Overview

This package is for Sublime Text 3+. An old version for Sublime Text 2 is accessible via the st2 branch.

We are looking for a maintainer! See https://github.com/SublimeText/BetterCoffeeScript/issues/244 for details.

Description

CoffeeScript plug-in was originally created by @Xavura. As I, @aponxi, began writing a lot of code in CoffeeScript, I felt the need for side-by-side view for compiled CoffeeScript. Since Xavura's repository have been inactive I decided to branch out my own version. The biggest change in my branch is the Watch Mode which updates the compiled JavaScript view whenever you modify the CoffeeScript thus enabling you to view your progress side-by-side.

Contributing

• Please use the issues page to make requests or report bugs.
• Please make pull requests to the master branch only. ST2 is not supported anymore.

Installation

via Package Control

This is the recommended installation method.

If you have Package Control, you know what to do. If not, well: it's a package manager for Sublime Text 3. Installation guide can be found here. After installing the package manager:

• Open the Command Pallete (ctrl+shift+P or cmd+shift+P).
• Type “Install Package” and hit return.
• Type “Better CoffeeScript” and hit return.

via Source Control

If you plan to contribute, then you should install via this method. Otherwise it is recommended that you install the package via Package Control, see above.

Sublime stores packages in the following locations:

Nix: ~/.config/sublime-text-3/packages
Mac: ~/Library/Application\ Support/Sublime\ Text\ 3/Packages
Win: %APPDATA%\Sublime Text 3\Packages

When using Sublime Text 4 or higher, the directory without the “3” (and the preceding separator character) will be preferred.

As a repository within the packages directory

Open a Terminal/Console and run the following commands, replacing PACKAGE_PATH with the path corresponding to your OS above.

cd PACKAGE_PATH
git clone https://github.com/SublimeText/BetterCoffeeScript.git "Better CoffeeScript"

As a repository outside of the packages directory

If you use Github for Mac/Windows which store repositories in a specific location, or if you just don't want a repository in your packages directory, then instead you can use a link.

If you don't yet have the repository, then grab it via your GUI program or via the command line:

cd WHEREVER_YOU_WANT
git clone https://github.com/SublimeText/BetterCoffeeScript.git

Once that is done, we will create the link:

Windows:

cd PACKAGE_PATH
mklink /D "Better CoffeeScript" ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_REPOSITORY

Nix/Mac:

cd PACKAGE_PATH
ln -s ABSOLUTE_PATH_TO_REPOSITORY "Better CoffeeScript"

Commands/Shortcuts

You can access the commands either using the command palette (ctrl+shift+P or cmd+shift+P) or via shortcuts.

alt+shift+t - Run a Cake task
alt+shift+r - Run some CoffeeScript (prints output to a panel on the bottom)
alt+shift+s - Run a syntax check
alt+shift+c - Compile a file
alt+shift+d - Display compiled JavaScript
alt+shift+l - Display lexer tokens
alt+shift+n - Display parser nodes
alt+shift+w - Toggle watch mode
alt+shift+p - Toggle output panel

Context menu has Compile Output that compiles the current CoffeeScript and outputs the javascript code that is run, in a panel.

Note: Some of the commands use the Status Bar for output, so you'll probably want to enable it (View » Show Status Bar).

Snippets

• Use TAB to run a snippet after typing the trigger.
• Use TAB and shift+TAB to cycle forward/backward through fields.
• Use ESC to exit snippet mode.

Snippet Triggers

Comprehension

Array:  forin
Object: forof
Range:  fori (inclusive)
Range:  forx (exclusive)

Statements

If:        if
Else:      el
If Else:   ifel
Else If:   elif
Switch:    swi
Ternary:   ter
Try Catch: try
Unless:    unl

Classes

Class - cla
Class extends SuperClass - clx

Other

Function:      -
Function:      = (bound)
Interpolation: #

Building

When using the build system, it is assumed that your .sublime-project file lives in your project's base directory (due to limitations with the build system).

Hitting F7 (Tools » Build) will run the Cake task 'sbuild'.

If you're not quite sure what the point of this is then read on.

Let's say before distributing your project that you would like to combine all of your .js files into one and then minify them them using UglifyJS or something.

That's what this is for! You would create a Cakefile and inside it you would write a task:

task 'sbuild', 'Prepare project for distribution.', ->
    # ...

Settings

Go to Preferences > Package Settings > Better CoffeeScript > Settings - User to change settings.

{
    /*
        The directories you would like to include in $PATH environment variable.
        Use this if your node installation is at a separate location and getting errors such as `cannot find node executable`

        example:
        "envPATH": "/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin"

    */
    "envPATH": "/usr/local/sbin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/sbin:/usr/bin:/sbin:/bin",
    /*
        The directory containing your coffee binary. Usually
        /usr/local/bin.
    */
    "binDir": "/usr/local/bin"

    /*
        Compile without the top-level function wrapper (coffee -b).
    */

,    "noWrapper": true

    /*
        Enable or disable refresh the compiled Output on Save.
        Only available for watch mode.
    */
,    "watchOnSave": true
    /*
        Enable refreshing compiled JS when CoffeeScript is modified.

        Put false to disable
        Put a number of seconds to delay the refresh
    */
,    "watchOnModified": 0.5
    /*
        Enable Compiling on save. It will compile into the same folder.
    */
,    "compileOnSave": true
    /*
        ## Enable outputting the results of the compiled coffeescript in a panel
    */
,    "showOutputOnSave": false
    /*
        ## Enable compiling to a specific directory.
        #### Description

        if it is a string like 'some/directory' then `-o some/directory` will be added to `coffee` compiler.
        if it is false or not string then it will compile your `script.coffee` to the directory it is in.

        #### Example:
        Directory is relative to the file you are editing if specified such as
            compileDir": "out"
        Directory is absolute if specified such as
            compileDir": "/home/logan/Desktop/out"

    */
,    "compileDir": false
    /*
        ## Enable compiling to a specific relative directories.

        #### Example:
        Set absolute path for compile dir:
            "compileDir": "/home/user/projects/js"
        And specified folders
            "relativeDir": "/home/user/projects/coffee"
            "compilePaths":
            {
                "/home/user/projects/coffee": "/home/user/projects/first/js",
                "/home/user/projects/second/coffee": "../js",
            }

        So
            "/home/user/projects/coffee/app.coffee" will compile to "/home/user/projects/first/js/app.js"
            "/home/user/projects/coffee/models/prod.coffee" will compile to "/home/user/projects/first/js/models/prod.js"
            "/home/user/projects/coffee/second/coffee/app2.coffee" will compile to "/home/user/projects/second/js/app2.js"
            "/home/user/projects/main.coffee" will compile to "/home/user/projects/js/main.js"

    */
,    "compilePaths": false



}

Project settings

Go to Project > Edit Project to change project settings.

{
    "folders":
    [
        ...
    ],
    "settings":
    {
        "CoffeeScript":
        {
            "noWrapper": true,
            "compileOnSave": true,
            "compileDir": "out"
        }
    }
}

FAQ

Most of the linux terminal commands written here can be run via cygwin - aka Linux Terminal in Windows.

• Most of the problems are related to configurations. Remember to configure binDir after you install!

• Do I have coffee-script installed?

Try finding coffee-script in your global npm list with npm ls -g | grep coffee which will output something like:

npm ls -g | grep coffee

# will output:
#├── coffee-script@1.6.3
#├─┬ coffeelint@0.5.6
#│ ├── coffee-script@1.6.3
#├── UNMET DEPENDENCY generator-coffee *
#│ │ ├── coffee-script@1.3.3

• Where can I find out the path to coffee binary?

In Linux which command will tell you where a command originates from. In terminal type:

which coffee
# /usr/bin/coffee

This path will go into the binDir setting.

• I'm getting the error message 'coffee' is not recognized as an internal or external command, when saving.

The coffee-script binary probably is not installed. Either install coffee-script or set checkSyntaxOnSave and compileOnSave to false in Preferences > Package Settings > Better CoffeeScript > Settings - User.

Latest Changelog

v0.7.0 01/June/2013

• merged st3 with master branch
• now the sublime text 2 support is in st2 branch
• fixed the @ highlight in language definitions
• fixed an error you would get when it was looking for project settings when it wasn't a project we were editing

Special Thanks

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to this project. You guys rock!