Code completion and syntax highlighting with VIM

The VIM editor

VIM is a well-known source code editor for programmers.

Automatic code completion and syntax highlighting is supported by fglcomp and fglform compilers, when using VIM.

Important: In order to use Genero code completion with VIM, you need at least VIM version 7 with the Omni Completion feature.

Configuring VIM for Genero BDL

Perform the following steps to enable code-completion for Genero:

Copy Genero VIM plugin files from FGLDIR/vimfiles onto your VIM plugin directory:
- On Unix platforms, the VIM plugin directory is ~/.vim.
- On Windows platforms, the VIM plugin directory is %USERPROFILE%\vimfiles.
Add the following lines to your VIM resouces file
- On Unix plaforms, the VIM resource file is ~/.vimrc.
- On Windows plafrorms, the VIM resource file is %USERPROFILE%\_vimrc.
```
autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.per setlocal filetype=per
syntax on
```

Alternatively, if you often switch between different versions of Genero BDL, you can reference the Genero VIM files directly without copying them, by adding the following lines to your VIM resource file:

let generofiles=expand($FGLDIR . "/vimfiles")
if isdirectory(generofiles)
   let &rtp=generofiles.','.&rtp
endif
autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.per setlocal filetype=per
syntax on

Note: In fact, the .4gl file type "fgl" is usually detected in the default configuration files of VIM (like /usr/share/vim/vim80/filetype.vim). If this file type is not detected by default by your VIM installation, add the next line in your .vimrc file:

autocmd BufNewFile,BufRead *.4gl setlocal filetype=fgl

Using VIM on Microsoft Windows platforms

On Windows platforms, you typically install the GVim (Graphical VIM) software.

Note: Some versions of VIM for Windows may use different configuration files and locations (_vimrc or .vimrc?). Refer to the VIM documentation, to make sure that you use the proper files.

When using the command line version VIM, you may want to add:

color shine

Using code completion with Genero and VIM

First make sure the Genero environment is set (FGLDIR, PATH).

Open a .4gl or .per file, start to edit the file with VIM.

Note: On Windows platforms, if you start GVim from the icon, the Genero environment may not be set. As result fglcomp/fglform cannot be called from VIM. You need to set the Genero BDL environment before starting VIM.

When in insert mode, press CTRL-X + CTRL-O, to get a list of language elements to complete the instruction syntax or expression.

For convenience, TAB can also be used to get the completion list as with the CTRL-X + CTRL-O key combinations. However, TAB will only show the completion list, if the edit cursor in after a keyword: At the beginning of the line, TAB adds indentation characters.

For more details about VIM, see http://www.vim.org.