final and override C+11 specifiers coloration in Geany

Question

I develop using Geany 1.22 and I am having trouble with coloration of C++11 keywords.

Here is my configuration file for .cpp : filetypes.cpp

# For complete documentation of this file, please see Geany's main documentation
[styling]
# foreground;background;bold;italic
default=default
comment=comment
commentline=comment
commentdoc=commentdoc
number=number
word=keyword
word2=keyword2
string=string
character=character
uuid=extra
preprocessor=preprocessor
operator=operator
identifier=default
stringeol=stringeol
# @"verbatim"
verbatim=extra
# (/regex/)
regex=extra
commentlinedoc=commentdoc
commentdockeyword=commentdoc
commentdockeyworderror=commentdoc
globalclass=type

[keywords]
# all items must be in one line
primary=and and_eq asm auto bitand bitor bool break case catch char class compl const const_cast continue default delete do double dynamic_cast else enum explicit export extern false float for friend goto if inline int long mutable namespace new not not_eq operator or or_eq private protected public register reinterpret_cast return short signed sizeof static static_cast struct switch template this throw true try typedef typeid typename union unsigned using virtual void volatile wchar_t while xor xor_eq static_assert decltype
secondary=
# these are some doxygen keywords (incomplete)
docComment=attention author brief bug class code date def enum example exception file fn namespace note param remarks return see since struct throw todo typedef var version warning union

[lexer_properties]
styling.within.preprocessor=1
preprocessor.symbol.$(file.patterns.cpp)=#
preprocessor.start.$(file.patterns.cpp)=if ifdef ifndef
preprocessor.middle.$(file.patterns.cpp)=else elif
preprocessor.end.$(file.patterns.cpp)=endif

[settings]
lexer_filetype=C

# default extension used when saving files
extension=cpp

# the following characters are these which a "word" can contains, see documentation
#wordchars=_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789

# if only single comment char is supported like # in this file, leave comment_close blank
comment_open=//
comment_close=
# this is an alternative way, so multiline comments are used
#comment_open=/*
#comment_close=*/

# set to false if a comment character/string should start at column 0 of a line, true uses any
# indentation of the line, e.g. setting to true causes the following on pressing CTRL+d
    #command_example();
# setting to false would generate this
#   command_example();
# This setting works only for single line comments
comment_use_indent=true

# context action command (please see Geany's main documentation for details)
context_action_cmd=

[build_settings]
# %f will be replaced by the complete filename
# %e will be replaced by the filename without extension
# (use only one of it at one time)
compiler=g++ -Wall -c "%f"
linker=g++ -Wall -o "%e" "%f"
run_cmd="./%e"

If I write :

class MyClass
{
};

to define a new class, then the color of MyClass is set to the color of globalclass (which is the color associated to type)

But when I write in C++11 :

class MyClass final
{
};

then final (and not MyClass) is set to the color of globalclass. If I add final to the list of primary keywords, then it is set to the color of word which is good, but MyClass is still not interpreted as a globalclass.

How to solve that problem ?

Answer 1

The problem seems to be that in C++11, final and override (I suspect you will have the same problem there) are not actually keywords. They are identifiers that only gain special meaning is a specific context. This means that you can't actually "just" give a colour to these identifiers at any time, you need to know their context.

Luckily, however, this C++11 support has all been done for you in Geany 1.23. Unfortunately Geany 1.23 doesn't do it 100% correct either. That is, if one writes int final = 123; then final will be coloured as a keyword (whereas it actually isn't a keyword). So what they actually did is: they added final as a primary keyword, which isn't exactly correct, but it -sort of- works.

So my advice to you is either download the latest version of Geany from this link or try the following configuration file: (from Geany 1.23)

# For complete documentation of this file, please see Geany's main documentation
[styling=C]

[keywords]
# all items must be in one line
primary=alignas alignof and and_eq asm auto bitand bitor bool break case catch char char16_t char32_t class compl const const_cast constexpr continue decltype default delete do double dynamic_cast else enum explicit export extern false final float for friend goto if inline int int8_t int16_t int32_t int64_t long mutable namespace new noexcept not not_eq nullptr operator or or_eq override private protected ptrdiff_t public register reinterpret_cast return short signed sizeof size_t static static_assert static_cast struct switch template this thread_local throw true try typedef typeid typename union unsigned using virtual void volatile wchar_t while xor xor_eq
secondary=
# these are the Doxygen keywords
docComment=a addindex addtogroup anchor arg attention author authors b brief bug c callergraph callgraph category cite class code cond copybrief copydetails copydoc copyright date def defgroup deprecated details dir dontinclude dot dotfile e else elseif em endcode endcond enddot endhtmlonly endif endinternal endlatexonly endlink endmanonly endmsc endrtfonly endverbatim endxmlonly enum example exception extends file fn headerfile hideinitializer htmlinclude htmlonly if ifnot image implements include includelineno ingroup interface internal invariant latexonly li line link mainpage manonly memberof msc mscfile n name namespace nosubgrouping note overload p package page par paragraph param post pre private privatesection property protected protectedsection protocol public publicsection ref related relatedalso relates relatesalso remark remarks result return returns retval rtfonly sa section see short showinitializer since skip skipline snippet struct subpage subsection subsubsection tableofcontents test throw throws todo tparam typedef union until var verbatim verbinclude version warning weakgroup xmlonly xrefitem

[lexer_properties]
styling.within.preprocessor=1
lexer.cpp.track.preprocessor=0
preprocessor.symbol.$(file.patterns.cpp)=#
preprocessor.start.$(file.patterns.cpp)=if ifdef ifndef
preprocessor.middle.$(file.patterns.cpp)=else elif
preprocessor.end.$(file.patterns.cpp)=endif

[settings]
lexer_filetype=C

# default extension used when saving files
extension=cpp

# the following characters are these which a "word" can contains, see documentation
#wordchars=_abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789

# single comments, like # in this file
comment_single=//
# multiline comments
comment_open=/*
comment_close=*/

# set to false if a comment character/string should start at column 0 of a line, true uses any
# indentation of the line, e.g. setting to true causes the following on pressing CTRL+d
    #command_example();
# setting to false would generate this
#   command_example();
# This setting works only for single line comments
comment_use_indent=true

# context action command (please see Geany's main documentation for details)
context_action_cmd=

[indentation]
#width=4
# 0 is spaces, 1 is tabs, 2 is tab & spaces
#type=1

[build_settings]
# %f will be replaced by the complete filename
# %e will be replaced by the filename without extension
# (use only one of it at one time)
compiler=g++ -Wall -c "%f"
linker=g++ -Wall -o "%e" "%f"
run_cmd="./%e"

However, I somehow doubt that the above will work without updating to the next version of Geany, because you said that just adding "final" as a primary keyword didn't work for you.

On the other hand, check out the manual on lexer properties if you still want to manually do this.

I hope this helps.