[texworks] Highlighting for .dtx file?

[Joseph Wright]

On 05/09/2013 12:17, Stefan Löffler wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> On 2013-08-26 19:40, Joseph Wright wrote:
>> TeXworks' syntax highlighting comes set up for LaTeX and ConTeXt 'user
>> documents', as well as the 'no highlighting' option. One thing that I've
>> been asked a few times is for some settings for editing LaTeX Documented
>> Source (.dtx) files. Would it be of any broader interest to add this to
>> the standard set?
> 
> I'm a bit reluctant to add this by default, as it is a rather advanced
> feature only useful for experts. The "average user" might be confused
> whether this is for LaTeX "sources", or something else. So, in the
> interest of "lowering the entry barrier to the TeX world", I'd rather
> not add it to the user interface by default.

Perfectly reasonable position, hence the 'wider interest' point. I'm
fine with the idea that the base set up is very focussed.

>> Alternatively, if this seems rather too specialised
>> for the TeXworks core, is there any interest in trying to sort out a
>> single place to collect up useful add-ons to TeXworks, akin to WinEdt's
>> community site (http://www.winedt.org)? (Or of course is there one already?)
> 
> There is Paul Norman's resource for scripting:
> http://twscript.paulanorman.info/docs/index.html
> And there's the project wiki, of course, where things like advanced
> typesetting tool configurations are collected:
> http://code.google.com/p/texworks/w/list
> 
> Of course, a central resource would be nice, but the problem is that it
> would have to be actively maintained, needs a web space, etc. Until such
> a thing exists, we could add a wiki page for syntax highlighting...?

I guess the wiki would be a good choice: it probably fulfils the
'central repository' concept quite well, really. (I was not thinking
anything particularly complex.)  Perhaps a page of the form

 - 'Syntax highlighting library'
 - 'Settings for advanced editing'
 ...

would be good.

> PS: I'd also like to enhance the syntax highlighting from simple RegExps
> to some kind of state machine (that allow, e.g., parenthesis matching).
> But the problem is that there are so many ideas and so little coding
> time... ;)

A state machine would be nice :-) I can certainly see that looks like
hard work: I was under the impression that the regex stuff was at least
partly 'built in' to the Qt editor.
-- 
Joseph Wright