BoxDrawing

BoxDrawing is a Sublime Text package enabling the user, normally with these arrow-key combinations:

• [Alt-Arrow] (single line)
• [Alt-Shift-Arrow] (double line), or
• [Ctrl-Alt-Shift-Arrow] (erase)

to draw lines and boxes like these:

┌─┬┐  ╔═╦╗  ╓─╥╖  ╒═╤╕
│ ││  ║ ║║  ║ ║║  │ ││
├─┼┤  ╠═╬╣  ╟─╫╢  ╞═╪╡
└─┴┘  ╚═╩╝  ╙─╨╜  ╘═╧╛ ┌─────────────┐
╭───────────────────╮  │    ╔═══════╕│            ┌───┐
│  ╔═══╗ Some Text  │  │╓───╫┐ ╔══╗ ││ ┌──┬───┐  ┌┴┬┐ │
│  ╚═╦═╝ in the box │░ │║   ║│ ║  ║ ││ ╞══╡   │  ├─┼┼─┘
╞═╤══╩══╤═══════════╡░ │║   ║│ ║  ║ ││ │  │   │  │ ││
│ ├──┬──┤           │░ │╙───╫┘ ╚══╝ ││ └──┴───┘  └─┴┘
│ └──┴──┘           │░ └────╫───────┼┘
╰───────────────────╯░      ╙───────┘
  ▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒▒░

+------------+----------------+--------------+
| Column One | Column Two     | Column Three |
+============+================+==============+
|            |                |              |
+------------+----------------+--------------+
|            |                |              |
+------------+----------------+--------------+
|            |                |              |
+------------+----------------+--------------+
|            |                |              |
+------------+----------------+--------------+

Features

• Draw using intuitive key combinations with arrow keys.
• Arrow-key bindings are temporary, while Box Drawing is turned ON. You turn it OFF again when you are done.
• Intuitively overwrites characters where directed as if always in “overwrite” mode.
• There is no need to add spaces to short lines. The package extends short lines with spaces automatically when needed, enabling you to conveniently draw wherever you direct it.
• Initially uses ASCII or one of the Unicode box-drawing character sets, depending on a user-configurable setting. (See below.)
• Conveniently switch between character sets with one keystroke.
• Box drawing with the ASCII character set is compatible with the requirements of reStructuredText tables. (The ASCII table above is an example.)
• The current state of the BoxDrawing Package can be seen:
  • Tools > BoxDrawing > sub-menu items, and
  • in the status bar for 4 seconds after each state change.
• Supports these character sets:
  • ASCII
  • Unicode [Square Corners]
  • Unicode [Round Corners]
  • Unicode [2 Dashes]
  • Unicode [3 Dashes]
  • Unicode [4 Dashes]
  • Shadow Characters

Installation

The preferred method of installing BoxDrawing is: from Sublime Text's Command Palette, execute Package Control: Install Package and select BoxDrawing.

If you instead clone BoxDrawing's repository into your <data_path>/Packages/BoxDrawing/ directory, ensure that the name of the directory uses a capital 'B' and capital 'D' as shown. Otherwise, Sublime Text will not find certain files it needs.

Usage

1. In any type of document, ensure there is just 1 selection (caret) and that no text is selected.

2. Turn Box-Drawing ON using [Alt-Keypad /] or Tools > BoxDrawing > Enabled or from the Command Palette BoxDrawing: Toggle ON/OFF. (A temporary Status-Bar message “Box Drawing ON/OFF ()” shows which mode the current View is in.) The Tools > BoxDrawing > Enabled menu item always shows the ON/OFF state for the current View by showing a checkmark (✓) next to that menu item when Box Drawing is enabled.

3. Draw using single lines using the arrow keys while the [Alt] key is held down.

4. Draw using double lines using the arrow keys while the [Alt-Shift] keys are held down.

5. Erase using the arrow keys while the [Alt-Shift-Ctrl] keys are held down.

6. Change current character set using [Alt-Keypad *] or Tools > BoxDrawing > Change Character Set (<char_set>) or from the Command Palette BoxDrawing: Change Character Set. (A temporary Status-Bar message “Box Drawing ON/OFF: ” shows which character set is now current.) The Tools > BoxDrawing > Change Character Set (<char_set>) menu item always shows the current character set in parentheses.

7. When you are done drawing, turn Box-Drawing OFF again with [Alt-Keypad /] or Tools > BoxDrawing > Enabled or from the Command Palette BoxDrawing: Toggle ON/OFF.

Settings

The following setting items can be found and individually overridden via the usual method for Sublime Text Package settings: Preferences > Package Settings > BoxDrawing > Settings. The comments in the default settings file explain what each one means and lists valid values. Their default values are shown below.

• default_character_set_id: 6 (means ASCII, as shown in comments)
• debugging: false

Key Bindings

This Package provides the following customizable key bindings:

When Box-Drawing is ON for a particular View, the Package temporarily overrides the normal key bindings for the arrow-key combinations for that View only. When Box Drawing is turned OFF again, normal key bindings for the arrow keys are resumed. [Alt-Keypad /] and [Alt-Keypad *] both remain bound to the ON/OFF and switch character sets Commands full time.

By default, [Alt-(Left|Right)] key combinations are mapped to “move left/right by sub-words” with “extending selection” behavior added when the [Shift] key is held down.

And by default, [Alt-(Up|Down)] is mapped in the reStructuredText Package to “move up/down by 1 section”, with a possible [Shift] modifier limiting the move to only the same level of section or higher.

If you need to re-map any of the above key bindings, you can do so via:

`Preferences > Package Settings > BoxDrawing > Key Bindings`.

Menu Items

BoxDrawing adds the following menu items to Sublime Text when installed:

• Tools >

  • BoxDrawing >
    • [✓] Enabled
    • Change Character Set (ASCII)

• Preferences >

  • Package Settings >
    • README
    • Settings
    • Key Bindings

Commands

BoxDrawing adds the following Commands to Sublime Text when installed:

[^1]: when BoxDrawing is ON

Notes

1. While Sublime Text supports having multiple carets, BoxDrawing will draw box characters only when:

- Box Drawing is ON for that View,
- there is one caret, and
- no text is selected.

1. While the Shadow Character Set is selected, there is no ERASE function. Instead, the modifier key combinations select which shadow character is written to the Buffer:

- `[Alt]` => ligh shadow character
- `[Alt-Shift]` => medium shadow character
- `[Alt-Shift-Ctrl]` => dark shadow character