Re: st: Integrating Stata and JEdit

[Ian Watson <i.watson@econ.usyd.edu.au>]

Dimitriy V. Masterov wrote:
> Has anyone successfully integrated jEdit and Stata using AutoIt? I am
> trying to help a friend, but I am not sure how to configure the plugin
> in jEdit, if that is the appropriate terminology. I think I've gotten
> the script to run OK.


Yes, I've got JEdit and Stata working very well. My routine is to assign 
F9 to send the selected text to Stata, F8 to switch to Stata (using 
AutoIt), F9 inside Stata to run the selected text and F8 (using AutoIt 
again) to switch back to JEdit. After a while the sequence of F9 F8 F9 
F8 becomes automatic.

The setup is outlined in detail below, with all my code included between 
snippet marks (===========). You've probably already worked most of this 
out, but I've gone into detail in case other Listers are interested.

It may seem complicated at first but it's worth the effort to get it 
working. Over the years I've used a number of Windows editors (Ultra 
Edit, TextPad, WinEdt) which were all much easier to configure to work 
with Stata, but JEdit is a much superior editor. Not only is it platform 
independent, but it can serve as an editor for all purposes. In my case, 
that's both Stata and LaTeX, and the same procedures listed below can be 
used to make all the LaTeX commands work as well (it also has a LaTeX 
plugin). From a Stata point of view, JEdit has folding (the ability to 
collapse code blocks) which is invaluable for editing long complex loops 
of Stata code. Anyway, enough of the sales blurb. The details follow:



FIRST STAGE: INSIDE JEDIT:

Part A

Unfortunately JEdit won't easily "map" a keystroke to an executable as 
with some other editors. Instead, you need to write a macro which runs 
the executable and then assign the macro to a keystroke ((using JEdit's 
Utilities Global Options). If your AutoIt script does everything you 
need for running Stata, jump to Part B. If you're interested in how I 
get a *selected* portion of my Stata code to run, read on.

Use a macro (written in Java) to select highlighted text and send it to 
a file called "marked.do" (or whatever you prefer). Here is the text of 
my macro (which I've called marked.bsh) to which I then assign the F9 key:

snip here======================================

import java.io.*;
	   // save existing file	
	   buffer.save(view,null,true);
        //... Create File objects.
        File outFile = new File("d:/data/marked.do");  // write into 
second file

        //... Enclose in try..catch because of possible io exceptions.
        try {
            //... Create reader and writer for text files.
		  BufferedWriter writer = new BufferedWriter(new FileWriter(outFile));

		  Selection[] selection = textArea.getSelection();
		  if(selection == null)
			  view.getToolkit().beep();
		  else
		  {
			  for(i = 0; i < selection.length; i++)
				  writer.write(textArea.getSelectedText(selection[i]));
			
			  writer.newLine();   // Write system dependent end of line.
            //... Close reader and writer.
		  writer.close();  // Close to unlock and flush to disk.
		  }
        } catch (IOException e) {
            System.err.println(e);
            System.exit(1);
        }
	   // clear selection
	   textArea.goToPrevLine(false);
	   textArea.goToNextLine(false);

snip here=============================================

Part B

Running Executables inside JEdit just needs one line of code. In my case 
I use it for the process of switching to Stata. It sounds like in your 
case you can use this step to get your AutoIt script working:

snip here=================

Runtime.getRuntime().exec("switchtostata");

snip here================================


Again this is saved as a bsh file inside JEdit and assigned to the key 
F8. The actual executable is based on the following AutoIt script:

snip here===============================

Opt("SendKeyDelay", 1)
Opt("WinWaitDelay", 200)

WinActivate("Stata/SE 9.2")

snip here==================================


though you'll need to edit for the correct version of Stata.


SECOND STAGE: INSIDE STATA


Much simpler at this end.

Inside Stata's profile.do (located in the Stata root directory) include 
the lines:

snip here====================

global F8 "winexec d:/data/switchtojedit;"
global F9 "do d:/data/marked;"


snip here====================


The executable for switching back to JEdit is based on the followed 
AutoIt script:

snip here================

Opt("SendKeyDelay", 1)
Opt("WinWaitDelay", 200)

WinActivate("jEdit")

snip here==================



And that's it.

(For those Windows listers who don't know about AutoIt, check it out. 
It's a great little program for automating Windows commands which 
produces executables which can then be called from other applications. 
See http://www.autoitscript.com/autoit3/  )


Cheers

Ian Watson


University of Sydney
Australia





Dimitriy V. Masterov wrote:

> Has anyone successfully integrated jEdit and Stata using AutoIt? I am
> trying to help a friend, but I am not sure how to configure the plugin
> in jEdit, if that is the appropriate terminology. I think I've gotten
> the script to run OK.
>
> I'm a Vim user, and in my _gvimrc file I have the following code to
> map F8 to the AutoIt script:
>
> :map <F8> :<C-U>call RunIt() <ENTER>
> :imap <F8> <Esc>:<C-U>call RunIt() <ENTER>
>
> fun! RunIt()
>  w
>  !start "C:\Program Files\Scripts\rundo.exe" "%:p" <Enter>
> endfu
>
> What is the analogue for this in jEdit?
>
> Dimitriy
> *
> *   For searches and help try:
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
> *   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
> *   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/
*
*   For searches and help try:
*   http://www.stata.com/support/faqs/res/findit.html
*   http://www.stata.com/support/statalist/faq
*   http://www.ats.ucla.edu/stat/stata/