Nova^™

ConTeXt provides syntax highlighting, autocompletion, and task support for the ConTeXt document preparation system.

Features

This extension supports the following features:

• Syntax Highlighting
• Folding for: preamble, environments, comments, and postamble
• Automatic document hierarchy from heading commands
• Spellchecking in body text, titles, and subtitles
• Compile/Preview/Clean operations on the current file
• Compile/Preview/Clean operations on user-specified project files

Support for:

• Localization
• LSP integration

...is planned for a future update.

Requirements

To build PDF files, you will need to a context binary installed (either stand-alone, or from a TeX distribution). This extension will start a login shell to run the context binary: the extension should be able to find the binary if it is within the PATH environment variable for your default login shell. You may also explicitly configure the extension with an absolute path to a specific context binary if needed.

The automatically preview compiled PDFs, you will need to install Skim.app.

Usage

Syntax highlighting, folding, document hierarchy, and spellchecking work out of the box.

Compiling the Current ConTeXt File

The extension provides a Compile Current ConTeXt File task. With this task selected, there are three task actions available for the ConTeXt editor window with focus: Build, Run, and Clean.

The Build (⌘B) action in this task will compile the ConTeXt file in the editor window with focus. This action will use the context binary specified in the workspace setting, and fall back to the binary specified in the global setting.

The Run (⌘R) action in this task will preview the PDF file associated with the ConTeXt file in the editor window with focus. This action will honor the configuration under Skim Options in the global extension settings.

The Clean action (⇧⌘K) in this task will remove files produced by compilation, as specified under Clean Options in the Workspace extension settings (Project > Project Settings... > ConTeXt).

Generating Custom Tasks for Project Files

The extension also provides a Task Template, which can be used to generate tasks for specific source files. This can be useful if you want to compile a master document in a ConTeXt project while editing other source files in the project structure.

To create a new task dedicated to a specific source file:

1. Click the Project menu.
2. Select Project Settings.
3. In the left sidebar, click the plus symbol (+) next to Tasks.
4. Select Compile ConTeXt Project File.
5. Enter or browse to the path for the desired source file.

If you leave the Project file blank, the task will default to compiling the ConTeXt file in the editor window with focus.

After creating a custom task, it is recommended to rename the task to something meaningful: the name of the file being compiled, or the part of the project structure, etc.

Custom tasks can be configured to automatically perform a Build action before a run action. Click the arrow next to the task, select Run, and click the Build before running option.

Configuration

This extension supports global and workspace settings.

Global Configuration

To reach the global configuration options:

1. Click the Extensions... menu, and select Extension Library
2. Select the ConTeXt Extension in the side bar
3. Select Settings

Under ConTeXt Options, you may select the default context binary used across the extension. The extension will look for the binary in the PATH environment variable for your default login shell. You may also explicitly configure the extension with an absolute path to a specific context binary if needed.

Under Skim Options, you may configure the location of Skim.app on your system. An absolute bath is recommended.

You may configure how Skim is called when used to preview a PDF.

Enable Revert Skim on Run if you would like to force Skim to reload the file for each preview. This setting is not recommended if youhave Skim configured to detect file changes.

Enable Keep Skim in Background on Run to maintain the editor as the top-most window on your screen.

Workspace Configuration

To reach the workspace configuration options:

1. Click the Project menu, and select Project Settings...
2. Select ConTeXt in the sidebar, under Extensions

Under ConTeXt Options, you may select the default context binary used within this workspace. This setting will override the global configuration. The extension will look for the binary in the PATH environment variable for your default login shell. You may also explicitly configure the extension with an absolute path to a specific context binary if needed.

Under Clean Options, you may select which filetypes will be removed when running the Clean action for tasks in this workspace. Warning: the clean task will permanently delete the files; it will not stage them into the Trash.

Version 0.6.0

• Syntax highlighting
• ConTeXt environment folding
• Presentation of document structure based on heading commands
• Selective spellchecking (body text and heading titles/subtitles)
• Task (Build, Preview, and Clean) for the document under focus
• Per-project tasks (Build, Preview, and Clean) for main project files