/FWDataViz

Fixed Width Data Visualizer plugin for Notepad++. Turns Notepad++ into Excel for fixed-width data files. Displays cursor position data. Jumps to specific fields. Folding Record Blocks. Extracts Data. Builtin dialogs to configure file-type, record-type & fields; Themes & Colors; and Folding. Handles homogenous, mixed & multi-line records.

Primary LanguageC++GNU General Public License v2.0GPL-2.0

FWDataViz

GitHub GitHub release (latest by date) GitHub all releases

Fixed Width Data Visualizer plugin for Notepad++

Current Version: 2.6.2.0

image ICD-10 Billable-Flagged Order Codes Sample File, with folding applied.

Features at the Panel

Features beyond the Panel


Plugin Panel

Plugin_Panel

  • Click on the View Sample Files icon: View Sample Files, and choose from the menu options to view various sample files.

  • Click on the File Type Metadata Editor icon: File Type Metadata Editor, to view, modify or create your custom File Type definitions. For more information, see: File Type Metadata Editor.

  • Click on the Visualizer Theme Editor icon: Visualizer Theme Editor, to view, modify or create your custom Visualizer Theme definitions. For more information, see: Visualizer Theme Editor.

  • Click the Preferences button to specify preferences for the plugin. For more information, see: Preferences.

  • Check the Auto-detect File Type box to automatically visualize files with matching file type from the defined list. For more information, see: Auto-Detect File Type Configuration.

  • To get the Multi-Byte Chars become visible on the plugin panel, see: Preferences. Since this is a 3-state checkbox, please review the documentation for it at: Multi-byte Character Data Visualization.

  • Check the Default Background box to render the fixed-width fields with just the text colors while suppressing the background colors of the theme styles.

  • Check the Show Calltip box to display the Cursor Position Data in a calltip within the editor, right below the current cursor position. The calltip will be useful during presentations and other situations when there is a need to avoid an additional glance towards the side panel to view the same Cursor Position Data.

    💡 To display the calltip text in bold, check the option for Use DirectWrite in Notepad++ Settings » Preferences » MISC.

  • Check the Trim Field Copy box to automatically ignore the left or right padding characters when copying a field. For more information, see: Field Copy.

  • For more information on the Jump to Field and left & right hop buttons, see: Quick Field Navigation.

  • For more information on Field Copy and Field Paste buttons, see: Field Copy and Field Paste.

  • For more information on the Data Extraction button, see: Data Extraction.

  • For more information on the buttons in the Folding section, see: Foldable Record Blocks and Fold Structures Editor.

  • Clicking the button at the right-bottom corner of the plugin panel will display the refreshed list of file paths for the INI files active for the current fixed-width file. Just hovering over this button will display the last refreshed list.


Sample data files

Homogenous Record-type Fixed-width Data Files

Files with data in the same record format.

NOAA Weather Stations List Single_Rec

Mixed Record-type Fixed-width Data Files

Files with data in multiple record formats.

NOAA Weather Stations List (Same data from the preceding sample, but now flagged based on the GSN field) Multi_Rec

Treasury IPAC File (Real format, but with fake data. Foldable.) Multi_Rec

In this sample clip:

  • The records are being displayed in foldable blocks. For more information on this, see: Foldable Record Blocks.
  • The Transaction Header records are being visualized with a different theme. For more information on this, see: Record Type Theme.

Multi-Line Record-type Fixed-width Data Files

Files with data records that span multiple lines. End of record is indicated by a marker. For example: <END_REC>

Owing to such a marker, records for these files can be of varying width.

Weather Stations List with location wiki and Daily Weather data (A contrived format, for concept illustration) Multi_Line


Installation

  1. Install Notepad++ version 8.4 or higher.
  2. Open Notepad++.
  3. In Notepad++, go to menu Plugins » Plugins Admin....
  4. In the Available tab, check the box for Fixed-width Data Visualizer.
  5. Click the Install button.

Attributions

  • Most of the icons used in this plugin are the originals or derivatives of the Fugue Icons designed by Yusuke Kamiyamane.

  • All screen clippings in this repository were made using FastStone Capture. Small-size application with awesome features!

  • The core visualizer algorithm of this plugin was first protyped in Python using David Brotherstone's Python Script plugin for Notepad++.