[Qt-creator] Custom lines formatting in Compile Output

[Tobias Hunger]

On 09.12.2013 10:13, Mateusz Loskot wrote:
> What I'm looking for is a way to customise formatting for the chain
> of calls that starts at emitted addOutput from here
>
> void AbstractProcessStep::stdOutput(const QString &line)
> {
>      if (m_outputParserChain)
>          m_outputParserChain->stdOutput(line);
>      emit addOutput(line, BuildStep::NormalOutput, BuildStep::DontAppendNewline);
> }
>
> and received in CompileOutputWindow::appendText
> which next calls OutputWindow::appendText.

Nobody tried to do that yet AFAIK, so I don't think there is much 
infrastructure in place.

Check BuildManager::addToOutputWindow for the code.

It calls CompileOutputWindow::appendText which generates QTextCharFormat 
from PE::BuildStep::OutputFormat and then calls appendText on its 
m_outputWindow (which is a CompileOutputTextEdit, derived from 
Core::OutputWindow).

> Initially, I thought I can do
> CompileOutputWindow::outputWidget()->setFormatter(mycustomformatter)
> that could be hooked by OutputWindow::appendMessage,
> Then, I could recognise some custom format markers for
> OutputFormat::NormlMessageFormat kind of lines.
>
> But, the appendMessage seems never called for outputting Build lines.

Nope, this ends up as a call to appendText.

> Long story short, I would like to add colorise some lines
> that my custom IOutputParser recognises.

Please don't. I have enough bug reports about the two colors we use 
already:-) You would be surprised how many people ask to change one line 
or another to be printed in red instead of black (or the other way 
around)... or that complain that after changing the compiler the errors 
are no longer printed in red as they used to or whatnot.

If you insist on doing you own custom highlighting: Please make your 
lines stand out from the others in such a way that it is clear that no 
compiler/buildsystem combo on earth would ever create them!

> If that is not possible, I will try to create tasks for those lines (events),
> that that is less convenient for my case as it seems that:
> 1) The task list in the Issues pane is not a 'grid' that could be
> sorted by type, file

I have bug reports for that for ages:-/

The problem here is that the parsers are just not up to the task of 
recognizing which of all the output the compiler generates belong 
together: "In file included from <blah>", etc. needs to stay with the 
problem that refers to, otherwise the whole filtering makes little sense.

> 2) Or, there is no way, for tasks in "Compile" category, apply
> some finer filtering. The only available is on/off for warnings.

Also have bug reports for that... same problem as for the sorting.

> In my case, build output can contain
> - build errors
> - build warnings
> - compile-time testing status (fail/pass)
> - run-time testing status (fail/pass)
>
> and I'd like to visually distinguish output for the last two kinds,
> either in "Compile Output" view directly or in the "Issues" list.

I do not think compile output is the right place for this: Many users 
seem to not display that at all and fully rely on the build issues.

https://codereview.qt-project.org/#change,72040 adds support for custom 
icons to the tasks in the build issues. You could use those to make your 
tests stand out a bit more in that list.

You could even move them into their own task category, so that you 
toggle the tests in the build issues separately from the compile issues. 
I would recommend doing that anyway: Tests are no compile problems after 
all, so they deserve a separate category.

> If it makes sense, perhaps there is a way to achieve this.
>
> Best regards,
>


-- 
Tobias Hunger, Senior Software Engineer - Digia, Qt
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