Brackets Elixir Tools

This plugin provides syntax highlighting and advanced tooling for Elixir.

Features

Syntax highlighting

The syntax highlighting part is currently just a copy of Matt Enlows (@novaugust) brackets-elixir plugin, which integrates the halohalospecial's codemirror-elixir-mode into brackets.
If you are looking for a leightweight Elixir plugin with just syntax highlighting support check out this one.

Elixir Mix Task support

The plugin provides support for Elixirs build tool mix. For this features it is required that the opened project is an Elixir mix project. This means a mix.exs file is expected in the projects root directory.

• mix compile and mix test can be invoked from within brackets.
• The results will be shown on a dedicated panel and links to jump directly to errors are included in the output.
• The plugin can also be configured to autorun one of these commands if a file in the project is saved.
  The functionality can be activated and deactivated through the brackets-elixir-tools.onSaveRunMixCompile and brackets-elixir-tools.onSaveRunMixTest options.

Elixir REPL integration

The plugin provides an iex REPL to the user on a dedicated panel for the use in mix projects.

• The REPL must be manually start and stopped trough a button on the REPL widget. For the first start of the REPL it is necessary that the mix project compiles without errors.
• The REPL will be started with the iex -S mix command.
• The REPL includes a command history functionality.
• Selected text in an editor can be send to the REPL through a command, which is visible in the menu and context menu and can also be bound to a key.
• Alternatively the whole content of an editor can be sent to the REPL.
• The plugin can be configured to automatically send a recompile command to the REPL if the user saves any elixir source file in the projects lib folder. If the function is activated through the brackets-elixir-tools.onSaveCompileInRepl option.

Autocompletion functionality

The plugin provides autocompletion for Elixir modules and functions. This is achieved through a hidden REPL (further referenced as the system REPL) which is opened automatically for an Elixir project. This REPL gets queried for completions. Therefore the autocomplete functionality is only available in mix projects.

Show documentation functionality

The plugin allows to show the documentation for Elixir modules and functions inline with the source code. The system REPL is used to query for the documentation, therefore this feature is also only available in mix projects.
The documentation views can be closed with the escape key (like all brackets inline widgets).

Elixir configuration

The plugin allows to configure the path to the elixir executables through the brackets-elixir-tools.elixirPath preference. By default this is empty. This means the plugin will look for elixir in the users PATH.

Supported commands

The following commands are provided and can be bound to keys:

• brackets-elixir-tools.toggle-mix-output-window
  Show/Hide mix output window

• brackets-elixir-tools.toggle-repl-window
  Show/Hide REPL window

• brackets-elixir-tools.mix-compile
  Runs mix compile for the current project

• brackets-elixir-tools.mix-test
  Runs mix test for the current project

• brackets-elixir-tools.restart-system-repl
  Restarts the internal REPL which is used for autocompletion and help functionality

• brackets-elixir-tools.send-selected-text-to-repl
  Send selected text to REPL

• brackets-elixir-tools.send-current-file-to-repl
  Sends the whole content of the active editor to the REPL

• brackets-elixir-tools.show-doc-for-identifer
  Show documentation for the identifier under the active cursor. Can be hidden with escape key.

Known Issues

• The REPLs for the plugin are started as node.js child_processes. Unfortunately there are issues with killing these child processes completely. Therefore it may happen happen that erlang processes stick around even after closing brackets.
  This seems to be especially a problem on windows. As a workaround you can kill all open erlang processes from the windows console with the following command: taskkill /F /im erl.exe /T
• The codemirror mode for Elixir should be further improved to provide a more reliable behavior, especially regarding indentation.

Contributing

Want Brackets-Elixir-Tools improved? Me too! Feel free to open an issue or PR here on github.

License

MIT