Is it possible to highlight built-in types by using ClassificationTypes.json and a global Codist.ct.json?

[wmjordan]

Discussed in #379

^{Originally posted by laicasaane December 2, 2025}
I want built-in types to be highlighted in different colors rather than inherit the "keyword" classification. But as stated in the wiki, Codist.ct.json has to be placed in the source folder which I don't want because I want the same behavior for every C# files. Is it possible to do this?

[wmjordan]

@laicasaane
It took me little time to implement a global Codist.ct.json.

I found it cumbersome to edit regular expressions within the json file. I plan to change the file type to another one.

[laicasaane]

Oh sweet, thank you.

[wmjordan]

@fitdev @laicasaane
What kind of config file is best for this? TOML?

For example,

[
	{
		"file": "<output>",
		"items": [
			{ "match": "([=\\-]{5,})", "tag": "Large", "groupTags": ["Quotation"], "tagLine": "true" },
			{ "match": "\\b(?:[Ee]rror|[Ss]tack [Tt]race|Errno)\\b|[Ee]xception\\b|(?:\\b[1-9]|\\b\\d+\\d) [Ff]ailed\\b|-- FAILED\\b|^Failed\\b", "tag": "Error", "tagLine": "true" },
			{ "match": "\\b(?:[Ww]arning|may not work)\\b", "tag": "Warning", "tagLine": "true" },
			{ "match": "Build: \\d+ succeeded, 0 failed, \\d+ up-to-date, \\d+ skipped", "tag": "Information", "tagLine": "true" },
			{ "match": "\\b\\w[\\w _\\.]* -> ([A-Za-z]:\\\\.+)", "tag": "Information", "groupTags": [ "Underline" ] },
			{ "match": "\\b([A-Z]{1,7}\\d{3,4})(?=:)", "tag": "Bold", "groupTags": ["Underline"] }
		]
	},
	{
		"file": "AssemblyInfo.cs",
		"items": [
			{ "match": "assembly", "tag": "Large" }
		]
	}
]

So terrible to have so many \ characters.

Using TOML:

[[rules]]
file = "<output>"

[[rules.items]]
match = '''([=\-]{5,})'''
tag = "Large"
groupTags = [ "Quotation" ]
tagLine = true

[[rules.items]]
match = '''\b(?:[Ee]rror|[Ss]tack [Tt]race|Errno)\b|[Ee]xception\b|(?:\b[1-9]|\b\d+\d) [Ff]ailed\b|-- FAILED\b|^Failed\b'''
tag = "Error"
tagLine = true

[[rules.items]]
match = '''\b(?:[Ww]arning|may not work)\b'''
tag = "Warning"
tagLine = true

[[rules.items]]
match = '''Build: \d+ succeeded, 0 failed, \d+ up-to-date, \d+ skipped'''
tag = "Information"
tagLine = true

[[rules.items]]
match = '''\b\w[\w _\.]* -> ([A-Za-z]:\\.+)'''
tag = "Information"
groupTags = [ "Underline" ]

[[rules.items]]
match = '''\b([A-Z]{1,7}\d{3,4})(?=:)'''
tag = "Bold"
groupTags = [ "Underline" ]

[[rules]]
file = "AssemblyInfo.cs"

[[rules.items]]
match = '''assembly'''
tag = "Large"

[laicasaane]

I favor TOML or YAML as human-friendly formats for manual editing.

[fitdev]

While I haven't used this feature, I think I agree and also would prefer TOML or YAML, as having so many \ in json is making things harder.

[wmjordan]

Well, with Deepseek's help, I settled down to use YAML as the configuration file, since it is neater than TOML and Visual Studio has built-in syntax highlight for it.

The global config file name will be codist.ct.yaml. The content can be the following.
The first section is for the output window.
The second is for any AssemblyInfo.cs file, which highlights all "assembly" inside.

- file: "<output>"
  items:
    - match: ([=\-]{5,})
      tag: "Large"
      groupTags: ["Quotation"]
      tagLine: true
    - match: \b(?:[Ee]rror|[Ss]tack [Tt]race|Errno)\b|[Ee]xception\b|(?:\b[1-9]|\b\d+\d) [Ff]ailed\b|-- FAILED\b|^Failed\b
      tag: "Error"
      tagLine: true
    - match: \b(?:[Ww]arning|may not work)\b
      tag: "Warning"
      tagLine: true
    - match: 'Build: \d+ succeeded, 0 failed, \d+ up-to-date, \d+ skipped'
      tag: "Information"
      tagLine: true
    - match: \b\w[\w _\.]* -> ([A-Za-z]:\\.+)
      tag: "Information"
      groupTags: ["Underline"]
    - match: \b([A-Z]{1,7}\d{3,4})(?=:)
      tag: "Bold"
      groupTags: ["Underline"]
- file: 'AssemblyInfo\.cs'
  items:
    - match: assembly
      tag: "Information"

[wmjordan]

@laicasaane
Please download the new beta and test it.

When a codist.ct.yaml is found in the configuration folder, it will be parsed.
Otherwise, codist.ct.json will be attempted to load, if it presents.
When any of the aforementioned configuration file is loaded, it will be monitored and subsequent changes to it will be applied to the syntax highlight.

If codist.ct.json has been loaded and codist.ct.yaml is created afterwards. The latter will not be loaded unless VS is restarted.

[laicasaane]

@wmjordan Thank you. It works well for my needs.

[wmjordan]

The new beta will keep monitoring the global configuration directory.
The "codist.ct.yaml" file will be loaded after VS's startup, even if it is created afterwards.

[laicasaane]

@wmjordan Will it impact the performance?