oliverdavies.uk/content/node.8293455b-3322-4e45-a24a-2d64f77db033.yml

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title:
  - value: 'I wrote a Neovim plugin'
created:
  - value: '2022-08-13T00:00:00+00:00'
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body:
  - value: |
      <p>I enjoy writing and working with open-source software, starting back to when I started working with PHP and Drupal in 2007.</p>

      <p>Since then, I've written and maintained a number of Drupal modules and themes, PHP libraries, npm packages, Ansible roles and Docker images - all of which are available on my GitHub and Drupal.org pages.</p>

      <p>Just over a year ago, <a href="/blog/going-full-vim">I switched to using Neovim full-time</a> for my development and DevOps work, and last week, I wrote my first Neovim plugin, written in Lua.</p>

      <p>I've used Lua to configure Neovim but this is the first time that I've written and open-sourced a standalone Neovim plugin.</p>

      <p>It's called <a href="https://github.com/opdavies/toggle-checkbox.nvim">toggle-checkbox.nvim</a> and is used toggle checkboxes in Markdown files - something that I use frequently for to-do lists.</p>

      <p>For example, this a simple list containing both checked and unchecked checkboxes:</p>

      <pre><code class="markdown">-   [x] A completed task
      -   [ ] An incomplete task
      </code></pre>

      <p>To toggle a checkbox, the <code>x</code> character needs to be either added or removed, depending on whether we're checking or unchecking it.</p>

      <p>This is done by calling the <code>toggle()</code> function within the plugin.</p>

      <p>In my Neovim configuration, I've added a keymap to do this:</p>

      <pre><code class="lua">vim.keymap.set(
        "n",
        "&lt;leader&gt;tt",
        "require('toggle-checkbox').toggle()"
      )
      </code></pre>

      <p>This means that I can use the same keymap by running <code>&lt;leader&gt;tt</code> to check or uncheck a checkbox. I could use Vim's replace mode to do this, but I really wanted to have one keymap that I could use for both.</p>

      <p>As it's my first Neovim plugin, I decided to keep it simple.</p>

      <p>The main <code>toggle-checkbox.lua</code> file is currently only 41 lines of code, and whilst there is an existing Vim plugin that I could have used, I was excited to write my own plugin for Neovim, to start contributing to the Neovim ecosystem, and add a Neovim plugin to my portfolio of open-source projects.</p>

      <p>You can view the plugin at <a href="https://github.com/opdavies/toggle-checkbox.nvim">https://github.com/opdavies/toggle-checkbox.nvim</a>, as well as my Neovim configuration (which is also written in Lua) as part of <a href="https://github.com/opdavies/dotfiles/tree/main/roles/neovim/files">my Dotfiles repository</a>.</p>

              
    format: full_html
    processed: |
      <p>I enjoy writing and working with open-source software, starting back to when I started working with PHP and Drupal in 2007.</p>

      <p>Since then, I've written and maintained a number of Drupal modules and themes, PHP libraries, npm packages, Ansible roles and Docker images - all of which are available on my GitHub and Drupal.org pages.</p>

      <p>Just over a year ago, <a href="/blog/going-full-vim">I switched to using Neovim full-time</a> for my development and DevOps work, and last week, I wrote my first Neovim plugin, written in Lua.</p>

      <p>I've used Lua to configure Neovim but this is the first time that I've written and open-sourced a standalone Neovim plugin.</p>

      <p>It's called <a href="https://github.com/opdavies/toggle-checkbox.nvim">toggle-checkbox.nvim</a> and is used toggle checkboxes in Markdown files - something that I use frequently for to-do lists.</p>

      <p>For example, this a simple list containing both checked and unchecked checkboxes:</p>

      <pre><code class="markdown">-   [x] A completed task
      -   [ ] An incomplete task
      </code></pre>

      <p>To toggle a checkbox, the <code>x</code> character needs to be either added or removed, depending on whether we're checking or unchecking it.</p>

      <p>This is done by calling the <code>toggle()</code> function within the plugin.</p>

      <p>In my Neovim configuration, I've added a keymap to do this:</p>

      <pre><code class="lua">vim.keymap.set(
        "n",
        "&lt;leader&gt;tt",
        "require('toggle-checkbox').toggle()"
      )
      </code></pre>

      <p>This means that I can use the same keymap by running <code>&lt;leader&gt;tt</code> to check or uncheck a checkbox. I could use Vim's replace mode to do this, but I really wanted to have one keymap that I could use for both.</p>

      <p>As it's my first Neovim plugin, I decided to keep it simple.</p>

      <p>The main <code>toggle-checkbox.lua</code> file is currently only 41 lines of code, and whilst there is an existing Vim plugin that I could have used, I was excited to write my own plugin for Neovim, to start contributing to the Neovim ecosystem, and add a Neovim plugin to my portfolio of open-source projects.</p>

      <p>You can view the plugin at <a href="https://github.com/opdavies/toggle-checkbox.nvim">https://github.com/opdavies/toggle-checkbox.nvim</a>, as well as my Neovim configuration (which is also written in Lua) as part of <a href="https://github.com/opdavies/dotfiles/tree/main/roles/neovim/files">my Dotfiles repository</a>.</p>

              
    summary: null
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