jslint.vim

Vim plugin and command line tool for running JSLint http://jslint.com/.

JSLint is a handy tool that spots errors and common mistakes in JavaScript code.

This is alpha software and is under heavy development.

Installation and Use

• Make sure you have a JavaScript interpreter installed. In Ubuntu you can install the Spidermonkey shell with this command:

    $ sudo apt-get install spidermonkey-bin
  

  On Windows you can use cscript.exe - which is probably already installed.

• If you have rake installed, run:

    $ rake install
  

  Otherwise copy the directory plugin/jslint/ into your Vim plugin directory. Usually this is ~/.vim/plugin/. On Windows it is ~/vimfiles/plugin/.

• Simple mode:

  • Open a JavaScript file in Vim and run the command :JSLintLight to check the file. If there are potential errors they will be highlighted in red. If there is an error on the line under the cursor an explanation of that error will be printed at the bottom of the screen.

    Run :JSLintLight again once the errors are fixed to remove error highlighting.

• Quickfix mode:

  • Open a JavaScript file in Vim and run the command :JSLint to check the file. If there are potential errors they will be highlighted in red and the quickfix window will open.

    Run :JSLint again once the errors are fixed to remove error highlighting and to close the quickfix window.

• (optional) Add configuration to your ~/.vimrc file to bind JSLint to a key. For example:

    " Run JSLint on the current file in simple mode when <F4> is pressed.
    map <F4> :JSLintLight<CR>
  
    " Run JSLint on the current file with quickfix when <F5> is pressed.
    map <F5> :JSLint<CR>
  

To get a detailed report of any issues in your JavaScript file outside of Vim, run the bin/jslint executable in a terminal. For example:

  $ bin/jslint plugin/jslint/fulljslint.js

You can copy bin/jslint into for PATH for easier access. The executable requires that the Vim plugin is installed and also requires Ruby.

Working with quickfix

The quickfix window will display a list of all potential errors in the file with an explanation for each. Running :JSLint will automatically open the quickfix window if there are potential errors and will close it if no problems are detected.

Note that the quickfix list will be cleared and regenerated every time you run :JSLint.

Here are some quick notes for using quickfix:

• In the quickfix window, moving your cursor over an item and pressing enter will jump the cursor to that line in your file.

• In either your file or the quickfix window :cn will jump the cursor to the next potential error, and :cp will jump the cursor to the previous item.

• Open and close the quickfix window with :copen[n] and :cl[ose].

You can find more detailed documentation in the Vim Reference Manual.

Credits

• Jesse Hallett -- original author
• Nathan Smith -- Windows compatibility, quickfix integration, and many other improvements
• Travis Jeffery -- Easy plugin installation with rake
• Sam Goldstein -- Display of problem report for the current line and bug fixes

License

Copyright (c) 2008-2009 Jesse Hallett hallettj@gmail.com, except where otherwise noted

Permission is hereby granted, free of charge, to any person obtaining a copy of this software and associated documentation files (the "Software"), to deal in the Software without restriction, including without limitation the rights to use, copy, modify, merge, publish, distribute, sublicense, and/or sell copies of the Software, and to permit persons to whom the Software is furnished to do so, subject to the following conditions:

The above copyright notice and this permission notice shall be included in all copies or substantial portions of the Software.

The Software shall be used for Good, not Evil.

THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS", WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE AND NONINFRINGEMENT. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE AUTHORS OR COPYRIGHT HOLDERS BE LIABLE FOR ANY CLAIM, DAMAGES OR OTHER LIABILITY, WHETHER IN AN ACTION OF CONTRACT, TORT OR OTHERWISE, ARISING FROM, OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH THE SOFTWARE OR THE USE OR OTHER DEALINGS IN THE SOFTWARE.