Sublime Forum

Keyboard binding to dismiss inline build errors

#1

Inline errors are nice, but since the first error is usually the only one I care about I would like to start editing at the error immediately without the inline errors still visible. Using the mouse to click is fine, but it will be nice to be able to use only the keyboard for the flow of Build -> Goto Error -> (dismiss phantoms) -> edit -> save -> build.

3 Likes
#2

Indeed, by default, it is not possible to press Esc to dismiss [build error] phantoms…

and it seems it is currently not possible to create a keybinding for it either, due to:

  • there not being a command to dismiss them in exec.py
  • there not being a context to tell when [build error] phantoms are shown

CC @wbond because it isn’t in the Technical Support topic and you might miss this essential accessibility improvement idea otherwise :slight_smile:

ofc, build error phantoms will be removed/updated on the next build run, so it is possible to edit the source code with the build errors showing, and execute a new build without dismissing the phantoms…

but I understand the desire to hide them first :slight_smile: in certain circumstances the phantom might disappear when the text it relates to is edited, which could be used as a “workaround” for having no keyboard shortcut to dismiss them for now :wink:

2 Likes
#3

An example is when C++ errors + warnings + notes take over the screen - sometime a C++ template error is pages of brackets and barely readable content.

Screenshot of such a case is below, where editing a “line” that spans half a screen is confusing when you navigate with the keyboard.

inline_errors.png815×919 147 KB

0 Likes
#4

heh, yeah - definitely useful to dismiss them with a keybinding :wink: you could go back to the old behavior in the meantime though of showing the build output panel by putting "show_errors_inline": false in your user preferences file.

0 Likes
#5

Try:

{
    "keys": ["ctrl+l"],
    "command": "exec",
    "args": {
        "hide_phantoms_only": true
    }
},

Or for vim modes:

{
    "keys": ["ctrl+l"],
    "command": "exec",
    "args": {
        "hide_phantoms_only": true
    },
    "context": [
        { "key": "setting.command_mode" }
    ]
},

Ideally there should be a toggle.

I thought a toggle could be hacked together using an "update_phantoms_only": false but apparently not.

2 Likes
#6

Great, that did work thank you. Where can I find that magic for reference?

0 Likes
#7

I figured it out from the default package exec.py source.

0 Likes
How do I hide inline errors/phantoms with a key binding?
#8

Here’s the Default/exec.py gist for build 3124.

0 Likes
#9

I have written a plugin(SublimeBuildErrorHider) to do this better.

SublimeBuildErrorHider uses the Esc key to hide phantoms and it has no conflicts with other commands and plugins.

SublimeBuildErrorHider does this by adding a subclass of ViewEventListener, with only one member function named on_query_context to check if a view has a "error_phantom_visible" entry in it settings or not, to satisfy context checking of ST; and making some changes to the default ExecCommand class of ST’s build system, with changing its member functions update_phantoms and hide_phantoms, to add 2 extra jobs:

  • Add a "error_phantom_visible" entry to settings of the involved views when update_phantoms is called.

  • Erase the "error_phantom_visible" entry from settings of the involved views when hide_phantoms is called.

The source code is simple

import sublime
import sublime_plugin


def plugin_loaded():
    from Default.exec import ExecCommand

    old_hide_phantoms = ExecCommand.hide_phantoms
    old_update_phantoms = ExecCommand.update_phantoms

    def new_hide_phantoms(self):
        for file, errs in self.errs_by_file.items():
            view = self.window.find_open_file(file)
            if view:
                view.settings().erase("error_phantom_visible")
        old_hide_phantoms(self)

    def new_update_phantoms(self):
        old_update_phantoms(self)
        for file, errs in self.errs_by_file.items():
            view = self.window.find_open_file(file)
            if view:
                view.settings().set("error_phantom_visible", True)

    ExecCommand.hide_phantoms = new_hide_phantoms
    ExecCommand.update_phantoms = new_update_phantoms


class HidePhantomListener(sublime_plugin.ViewEventListener):
    def on_query_context(self, key, operator, operand, match_all):
        return self.view.settings().get('error_phantom_visible', False)
1 Like
#10

And the key binding is

[
    {
        "keys": ["escape"],
        "command": "exec",
        "args": { "hide_phantoms_only": true },
        "context":
        [
            { "key": "error_phantom_visible", "operator": "equal", "operand": true }
        ]
    }
]
0 Likes