formatting"` object to it. In the `"formatting"` object you can specify your settings as shown in the previous example. Example:

You need to enable the Project plugin for this to work

    {
        "name": "My Cool Project",
        "files": [
            {
                "git": 1
            }
        ],
        "formatting": {
            "formatterForJson": "clang-format",
            "autopep8": {
                "formatOnSave": false
            }
        }
    }

### Temporarily disable format on save

While working you will often need to disable the formatting for a short while due to any reason. You can do this from the menubar, Tools Format on Save. You can also trigger this action from the Command bar.