Align Leftmost Macros, Easy Column-Aligned Formatting for (Almost) Everything

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Environment: MSVC 6.x Macro

The following code is a set of Microsoft Visual Studio (MSVC6) macros for formatting code. These macros allow things to be aligned to the same column. It’s very useful for aligning equals signs, and so forth. These allow your code to be quickly formatted from this:

int number = 0; // zero
float foo = 0.001; // almost zero
bool state; // not initialized
 
SetFooBar1(float f) { FooBar = f; }
SetK1(int Kermite) { K1 = Kermite; }
SetAllowDown(bool b) { AllowDown = b; }

to this:

int number = 0;     // zero
float foo  = 0.001; // almost zero
bool state;         // not initialized
 
SetFooBar1(float f)  { FooBar    = f;       }
SetK1(int Kermite)   { K1        = Kermite; }
SetAllowDown(bool b) { AllowDown = b;       }

Just select the lines of text to modify, and press a key binding, such as ALT-LEFTBRACKET. Don’t forget to use ALT-MouseDrag for column editing mode selections—this can prune any unwanted white space. And who could forget ALT-F8 for Auto formatting?

This revised version correctly handles a work environment with TABS. Any existing tabs to the left of the string to align are preserved. Correct spacing for anything to the right is preserved by converting those tabs to spaces.

Source Code

‘________________________________________________________________

‘FILE DESCRIPTION: Custom Macros for MSVC

‘AUTHOR: Vincent Scheib, www.scheib.net (c) 2001

‘

‘ AlignByStr, and associated helper functions:

‘    These macros allow all characters of a certain type to be

‘    aligned in the current selection of lines.

‘

‘    E.G. align all left most equal signs to be at the same column:

‘       int a = 3;                         int a     = 3;

‘       float bee = 34.0;     becomes:     float bee = 34.0;

‘       char *str;                         char *str;

‘       int cc = d = 5;                    int cc    = d = 5;

‘

‘    The general macro AlignStr prompts for what to align

‘      (I bound this to ALT ?)

‘

‘    The numerous helper functions can be bound to directly to

‘    the keys they align, such as ALT [  ALT /  and  ALT =

‘

‘

”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

‘_________________________________________________________________

‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignStr

‘DESCRIPTION: Select lines, run macro to enter a string, and all

‘leftmost instances will be aligned.

  str = InputBox(“Enter string to align”)

  if (str<>“”) then AlignByStr str

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignBackSlash ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost  ” to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignColon ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost  ‘:’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“:”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignComments ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost  ‘//’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“//”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignComma ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost  ‘,’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“,”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignEquals ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘=’ signs to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“=”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignLeftBracket ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘[‘ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“[“)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignLeftCurly ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘{‘ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“{“)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignLeftParenthesis ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘(‘ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“(“)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignMinus ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘-‘ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“-“)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignPeriod ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘.’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“.”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignPlus ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘+’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“+”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignQuote ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ” to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“”””)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignRightBracket ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘]’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“]”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignRightCurly ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘}’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“}”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignRightParenthesis ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘)’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“)”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignSemiColon ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘;’ to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“;”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignUnderscore ()

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost ‘_’ signs to a common column.

  AlignByStr(“_”)

End Sub
‘_________________________________________________________________

Sub AlignByStr (AlignStr)

‘DESCRIPTION: Aligns leftmost (AlignStr) to a common column.

‘AlignStr is most likely a character, such as / or = or {

‘By Vince Scheib
  ‘Adjust the number of spaces a tab equals here!

  Tab = ” ”              ‘a Tab character

  TabSpaces = ”    ”     ‘The spaces to replace it
  Dim win

  set win = ActiveWindow

  if win.type <> “Text” Then

    MsgBox “This macro can only be run when a text editor window _

            is active.”

  else

    StartLine = ActiveDocument.Selection.TopLine

    EndLine = ActiveDocument.Selection.BottomLine

    If EndLine < StartLine Then

      Temp = StartLine

      StartLine = EndLine

      EndLine = Temp

    End If
    If EndLine = StartLine Then

      MsgBox “This macro is to be used on a selection of _

              several lines.”
    Else
      RightMostColumn = 1
      ‘Provide a recognizable undo point

      FlashForUndo = ActiveDocument.Selection

      ActiveDocument.Selection = “”

      ActiveDocument.Selection = FlashForUndo
      ‘Find the maximum column used

      For i = StartLine To EndLine

        ActiveDocument.Selection.GoToLine i

        ActiveDocument.Selection.SelectLine
        ‘Get a line with spaces, temporarily save the version

        ‘with tabs (untabify only works on

        ‘ActiveDocument.Selection)

        Line_Tabs = ActiveDocument.Selection

        ActiveDocument.Selection.Untabify

        Line_Spaces = ActiveDocument.Selection

        ActiveDocument.Selection = Line_Tabs
        if Instr(LineWithSpaces, AlignStr) > RightMostColumn Then

          RightMostColumn = Instr(LineWithSpaces, AlignStr)

        end if

      Next
      ‘Push everything out to maximum column

      For i = StartLine To EndLine
        ActiveDocument.Selection.GoToLine i

        ActiveDocument.Selection.SelectLine
        if Instr(ActiveDocument.Selection, AlignStr) <> 0 Then

          ‘Get a line with spaces and one with tabs

          Line_Tabs = ActiveDocument.Selection

          ActiveDocument.Selection.Untabify

          Line_Spaces = ActiveDocument.Selection
          ‘Divide Line into two

          NewLineBegin_Tabs = Left(Line_Tabs, Instr(Line_Tabs, _

                                   AlignStr)-1)

          NewLineEnd_Tabs = Right(Line_Tabs, Len(Line_Tabs) _

                          – Instr(Line_Tabs, AlignStr) + 1)
          NewLineBegin_Spaces = Left(Line_Spaces, _

                                     Instr(Line_Spaces, _

                                           AlignStr)-1)

          NewLineEnd_Spaces = Right(Line_Spaces, Len(Line_Spaces) _

                            – Instr(Line_Spaces, AlignStr) + 1)
          NewLineFillSpaces = “”
          Do While Len(NewLineFillSpaces) < (RightMostColumn-_

                       Len(NewLineBegin_Spaces)-1)

            NewLineFillSpaces = NewLineFillSpaces + ” ”

          Loop
          ‘Preserve Tabs on left, everything else is spaces

          NewLine = NewLineBegin_Tabs + NewLineFillSpaces _

                                      + NewLineEnd_Spaces

          ActiveDocument.Selection = NewLine

        End If

      Next
    End If

  End If

End Sub