Dark & Light themes for Picard scripting with Notepad++

For Picard script junkies using Notepad++ :

I have created a UDL (user defined language) theme for Notepad++

It’s a dark theme:

Update:
The download now contains a light version too:

“how to”:

  • Download the xml file:
  • Navigate to your NPP installation folder and locate the folder: userDefineLangs

  • Copy the xml file there.

  • Open Notepad++
    Now in the menubar under , the new UDL should be available.

That should be it.

some notes:

1:
Important !

Notepad++ has an import feature for UDL’s by means of an [Import…] button in the UDL panel.
Do not use that to import this UDL file!
NPP currently seems to have a bug that breaks font specifications from UDL files when importing them in this manner.
(currently at v7.8.3)

2:
This dark version looks best with your background in Notepad++ set to rgb 30,30,30

3:
I designed it for use with these fonts specifically:

Verdana
Source Code Pro Medium
Source Code Pro Semibold

The first one is—if I am not mistaken—by default installed with Window 10.
The other two are included in the download link.

You are obviously completely free to edit the themes’ colours and fonts to your own liking.
(And then perhaps post and share the results in this thread?)

4:
Feedback and/or suggestions for improvement are welcome.
(I’m not a coder, so there may well be room for improvement)

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Update:

To put some icing on the cake I created a couple of file icons making it possible to differentiate between file types:


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Update updated:

  • 48x48 desktop icons are now non-transparent. (better for desktops with an image as background)
  • Icons for .ini and .config are added.

12 Likes

I’ve created some file icons that I use myself for coding for Picard and MusicBee.
Maybe others find them useful too.

See the startpost for details.

edit:
To those that already downloaded the icons: I just slightly improved and re-upped them.
(16x16 displayed a bit too small and looked sketchy)

2 Likes

Updated.
The new and upcoming scripting functions for Picard 2.3 are now also recognized.

3 Likes

Love the icons. There is actually a ticket for storing the tagger script in files instead of the config file. I very much would like to get this implemented as I’m also always copying the script between my editor and Picard. it would make things so much easier being able to edit the scripts in your favorite editor directly. Also if Picard would detect and pickup changes automatically (as it definitely should be implemented) you could edit the scripts without actually opening options.

Love it :smiley:

For completeness, there was also this light theme for tagger script in Notepadd++ posted a while ago:

2 Likes

I saw that one, it seems it has some more complicated features than mine.
(features I didn’t fully understand to be honest)

I also had a light version in the making, but temporarily stopped working on it.
If there is some interest I’ll make sure to finish and share it before too long.

An impression of the colouring:

I recall when I started discovering scripting in Picard, I searched all Picard folders and locations to find where the hell those script files I created were stored :wink:
It took a while before I learned that they were assimilated by the Borg into a config file.

One advantage of using the script panel in Picard in my opinion is that it will immediately flag (and refuse) any incorrect syntax.
Considering that the UDL language syntax features of Notepad++ are quite limited (e.g. no regex possible), it will probably be impossible to replicate that with Notepad++.
(but perhaps it’s possible with other editors such as Visual Studio Code?)

1 Like

Update; I added icons for .config and .ini filetypes.
Details are in the startpost.

1 Like

Can we try to decide on a file extension? I saw this one uses .txtp. For my language extensions for Atom and Visual Studio Code I originally used the awkward .taggerscript and later added .pts (Picard Tagger Script), which I actually like.

I actually like the .pts as well. Even though it is also the extension used for a 3D Points File, I don’t expect a lot of overlap and confusion. An alternative which doesn’t seem to be already assigned might be .mbps (MusicBrainz Picard Script).

The reason I decided on .txtp and .txtm myself is because I consider them to be regular text files, and this makes it clear to me I can edit them in any text editor of my choosing.

I have no opinion on what would be good to use for official use for Picard, that’s all up to you guys.

Update:
I created a light version also.

The download link in the startpost is the same.

Updated.

The recently added tags:

_releasegroup_firstreleasedate
_recording_firstreleasedate

and functions:

$datetime
$find
$foreach
$getmulti
$join
$lenmulti
$map
$reverse
$reversemulti
$slice
$sortmulti
$substr
$while

Are now recognised.
The download link is in the startpost.

1 Like

Could a moderator please change the topic title for me, and change it to:

Dark & Light themes for Picard scripting with Notepad++

Tia!

thnx :wink:

1 Like