vimfox ALPHA

Live web development plugin for vim.

###what is vimfox?

Vimfox brings live css, javascript and html editing to vim. This means you can edit a file in vim and directly see the result without having to refresh the page in the browser.

This is not my idea. A couple of days ago I was browsing on github and found browser-connect, a vim-plugin made by Bogdanp which offers live reloading of css files.

I was curious about how the plugin worked and after reading up on websockets I decided to write my own plugin.

###installation

1. Install vimfox using pathogen / vundle or clone the repo directly into your $HOME/.vim directory.

2. cd to the repo's root and:

   $: ./sh install.sh

   This will download all the required modules using pip and install them locally in the vimfox-plugin directory. This ensures vimfox will work in virtualenvs.

###how to use

Add this script to the (html) page you want to work on

<script type='text/javascript' src="http://localhost:9000/vimfox/vimfox.js"></script>

####commands

" Start the vimfox server and make vimfox commands available to the buffer.
:VimfoxToggle

" Reload the buffer file without reloading the page in the browser.
:VimfoxReloadFile <force> <fname> <delay>

" Reload the page in the browser.
:VimfoxReloadPage <force> <delay>

" optional arguments:
" <force> boolean => Force reload the file.
" <fname> string  => By default vimfox uses the buffer's filename. Use this
"                    if the file on the server has a different name.
" <delay> float   => The delay in seconds the vimfox.js wil wait before reloading the file.
"                    You can use this if you need to compile a large less / coffee
"                    file to css / js.

####autocommands

Vimfox does not include any autocommands. This keeps the vimfox code clean and the user in control. You can add your own autocommands to the g:vimfox_autocommands dictionary where the key is the filetype and the value a list of autocommands. Vimfox will automaticaly enable those autocommands for buffers where vimfox is enabled.

" autocommand examples

" first create the dictionary
let g:vimfox_autocommands = {}

" call VimfoxReloadPage after every coffee file write.
let g:vimfox_autocommands['coffee'] = [
  \ "autocmd BufWritePost <buffer> VimfoxReloadPage"
  \]

" call VimfoxReloadFile every time you leave insert mode in a less file.
" The filename argument makes sure vimfox reloads 'foo.css' instead of 
" (the on the server not available) 'foo.less'.
let g:vimfox_autocmmands['less'] = [
    \"autocmd InsertLeave <buffer> sil! w|call LessCSSCompress()|VimfoxReloadFile expand('%:r') . '.css',  1.5"
    \]

####options

" host address vimfox server
g:vimfox_host = '127.0.0.1'
g:vimfox_port = 9000

" echo toggle state after VimfoxToggle
g:vimfox_echo_toggle_state = 1

" vimfox autocommands
g:vimfox_autocommands = {}

" vimfox debug mode (stdout + javascript console in browser)
g:vimfox_debug = 0

" hide vimfox status indicator
g:vimfox_hide_status = 0

###disclaimer

This plugin has not been thorougly tested (as in has not been tested yet).

###contact

Comments and critique always welcome @ dydrmntion AT gmail

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Thu Jun 20 21:58:20 CEST 2013