Requesting the ability to flag certain record types as "fold begin" and "fold end" points
Most of my data files are tens of thousands of records long, consisting of contiguous and logically-related groups of records I call "record sets". It would be very helpful if certain record types could be designated as "fold begin" points, while others could be "fold end" points.
Why the standard "user defined language" feature of N++ doesn't suit my need
I have tried using the standard "user defined language" feature of N++ to designate a pattern that identifies "fold begin", but I've not found way, with the type of data files I use, to reliably indicate a "fold end". Mainly, this is because the logical groups of records do not always end with the same record type.
Proposed solution
For this reason, it would be a wonderful feature if FWDataViz could allow the "fold begin" point to also be the "fold end" for the prior logical group.
A little background info
I posted a question in the N++ forum, but got a disappointing answer that the UDL feature has not been updated in a long time and my request would be behind many others in priority.
Examples and (I hope) clarifications
Here are some examples of typical "record sets" using common metasyntactic symbols.
Example 1 - a logical record set
foo record
bar record
baz record
plugh record
qux record
Example 2 - a logical record set
foo record
bar record
baz record
plugh record
qux record
fred record
waldo record
Example 3 - logical record set
foo record
bar record
baz record
plugh record
fred record
In all examples, "foo" is the first record of my record set, so I would like to be able to check a box on the FWDataViz metadata editor indicating "this is a fold-opening record type".
For a "waldo" record (Example 2), I could check a different box indicating "this is a fold-closing record type". In my world, "waldo" always marks the end of a logical record set, if present.
Conversely, I would not declare "qux" or "fred" as fold-closing types, because they are not always present, nor are they always the final record type in a set.
The real magic would be the additional ability to designate "foo" records as being both a fold-close (ending prior record set) and a fold-open point (beginning next record set). Maybe we call this a "open implies close" feature. I don't know if special handling would be needed at BOF and EOF, but I would not care so much if the top and bottom record set in a file were broken / did not fold correctly, as long as the thousands in between worked.
Sorry for the long-winded explanation. If there is any interest in adding this feature, I'd be happy to provide more examples or clarification of the problem / proposed solution.
Thanks for an already-awesome plugin!
Jeff