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Vaxe is a vim bundle for Haxe and Hss. It provides support for syntax highlighting, indenting, compiling, and many more options. Vaxe has vimdoc, accessible using :help vaxe within vim.

Vaxe requires additional vim features in order to work fully:

  1. Vim version >= 7 : (Vim versions prior to this may work, but are not tested)
  2. Vim with python scripting support : Many default vim environments do not have python support, but it's typically very easy to get an appropriate version via a package manager like brew or apt-get.

This page will describe some of the special or optional features that vaxe supports, in addition to recommended configuration settings.

Vaxe Screenshot (screenshot shows neocomplcache completion mode, vim-airline, tagbar, and monokai color theme)

The recommended way to install vaxe is using a bundle management system such as pathogen, vundle, vam, or vim-plug.

Install with Pathogen

  1. Install pathogen using the instructions.
  2. Create/cd into ~/.vim/bundle/
  3. Make a clone of the vaxe repo: git clone https://github.com/jdonaldson/vaxe.git

To update:

  1. cd into ~/.vim/bundle/vaxe/
  2. git pull

Install with Vundle

  1. Install vundle using the instructions
  2. Add vaxe to your plugin list in .vimrc and re-source it: Plugin 'jdonaldson/vaxe'
  3. Run :PluginInstall

To update, just run :PluginUpdate

Install with VAM

  1. Install VAM using the instructions
  2. Add vaxe to the list of your activated bundles and re-source it: call vam#ActivateAddons(['github:jdonaldson/vaxe'])

Install with vim-plug

  1. Install vim-plug using the instructions

  2. Add vaxe to your plugin list in .vimrc and re-source it:

    insert vaxe

    '' Haxe Plugin
Plug 'jdonaldson/vaxe'

    between call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')

    and call plug#end()

  3. Run :PlugInstall

Compiling Haxe Projects with vaxe

HXML File Support

Vaxe supports hxml build files, which provide all of the arguments for the compiler, similar to a make file.

Vaxe will automatically try to determine the appropriate hxml file you are using. It will also let you easily override this with a specific file (see vim docs for more details).

Vaxe will specify a custom makeprg using the given hxml file. The makeprg will cd to the directory containing the hxml, execute the haxe compiler with the hxml file, and pipe output to stdout.

If vaxe has found your build file, you can just run the make command:

:make

Vaxe will also specify an errorformat, so that errors and trace messages show up in the quickfix window.

Lime Project Support

Lime

Vaxe supports Lime workflows. If a Lime project is found, Vaxe will use it for builds and completions. You can specify a default target if you only work with one platform.

Flow Project Support

Vaxe supports Flow workflows. If a flow project is found, Vaxe will use it for builds and completions. You can specify a default target if you only work with one platform.

Omni-completions

Vaxe provides an omnicompletion function that can use the haxe compiler in order to display field completions. Visual Studio users will recognize this as being similar to "intellisense".

You can trigger an omnicompletion (C-X C-O in Insert Mode) after the period at the start of a field, submodule, or class access, or after the first parentheses of a function invocation. See the haxe documentation for more details.

Active Targets: Dealing with --next

In some cases, an hxml file may specify multiple targets via a --next directive. Vaxe will use the first target it finds in order to generate completions. It is possible to specify a different target by inserting a line like this into your hxml:

# display completions

If Vaxe finds that line, it will use that target to generate completions and perform other miscellaneous tasks. The target that Vaxe uses is called the "active" target here.

HSS Support

Vaxe will also support the hss language, with support for syntax highlighting, and compilation to css.

Recommended Plugins/Additions/Config

Vaxe will work fine on its own, but it is designed to integrate cleanly with a number of other bundles and plugins. Once again, it is recommended to use pathogen, vundle, or vam to manage installation and updates.

Misc Config

Vaxe provides a full completion specification for vim, which includes providing function documentation via the preview window. This can be turned off with:

set completeopt=menu

This will only use the menu, and not the preview window. See :help preview-window for more details.

Also, it is recommended that autowrite is set for haxe/hxml files. Otherwise, completions will not be available as you type. See help autowrite for more details. If autowrite is not set, Vaxe will return an error message when completions are requested. It is possible to turn this off, see the help for g:vaxe_completion_require_autowrite.

Airline

Airline ( by Bailey Ling) is a handy status line replacement. I think it looks better, and provides a good deal more functionality over a normal status line setting. Airline support is provided by default in vaxe. Current support enables the display of the current hxml build file. The hxml name has an empty star if it's in default mode (☆ ), and a filled star if it's in project mode (★ ). You can disable all of this by changing g:vaxe_enable_airline_defaults to 0.

Personally, I'm perfectly happy using airline, but If you're looking for support for the original powerline, you can check my repo. The original powerline version is more powerful, but much more difficult to install and configure. Copy the configuration information from my linepower repo instead of the configuration information from the main powerline repo in order to enable the vaxe plugin.

Tags

Vim has great support for ctags, which are really useful for navigating a large code base.

You'll need to define some patterns for ctags in order for it to work with Haxe. Put these lines in your .ctags file in your home directory:

--langdef=haxe
--langmap=haxe:.hx
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*((@:?[a-zA-Z]+)[ \t]+)*((inline|macro|override|private|public|static)[ \t]+)*function[ \t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)/\5/f,function/
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*((@:?[a-zA-Z]+)[ \t]+)*((inline|private|public|static)[ \t]+)*var[ \t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)/\5/v,variable/
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*package[ \t]*([A-Za-z0-9_\.]+)/\1/p,package/
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*((@:?[a-zA-Z]+)[ \t]+)*((extern|private)[ \t]+)?abstract[ \t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)[ \t]*[^\{]*/\5/a,abstract/
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*((@:?[a-zA-Z]+)[ \t]+)*((extern|private)[ \t]+)?class[ \t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)[ \t]*[^\{]*/\5/c,class/
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*((@:?[a-zA-Z]+)[ \t]+)*((extern|private)[ \t]+)?interface[ \t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)/\5/i,interface/
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*((private)[ \t]+)?typedef[ \t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)/\3/t,typedef/
--regex-haxe=/^[ \t]*enum[ \t]+([A-Za-z0-9_]+)/\1/e,enum/

Vaxe can generate a set of tags specific to the given build by running: vaxe#Ctags() This will feed the paths used by the compiler into ctags. Only the relevant paths for the current target will be used.

Other utilities, like vaxe#ImportClass() can then use this tag information in order to programmatically import classes. E.g. calling vaxe#ImportClass on this line:

    var l = new haxe.ds.StringMap<Int>();

will generate:

    import haxe.ds.StringMap;
    ...
    var l = new StringMap<Int>();

Keep in mind that jumping to files defined by ctags may jump to a location outside of the current working directory. If you want to keep the reference to you current hxml file when doing so, it is advised that you select a project mode hxml with :ProjectHxml.

Tagbar

Using the ctags lines above, the Tagbar bundle can display a nice overview of the classes, methods, and variables in your current haxe file. You do not need to call vaxe#Ctags() in order to use Tagbar, it works automatically, but only for the current vaxe buffer.

Syntastic

Syntastic is a popular bundle that enables syntax errors to be displayed in a small gutter on the left of the editor buffer. I've patched Syntastic to use vaxe compilation information for haxe and hss, including errors and traces. All that is necessary is to install the bundle.

YouCompleteMe

YouCompleteMe (YCM) is a bundle that provides completions for c-style languages. However, it has the ability to provide support for other languages as well, such as the completion methods provided through vaxe. Vaxe will let YCM use its completion methods automatically, all that is required is that YCM (and its libraries) be compiled and installed.

Autocomplpop

AutoComplPop is an older vim script that automatically pops up a completion menu when an omnicompletion is available. It should offer good basic completions using pure vimscript. Vaxe will let ACP use its completion methods automatically.

Neocomplcache

Neocomplcache is a plugin for vim that can manage virtually any type of completion (omni, keyword, file, etc). It can be tricky to set up, so follow their documentation carefully.

Acknowledgements