gerbil-scintilla

Gerbil Scheme bindings for the Scintilla text editor component library.

Overview

gerbil-scintilla provides a layered API for controlling Scintilla text editor widgets from Gerbil Scheme:

• constants — Complete set of Scintilla message IDs, notification codes, and flag constants
• ffi — Low-level FFI bindings for direct Scintilla message passing
• scintilla — High-level editor interface (text, selection, undo, clipboard, view settings)
• lexer — Syntax highlighting and lexer configuration
• style — Text styling (colors, fonts, attributes) and caret/selection appearance
• search — Find/replace with regex support and target-based operations
• folding — Code folding, line visibility, and fold level management
• autocomplete — Autocompletion lists and call tips
• markers — Line markers (bookmarks, breakpoints) and margin configuration

Dependencies

System libraries:

# Debian/Ubuntu
sudo apt install libscintilla-dev libgtk-3-dev

# macOS
brew install scintilla

Gerbil v0.19+

Build

make          # build all modules
make test     # run test suite
make install  # install to ~/.gerbil
make clean    # remove build artifacts

To install to a different prefix:

make install PREFIX=/path/to/gerbil

Usage

(import :gerbil-scintilla/scintilla
        :gerbil-scintilla/constants
        :gerbil-scintilla/lexer
        :gerbil-scintilla/style
        :gerbil-scintilla/search
        :gerbil-scintilla/folding
        :gerbil-scintilla/autocomplete
        :gerbil-scintilla/markers)

;; Wrap a Scintilla widget (obtained from your GUI toolkit)
(def editor (create-scintilla-editor widget))

;; Set text content
(editor-set-text editor "Hello, Scintilla!")

;; Configure for C++ editing
(editor-set-lexer editor SCLEX_CPP)
(editor-set-keywords editor 0 "int void return if else while for")

;; Style the default text
(editor-style-set-font editor STYLE_DEFAULT "Monospace")
(editor-style-set-size editor STYLE_DEFAULT 12)
(editor-style-set-foreground editor STYLE_DEFAULT (rgb->scintilla 0 0 0))
(editor-style-set-background editor STYLE_DEFAULT (rgb->scintilla 255 255 255))
(editor-style-clear-all editor)

;; Enable line numbers
(editor-margin-set-type editor 0 SC_MARGIN_NUMBER)
(editor-margin-set-width editor 0 40)

;; Configure folding
(editor-set-automatic-fold editor
  (bitwise-ior SC_AUTOMATICFOLD_SHOW SC_AUTOMATICFOLD_CLICK SC_AUTOMATICFOLD_CHANGE))

;; Search with regex
(editor-set-search-flags editor (make-search-flags regexp: #t match-case: #t))
(editor-target-whole-document editor)
(editor-search-in-target editor "def\\s+\\w+")

;; Group operations for single undo
(with-undo-action editor
  (editor-insert-text editor 0 "// Header\n")
  (editor-append-text editor "\n// Footer"))

API Reference

scintilla — Core Editor

Function	Description
(create-scintilla-editor widget)	Wrap a native Scintilla widget
(editor-set-text editor text)	Set entire document content
(editor-get-text editor)	Get entire document content
(editor-get-text-length editor)	Get text length in bytes
(editor-add-text editor text)	Add text at cursor
(editor-insert-text editor pos text)	Insert text at position
(editor-append-text editor text)	Append text to end
(editor-clear-all editor)	Clear all content
(editor-delete-range editor start len)	Delete range
(editor-get-current-pos editor)	Get caret position
(editor-set-current-pos editor pos)	Set caret position
(editor-set-selection editor anchor caret)	Set selection range
(editor-get-selection-text editor)	Get selected text
(editor-select-all editor)	Select all
(editor-goto-pos editor pos)	Go to position
(editor-goto-line editor line)	Go to line
(editor-get-line editor line)	Get line text
(editor-get-line-count editor)	Get line count
(editor-undo editor)	Undo
(editor-redo editor)	Redo
(with-undo-action editor body ...)	Group operations for single undo
(editor-cut editor)	Cut to clipboard
(editor-copy editor)	Copy to clipboard
(editor-paste editor)	Paste from clipboard
(editor-set-tab-width editor n)	Set tab width
(editor-set-eol-mode editor mode)	Set EOL: 'crlf, 'cr, 'lf
(editor-set-wrap-mode editor mode)	Set wrap: 'none, 'word, 'char
(editor-set-read-only editor bool)	Set read-only mode
(editor-zoom-in editor)	Zoom in
(editor-zoom-out editor)	Zoom out

lexer — Syntax Highlighting

Function	Description
(editor-set-lexer editor id)	Set lexer by SCLEX_* constant
(editor-set-lexer-language editor name)	Set lexer by name string
(editor-set-keywords editor set words)	Set keyword list (0-8)
(editor-colourise editor start end)	Trigger colorisation
(editor-set-property editor key val)	Set lexer property
(symbol->lexer-id sym)	Map symbol to SCLEX_* ID
(lexer-id->symbol id)	Map SCLEX_* ID to symbol

Supported language symbols: python, cpp, c, html, xml, perl, sql, ruby, lua, css, yaml, bash, shell, rust, json, markdown, scheme, lisp, haskell, ocaml, julia, nim, fsharp, gdscript, and more.

style — Text Appearance

Function	Description
(editor-style-set-foreground editor style color)	Set text color
(editor-style-set-background editor style color)	Set background color
(editor-style-set-bold editor style bool)	Set bold
(editor-style-set-italic editor style bool)	Set italic
(editor-style-set-size editor style pts)	Set font size
(editor-style-set-font editor style name)	Set font face
(editor-style-set-underline editor style bool)	Set underline
(editor-style-set-weight editor style w)	Set font weight
(editor-style-clear-all editor)	Reset all styles
(editor-set-caret-foreground editor color)	Set caret color
(editor-set-caret-line-visible editor bool)	Highlight caret line
(editor-set-selection-background editor use? color)	Set selection color

search — Find and Replace

Function	Description
(editor-search-anchor editor)	Set search start
(editor-search-next editor flags text)	Search forward
(editor-search-prev editor flags text)	Search backward
(editor-set-target-range editor start end)	Set search range
(editor-target-whole-document editor)	Search entire document
(editor-search-in-target editor text)	Find in range
(editor-replace-target editor text)	Replace found text
(editor-replace-target-re editor text)	Regex replace
(make-search-flags ...)	Build flags from keywords

make-search-flags keywords: match-case:, whole-word:, word-start:, regexp:, posix:, cxx11-regex:

folding — Code Folding

Function	Description
(editor-toggle-fold editor line)	Toggle fold at line
(editor-fold-line editor line action)	Fold/unfold: 'contract, 'expand, 'toggle
(editor-fold-all editor action)	Fold/unfold all
(editor-show-lines editor start end)	Show line range
(editor-hide-lines editor start end)	Hide line range
(editor-ensure-visible editor line)	Expand folds to show line
(editor-set-automatic-fold editor flags)	Set auto-fold behavior

autocomplete — Completion and Calltips

Function	Description
(editor-autocomplete-show editor len items)	Show completion list
(editor-autocomplete-cancel editor)	Hide completions
(editor-autocomplete-complete editor)	Accept selection
(editor-autocomplete-set-ignore-case editor bool)	Case sensitivity
(editor-autocomplete-set-order editor mode)	'presorted, 'perform-sort, 'custom
(editor-calltip-show editor pos text)	Show call tip
(editor-calltip-cancel editor)	Hide call tip
(editor-calltip-set-highlight editor start end)	Highlight parameter

markers — Markers and Margins

Function	Description
(editor-marker-define editor num symbol)	Define marker appearance
(editor-marker-add editor line num)	Add marker to line
(editor-marker-delete editor line num)	Remove marker
(editor-marker-delete-all editor num)	Remove all of type
(editor-marker-next editor start mask)	Find next marked line
(editor-margin-set-type editor n type)	Set margin type
(editor-margin-set-width editor n px)	Set margin width
(editor-margin-set-sensitive editor n bool)	Enable margin clicks
(editor-brace-highlight editor a b)	Highlight matching braces
(editor-brace-match editor pos)	Find matching brace

constants — Color Helpers

Function	Description
(rgb->scintilla r g b)	Convert RGB to Scintilla BGR format
(scintilla->rgb color)	Convert BGR back to RGB (returns 3 values)

Architecture

Application Code
       ↓
  ┌─────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  lexer / style / search / folding /     │
  │  autocomplete / markers                 │
  └──────────────────┬──────────────────────┘
                     ↓
  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  scintilla.ss  (high-level editor API)   │
  │  constants.ss  (message IDs & flags)     │
  └──────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                     ↓
  ┌──────────────────────────────────────────┐
  │  ffi.ss  (C FFI — direct function path)  │
  └──────────────────┬───────────────────────┘
                     ↓
            libscintilla (C)

License

See LICENSE file.

gerbil-scintilla