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Editor Options

The editor settings dialog allows the user to configure the appearance and behavior of the editor within Simply Fortran. The Simply Fortran editor, based on Scintilla , provides powerful code editing capabilities, including syntax highlighting. The user should configure the editor to suit his or her preferences.

The options are divided into tabs, each described below:

Colors and Font

Editor Color Settings Dialog

The colors utilized by the editor can be modified by the user. A drop-down box specifies which color component to change, and the Select… button opens a selection dialog. Because Simply Fortran features syntax highlighting, the user can configure keywords, comments, and variables to stand out from each other.

Under the colors drop-down, an Import Theme… button allows the user to select and import a Visual Studio 2010-2013 color theme.

The font selection dropdown and the associated size text box allows the user to adjust the fonts used in Simply Fortran. The font size may also be increased in real-time within the editor by holding the Control key while moving the mouse’s scroll wheel.

Language Features

Editor Language Settings Dialog

These options enable and disable certain Simply Fortran features within the editor related to enhancing productivity while working with known source languages .

Call Tips

When a source file in a supported language is being edited, the editor can optionally display real-time help for both intrinsic and user-defined procedures and functions. Enabling this option will allow help boxes to appear when a Fortran intrinsic procedure is entered followed by an opening parentheses.

Syntactical Indentation

Enabling this option allows Simply Fortran to intelligently indent or dedent code whenever a subunit of code in the file’s particular language is entered or exited. For example, if Simply Fortran detects the beginning of a loop in the code after ENTER is pressed, the next line will be automatically indented one tab width deeper than the loop’s beginning line. Conversely, if the end of a loop is detected after ENTER is pressed, Simply Fortran will dedent both the current line and the loop’s closing statement (if applicable) to match the indentation of the loop’s opening statement.

Syntax Checking and Inline Error Display

These two related options control real-time syntax checking within an editor tab. For a supported language , syntax checking allows Simply Fortran to periodically process code within the editor to check for warnings or errors. Errors or warnings will then be underlined appropriately within the editor. Enabling Inline Error Display will also display the error and warning messages directly in the code.

Autocomplete

The Autocomplete options control which types of autocompletion popups Simply Fortran will provide while typing. The four types of supported completion are listed below:

  • Modules Names and Members – When use is entered, a popup will display all known module names. If followed by the only specifier, a popup will display any known members of the module.
  • Scoped Variables and Procedures – When typing any code, popups will appear suggesting variables and procedures currently known to be visible within the current program or subprogram.
  • Derived Types – If a % symbol is entered after variable known to be a derived type, a popup will suggest any members of the derived type.
  • Control Structures – A popup will provide common suggestions to follow an end statement.

All autocompletion modes are supported when editing Fortran. Python and C support some autocompletion via the Scoped Variables and Procedures option.

Default Language

This option reflects the default language and syntax highlighting to be used when a new file is opened in the editor. Normally, Simply Fortran will determine the syntax highlighting method to use based on the file name. However, when a new editor is opened without a pre-existing file, this option will allow the editor to default to free-format Fortran, fixed-format Fortran, or plain text (None).

Styles

Editor Style Settings Dialog

This panel controls stylistic editing options, as described below:

Use Spaces for Tabs

When the tab key is pressed, Simply Fortran normally introduces a true tab character into the text. If this option is enabled, however, an equivalent number of spaces is added rather than the tab character.

If the editor is currently in “Makefile” mode, i.e. the user is editing a Makefile, this option will be ignored, and true tab characters will be used.

Tab Width

The tab width specifies the size of either the tab character in the editor or the equivalent number of spaces if the Use Spaces for Tabs option is enabled.

Remove Excess Whitespace on Save

When enabled, any trailing whitespace on lines is stripped prior to writing the file to disk.

Display

Editor Style Settings Dialog

Options on this panel control the appearance of the editor (excluding colors and fonts).

Show Line Numbers

Enabling this options activates a line number listing for files in the editor.

Show Vertical Line

Displaying a vertical line is useful for determining when a single line of text is approaching a limit. For example, the Fortran 90 standard dictates that the maximum length of a single line is 132 characters. Enabling this guide can make development easier.

Indentation Guides

Indentation guides are useful in lining up indented text within a Fortran source file. In the case of large loops, for example, where the loop contents are indented, the guide can be used to determine where the dedented loop closing should be place.

Word Wrap

Enabling this option causes lines wider than the editor tab to wrap to the next line. However, this wrapping is performed for display purposes only; it is not reflected in the saved file. When a line does wrap, a small arrow will appear on subsequent display lines to indicate that they are actually continuations of the previous line.

Caret Width

This number specifies the width of the text cursor within the editor tab. This number can be either 1, 2, or 3, with 3 being the thickest.