Change Log

All notable changes to the ModalEdit extension will be documented in this file.

Version 1.0

• Initial release

Version 1.1

• Added selectTillMatch argument to modalEdit.search command.
• Editor does not automatically revert back to normal mode when changing window.

Version 1.2

• Added startInNormalMode setting, resolving issue #1

Version 1.3

• Incremental search now returns to insert mode, if it was invoked from there #4
• Added new command modaledit.typeNormalKeys which can be used to "call" key bindings. Also fixes issue #3
• Added new argument typeAfterAccept to modaledit.search command. This invokes normal mode key bindings (using modaledit.typeNormalKeys) after successful search. The argument can be used to enter insert mode, or clear selection after search, for example.

Version 1.4

• Fixed few issues with modaledit.search command.
• You can use __selection variable in JS expressions to access currently selected text.

Version 1.5

Update that was sparked by issue #6. Contains multiple new features:

• repeat attribute added to commands with parameters.
• Keymaps can contain key ranges.
• Support for recursive keymaps.
• New __keySequence variable added to JS expressions. Contains the key sequence that was used to invoke a command.
• New property help added to keymaps. The help string is shown in the status bar when the associated keymap is active.
• Added ModalEdit log to output window.
• Semi-large refactoring of type definitions in the actions module.

Version 1.6

• New command modaledit.selectBetween selects text between two delimiter strings. Especially useful when combined with the key ranges and recursive keymaps introduced in version 1.5.
• Added a shorter alias __keys to the __keySequence variable available in JS expressions.

Version 1.7

Two "repeat" related bigger improvements:

• New modaledit.repeatLastChange command emulates Vim's dot . command quite faithfully.
• The repeat property used in context with commands taking arguments can now also contain a JS expression that returns a boolean value. In this case, the value is used as a condition that tells if the command should be repeated. The command is repeated as long as the expression returns a truthy value.

And some minor changes:

• New variable __rkeys available for use in JS expressions. It contains the keys pressed to invoke a command in reverse order. This is handy if you need to access the last keys in the sequence. They are conveniently the first ones in __rkeys.
• Removed unneeded images from the extension package. The package is now 3 MBs smaller.

Version 2.0

Major release containing lot of new features and improvements.

Preset keybindings

It is possible now to import keybindings through the modaledit.importPresets command. Vim presets are included in the extension (#7). The presets can be also defined as JavaScript (#9). They are evaluated or "compiled" to JSON when import is run.

Improvements to Search

Search command has several new features:

• Multicursor search (#5, #12) is now working.

• There are four new parameters: typeBeforeNextMatch, typeAfterNextMatch, typeBeforePreviousMatch, and typeAfterPreviousMatch. These can be used to run key commands after modaledit.nextMatch and modaledit.previousMathch commands. The need for these parameters arose when implementing Vim's t and f key commands. These commands look for specified character and place the cursor either on it or before it. Without the new parameters, it would not be possible to emulate Vim's behavior using modaledit.search. This is because by default, it selects the search string and search always starts from the current cursor position. To make jumping to next and previous character possible, we need to adjust the cursor position before and after the commands.

• New parameter wrapAround causes the search to jump the beginning/end of the file if it hits bottom/top. This closes issue #8

• The implementation of modaledit.search and modaledit.selectBetween commands have been refactored. Adding the new parameters described above made it possible to simplify the implementation and remove hacky code. The changes should not break existing functionality but make these commands work more logically and consistently. For example, both of the commands now work properly when they are used to extend the existing selection.

Cursor and Status Bar Configuration

You can now define a different cursor shape when selection is active in normal mode using the selectCursorStyle. Also, you can change the status bar text shown in each mode. It is possible to include icons in the status bar, if you like. This should be sufficient to close issue #13

A secondary status bar was added to show the keys that have been pressed so far. It also shows help messages defined in bindings and warnings from the search command.

Bookmark Improvements

There is a new command modaledit.showBookmarks that shows all the defined bookmarks. You can jump to any of them by selecting one in the list. Also, the bookmark can now be any string instead of a number. This actually worked previously, but now documentation about this is updated too.

New parameter select in the modaledit.goToBookmark command extends selection till the bookmark instead of putting the cursor on it. This makes it possible to use bookmarks as selection scoping mechanism à la Vim.

Changes Concerning JS Expressions

New variables __cmd and __rcmd can be used in JS expressions. They contain the key sequence that was pressed as a string. They correspond to expressions:

__cmd = __keys.join('')
__rcmd = __rkeys.join('')

In many cases, these variables allow you to write expressions that inspect the key sequence in a shorter form.

All the variants of __keys or __keySequence variables now contain the actual key sequence that was used to invoke the command. Previously they contained the sequence that the user pressed. Since you can also invoke key commands programmatically using modaledit.typeNormalKeys, this made implementing reusable commands more difficult. You could not rely on the key sequence to correspond to the path to the keybinding you were defining. Now you can rely that the __keys variable and its variants contain the path to the binding, which should make sure that commands work correctly when invoked through modaledit.typeNormalKeys.

Other Changes

• Configuration section called selectbindings can be used to define key bindings that are in effect when selection is active. This allows you to define different key sequences for same leader keys in normal mode and selecion mode.

  For example in Vim, the d key is in normal mode the leader key for sequences such as dw (delete word) or dip (delete inside paragraph). In visual (selection) mode, d deletes the selected text. Previously it was not possible to have such keymaps, but with selectbindings you can now define them.

• selecting flag is now refreshed when you switch between files. The select mode no longer "sticks" between tabs.

Version 2.1

Two new commands (courtesy of David Little):

• modaledit.enableSelection turns selection mode on.
• modaledit.cancelMultipleSelections cancels selection mode preserving multiple cursors.

Version 2.2

• Added a possibility to abort long running commands by pressing Esc.
• modaledit.selectBetween command now supports the nested parameter, which correctly handles selection between nested brackets, and resembles Vim's behavior. Also updated Vim bindings accordingly. #39
• Will later upload extension also to Open VSIX Registry so that it can be used also with VSCodium and other open-source forks.