Typos in case sensitive auto-replace codes.

[paulkater]

Hi All,

I experienced it only once, but... would it be an interesting addition to have the output generator (F5, preview, build, name it something) check for "unused" auto-replace codes and report them somehow?

I love those replace codes, but once I found that an slipped into a document which should have been a replaced . As the auto-replace is case sensitive, this typo wasn't replaced and made it into a manuscript. I stumbled upon it by accident, and luckily before publishing.

Currently I'm preventing this by adding e.g. and to the list, all catching the same replace, to make sure my typos don't end up in a publication.

Another option/idea might be to make the replace not case-sensitive, but I don't know if there are people using case sensitive codes anywhere. A config option (yes/no) would be another idea in that case.

Thanks!
Paul

[vkbo]

Sure, something could be added here. Could you create a feature request with the above text?

I'm reluctant to make them case insensitive because the feature was originally designed for replacing character names. It was in fact the first feature request novelWriter had. The use case was a German novel with Japanese characters and references written in Japanese, and the person requesting it moved from LaTeX where he used custom commands for the names.

In any case, I have some proposals that may help with this issue:

1. Make the syntax highlighter check that the replace key is defined, and only add the highlight colour if it is.
2. Add a strict mode setting that will alert you in the Build tool if there are any such fields that were not replaced. In the event you need text that is on the same form as such a replace key, it must be escaped. The alert would only be a warning though, and not block you from building the manuscript.

A long term plan is to add analysis to the build preview and editor. Adding options to check for possible formatting errors is among the ideas. See #1345 and #712.

I also plan to extend the auto-complete feature over time (it now only applies to tags) and could also add it for auto-replace keys.

[paulkater]

Fantastic, thank you. I really like the idea of the analysis tool in the build module!

To keep the connection. ;-)