Adding a new Ctags Language Definition

[jussij]

Zeus integrates with Exuberant Ctags which supports about 40 programming languages.

But even if your language is not on the list of supported langauges, it is very easy to add new language using a ctags configuration file.

For example consider the following ctags configuration file:

Code: Select all

--langdef=Clipper
--langmap=Clipper:.prg
--regex-clipper=/^FUNCTION[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/f,function/
--regex-clipper=/^PROCEDURE[ \t]*([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\1/p,procedure/

This file defines a new language definition for the Clipper language and maps the prg file extension to this map.

The two regular expressions define the function and procedure ctags items.

To make ctags use this configuration file just do the following:

1. Save the configuration details above to the .ctags file.
2. If the HOMEDRIVE and HOMEPATH environment variables are defined copy the .ctags file to this location.
3. Otherwise define these new environmental variables as follows.
4. Set the HOMEDRIVE environment variable to be c:
5. Set the HOMEPATH environment variable to be C:\Users\<your userid>
6. Put this .ctags file in that C:\Users\<your userid> location.
7. Start a new version of Zeus so that it picks up this environment change.

Now when you add prg files to a Zeus workspace these files will get tagged and the tags found will get displayed in the Classes tab of the Navigator Panel.

Cheers Jussi

[wolivo]

since i don't find a .ctags file anywhere on my hard drive, in this example would the .ctags file consist of only these 4 lines of code?

[jussij]

since i don't find a .ctags file anywhere on my hard drive, in this example would the .ctags file consist of only these 4 lines of code?

That is correct. I am no expert in .ctags but I think the way it works is the 'Clipper' word ties these four lines together to define a language.

This allows the file to contain multiple language definitions.

Below is a list of how the ctags words are mapped to the Zeus types:

Code: Select all

class     Tag_Class
function  Tag_Function
method    Tag_Method
macro     Tag_Macro
procedure Tag_Procedure
variable  Tag_Variable

You can also change the names of the labels displayed in the Classes panel by using the Labels panel found in the Workspace, Options menu.

Cheers Jussi

[jussij]

Here is a VB.Net ctags configuration:

Code: Select all

--langdef=vb
--langmap=vb:.vb
--regex-vb=/^[ \t]*(Public|Private)[ \t]+Sub[ \t]+([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\2/s,subroutine/i
--regex-vb=/^[ \t]*(Public|Private)[ \t]+Function[ \t]+([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\2/f,function/i
--regex-vb=/^[ \t]*(Public|Private)[ \t]+([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)[ \t]+As[ \t]+/\2/v,variable/i
--regex-vb=/^[ \t]*(Public|Private)[ \t]+Const[ \t]+([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)[ \t]+(As|=)[ \t]+/\2/c,const/i
--regex-vb=/^[ \t]*(Public|Private)[ \t]+Enum[ \t]+([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\2/e,enum/i
--regex-vb=/^[ \t]*(Public)[ \t]+Property[ \t]+(Get|Let|Set)[ \t]+([a-zA-Z0-9_]+)/\3/n,name/i
--regex-vb=/^[ \t]*([a-zA-Z_]+):/\1/l,label/i

Cheers Jussi