File inclusion and import from current directory

[joshleaves]

Hi,

First of all, thanks for imHex. I'm using imHex to reverse-engineer savegame data formats, but the in-app pattern editor isn't really geared towards writing a lot of code. So far, I solved this by having the pattern editor just contain #include "/Users/red/MyProject/base.hexpat", and doing my editing in my editor of choice.

When even that file began to get too large, I started splitting it into sub-modules, so base.hexpat now also contains #include "/users/red/MyProject/items.hexpat" and I guess I'll do the same soon for other parts of the savegame. However, it's not suited for future sharing of those files, especially if users all need to rewrite the path.

I was hoping I could use C-like #include "./player.hexpat" but to no avail. I checked into the source, and from what I see, the resolver doesn't have a concept of __FILE__ from where to check, and I'd guess that since the pattern language is mostly ran from inside the imHex pattern editor, that notion doesn't really exist.

Therefore, I'm not entirely sure of the breadth of changes this would require, I was hoping a quick "check if path starts with a dot" (or even just "add current directory to include paths") would suffice, but I guess this goes beyond a quick one-liner.

Totally understandable if that’s out of scope for now, just felt this would be useful to point out.

And again, thanks for imHex, it's awesome!

[paxcut]

you can add any folder to the search directory list found in Help>About>Directories tab. extra folders can be added through the settings. Keep in mind that include search paths must always have an includes folder which is where the included and imported files are found.So if you add "c:\someFolder" to the search path the included files need to be located at "C:\someFolder\includes"

[paxcut]

When you say that the pattern editor isn't geared towards writing a lot of code what features are missing that prevents you from using it? Or are you saying that the pattern editor's performance is affected by the file size it is editing?

Also note that ImHex supports using external editors and if you have a pattern file opened in ImHex and make changes to it in another editor, you'll be asked if you want to reload the pattern and obtain the changes.

[joshleaves]

It's mostly an issue of habits, as most keyboard shortcuts (which is another subject entirely), so I cannot Cmd+Left/Right to go to the previous/next word, Cmd+A to "Select all" doesn't work, and for a strange reason, I cannot copy or paste either. Which I suspect could be due to a "duplication of shortcuts", as these shortcuts work in the Hex editor, but not in the pattern editor (yet they are properly defined in the settings).

I'm interested in that "edit outside" procedure, how does it work? So far, I've tried to use "Export pattern file", which did give me a file, but that file and the app buffer never seemed to properly sync with one another (and using "Import pattern file" would only allow me to import patterns already defined for the app).

Thanks for the help

[paxcut]

I see you are on Mac. All shortcuts are fully configurable so maybe you can redefine them to make them work. Macs do have some issues with ctrl and cmd being swapped as reported by some users. The whole Mac shortcuts against the world reminds me of the choice of folder separator char in windows. For me in windows ctrl-left and right works fine as well as ctrl-A and copy /cut/ paste. There is no "duplication" of shortcuts, the editor that has current focus (blinking cursor) is the one that executes the shortcut so you can ctrl-o to open a pattern if the pattern editor has focus or open a hex file if the hex editor has focus.

Apparently there is a bug in the code that updates the editor contents when an outside editor changes it which prevents the contents from being updated. That problem should be fixed soon if it isn't already fixed. The way it works is by using load and save for patterns which allows ImHex to keep track of potential changes to the file on disk and notifies the user when a change is detected. You don't have to do anything other than use load and save instead of import/export as those don't track changes.