Friday, November 30, 2007

Notepad++ Tip: Syntax Highlighting for ASP.NET Files

Notepad++ has a spot in my toolbox mostly because I like it as a lightweight viewer/editor for one-off situations where I really don't feel like loading up Visual Studio just to take a quick peek at a file.

When I first started using Notepad++, one of my common usage patterns was to take a quick look at a file that was part of some solution that I did not currently have open in a Visual Studio instance.  I'd just find the file in Windows Explorer, right-click on it, and select "Edit with Notepad++" (which is a context menu addition the Notepad++ installer makes that you'll actually find handy rather than annoying).  No long load time, no fuss.

But one of the things I quickly missed that I would have gotten in Visual Studio was syntax highlighting.  For example, if I opened a Web.config file in Notepad++, I wouldn't get any syntax highlighting, because Notepad++ didn't know that *.config files are really XML.

The solution to my problem lied in a very obscure Notepad++ setting that took me a lot of digging to find.

Here's what you do:

- On the Notepad++ menu bar, click "Settings" -> "Styler Configurator..."

screen1
- Under "Language", select "XML"
- Under "User ext", type in "config".  While we're at it, let's also type in (space delimited) "aspx", "ascx", and "master".
- Click "Save & Close"

That's it!  Now when you view config files, ASP.NET pages, user controls, or master pages in Notepad++, you'll get syntax highlighting.

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80 comments:

  1. AnonymousFebruary 12, 2008 at 12:03 PM

    Matt,

    I agree that Notepad++ is a fantasic tool! I use it for coding python documents, php, html, xml and more. It is my default text editor.

    I needed to change the color on some of the highlighting and your Blog helped me find the settings. I looked all over the menus and it was Not where I would expect it.

    Thanks again,
    Dave from Provo, UT

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  2. Matt BlodgettFebruary 13, 2008 at 9:18 AM

    You're welcome, Dave! I'm glad to help. Those Notepad++ settings are definitely not in an obvious place.

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  3. AnonymousMay 1, 2008 at 8:45 PM

    Yo, thanks for the idea. I've been trying to figure out how to get highlighting for rhtml files. With your trick, I have Notepad++ highlighting rhtml like it does html.

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  4. AnonymousAugust 20, 2008 at 9:36 AM

    Thanks man, I could never figure out how to do this. Every time I opened up a .config file, I would go to Language -> XML... EVERYTIME! What a pain.

    You would think that this would be a little bit more intuitive to find.

    In any case, nice job!

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  5. AnonymousOctober 14, 2008 at 2:38 AM

    I use for editing Notepad++ because is a very complex program and support languages like C; C++; Java; C#; XML; HTML; PHP; CSS; makefile ASCII art (.nfo); doxygen ini file and other. Olso you can edit several documents at the same time. I got it from here: Notepad++

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  6. AnonymousNovember 2, 2008 at 10:26 AM

    that last comment from yman was pretty dumb

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  7. AnonymousNovember 5, 2008 at 12:44 AM

    Thanks, just what I needed :)

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  8. AnonymousFebruary 21, 2009 at 9:28 AM

    I was searching for this information allover the web. The association with any new extension should be easier than it is now.

    This setting is not obvious at all in any of the menues of NotePad+++. Thanks for providing this information.

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  9. AnonymousMarch 2, 2009 at 4:04 AM

    Thanks, exactly what I was looking for :)

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  10. AnonymousMarch 24, 2009 at 10:15 AM

    It's awesome, and exatly what I've looking for. Great thanks, Matt.

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  11. David KempApril 15, 2009 at 5:35 AM

    Thanks for posting this

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  12. AnonymousMay 6, 2009 at 5:51 AM

    Brilliant! Thanks a lot!

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  13. AnonymousMay 15, 2009 at 10:26 PM

    Good stuff! Your post helped a lot.

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  14. AnonymousMay 29, 2009 at 1:26 PM

    Very helpful, I looked for a long time and didn't find the setting. Thank you.

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  15. ATJune 12, 2009 at 2:59 PM

    Thanks for the tip!

    One quirk I ran into (as of version 5.0.3) is that you must actually close any open files with the new extensions for syntax highlighting to kick in. Simply closing and reopening Notepad++ itself doesn't seem to work.

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  16. UnknownJune 18, 2009 at 9:06 AM

    Thanks for the tip!

    I googled it up today, so sorry for bumping, but I just had to reply!

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  17. JohannesJuly 21, 2009 at 4:55 PM

    Thx Matt, great tips on Notepad++ syntax highlighting!

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  18. KarlSeptember 22, 2009 at 2:20 AM

    Excellent post! Thanks very much Matt, using the Language menu to select my syntax highlighting every single time was starting to get my back up!

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  19. AnonymousSeptember 25, 2009 at 3:17 PM

    thanks, exactly what I was looking for.

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  20. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2009 at 8:04 AM

    You're my hero.

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  21. AnonymousNovember 4, 2009 at 7:28 AM

    Thank you matt!

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  22. JonNovember 11, 2009 at 7:00 AM

    Worked perfectly!

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  23. AnonymousDecember 10, 2009 at 6:08 AM

    thank you so much. It was such annoying to set color scheme each time I opened ascx files

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  24. GamesterJanuary 31, 2010 at 6:54 PM

    thanks,just try it and it works.
    btw,found your page when i google for notepad++ syntax highlighting.

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  25. AnonymousFebruary 19, 2010 at 8:59 AM

    Is it only me that prefers to use the ASP highlighting for ASPX pages, rather than XML? Probably because we've got a lot of pages with tons of crappy inline code...

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  26. AnonymousMarch 2, 2010 at 3:57 AM

    I prefer it highlighting in asp too. For exactly the same reason. I also actually prefer the hightlighting to VS.

    I have also just worked out how to get the auto complete function working for ASP too (notepad++ 5.6.6 supports this). Pretty simple really, just copy a .xml file and a .api file in \Notepad++\plugins\APIs and rename them to asp.api and asp.xml. I used the vb file and combined it with the html file, which means that I get auto completion on my aspx pages now. Most of you probably already know that, but it was a bit of a revelation to me.

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  27. AnonymousApril 13, 2010 at 10:22 AM

    Perfect, been searching for this for months

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  28. ekestlerJuly 9, 2010 at 9:14 AM

    Positively, absolutely, BRILLIANT!

    This should be published on the Notepad++ site!

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  29. UnknownJuly 23, 2010 at 10:37 AM

    ya know...that is in the Notepad++ help files.

    ? > Help Content
    Choose Index tab, and search "languages"

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  30. RobNovember 29, 2010 at 4:40 AM

    Very good tip! Saves me time whenever I open .NET files in NP++ (which is all the time!)

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  31. Jochem KempeDecember 16, 2010 at 3:09 AM

    Very nice tip, just what I needed. Thanks!

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  32. Charlie BalchJanuary 13, 2011 at 12:16 PM

    Thanks! A very simple solution to my aspx problem with Notepad++.

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  33. AnonymousFebruary 7, 2011 at 4:39 PM

    Awesome, ta!

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  34. AnonymousMarch 22, 2011 at 3:43 PM

    ASPX comment delimiters (<%-- --%>) breaks the XML highlighter

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  35. AnonymousMarch 23, 2011 at 10:24 AM

    Thanks Matt, this did the trick, I am loving it!

    U DA MA!!!!

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  36. artifexmediaApril 25, 2011 at 9:32 AM

    You little ripper!! (That means thanks a billion or so)

    This sure beats going Language > HTML or XML!!!!

    I am going to do this on all my NP++ installs I have (work, home, laptop etc)

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  37. UnknownJune 9, 2011 at 10:32 AM

    Cheers Fella you saved me so much time on .config files :-D

    ReplyDelete
  38. AnonymousJuly 19, 2011 at 6:43 PM

    Thanks for sharing this.

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  39. JaapGoddijnJuly 21, 2011 at 4:11 AM

    Thanks a lot, i've been looking for this a long time!

    ReplyDelete
  40. AnonymousSeptember 16, 2011 at 11:53 AM

    Just what I was looking for, thank you.

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  41. DJMOctober 19, 2011 at 12:22 PM

    Just dropping a comment to say thank you. It was as others have stated not where I expected the option to be.

    Thank you.

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  42. AnonymousOctober 19, 2011 at 4:58 PM

    Thanks for the tip! Just what I was looking for. I had just had enough of the Language menu for those damned config files that I open constantly throughout the day

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  43. AnonymousNovember 19, 2011 at 10:42 AM

    Brilliant, just want i needed!

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  44. Eric DeveloperJanuary 23, 2012 at 11:14 AM

    Amazing!! Thanks man!!

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  45. AnonymousFebruary 26, 2012 at 12:17 AM

    This is great. Thanks friend.

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  46. AnonymousMarch 23, 2012 at 9:57 AM

    Awesome tip!!!!!!!!! Thank you!!!

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  47. AnonymousApril 5, 2012 at 1:59 PM

    Thanks Matt, this is what I've been looking for :)

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  48. DaveApril 18, 2012 at 4:34 AM

    Thanks for that useful tip.

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  49. UnknownMay 4, 2012 at 1:20 PM

    Thanks so much! I was trying to figure out how to save my files as aspx... this more than helped!

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  50. MatJune 19, 2012 at 10:44 AM

    Thank you for this - very helpful even 4 years later. :)

    ReplyDelete
  51. Sandesh S. DeshmukhJuly 2, 2012 at 11:00 AM

    Thanks a ton!!

    ReplyDelete
  52. JimJuly 27, 2012 at 12:08 PM

    This sounds like exactly what I need, but for some reason didn't work for aspx. Anybody else have that issue?

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  53. 30mbiAugust 8, 2012 at 9:39 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

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  54. 30mbiAugust 8, 2012 at 9:43 AM

    that a cool trick but you can also in the menu click on
    Language
    A
    asp

    and you have all styling..
    including <% directives

    Jim - to make it work for described xml settings you have to select in npp : Languages/XML

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  55. AnonymousAugust 26, 2012 at 8:17 PM

    August 2012, and this is still helping! Thanks Matt!

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  56. AymenSeptember 27, 2012 at 5:22 PM

    4 years later, and this helped me with .config files.

    Thanks!

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  57. AnonymousFebruary 22, 2013 at 2:23 PM

    It still works. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
  58. Ben WalshMarch 18, 2013 at 4:41 AM

    Brilliant thanks for the tip, you saved me a lot of time!

    ReplyDelete
  59. AnonymousApril 12, 2013 at 12:51 PM

    Five years later this is still helping people. Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
  60. AnonymousJuly 4, 2013 at 9:48 PM

    thanks for ur help

    ReplyDelete
  61. AbdulJuly 11, 2013 at 5:18 AM

    Nice one.
    Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
  62. UnknownSeptember 22, 2013 at 10:13 AM

    thank you for this article!

    ReplyDelete
  63. UnknownSeptember 22, 2013 at 10:14 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  64. AnonymousNovember 22, 2013 at 10:13 AM

    Thats a cool trick and it worked....

    You are Awesome man!!!

    ReplyDelete
  65. mens sanaMarch 5, 2014 at 9:12 AM

    Thanks a lot for sharing (and being accessible via Google...) !
    Thumbs up!

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  66. AnonymousMarch 5, 2014 at 9:14 AM

    Thanks a lot for sharing (and being accessible via Google...) !
    Thumbs up!

    ReplyDelete
  67. AnonymousMay 1, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    April 2014 and its still helpful.
    Thumbs up!!

    ReplyDelete
  68. AnonymousMay 1, 2014 at 6:28 AM

    April 2014 and its still helpful.
    Thumbs up!!

    ReplyDelete
  69. AnonymousMay 15, 2014 at 2:26 PM

    Thanks bro, this is gonna help out a lot

    ReplyDelete
  70. AnonymousAugust 8, 2014 at 8:48 AM

    This has been bothering me for 2 years now (highlight ASPX as HTML). THANKS!!!

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  71. AnonymousSeptember 30, 2014 at 2:15 PM

    Very helpful! Thanks a lot for posting.

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  72. AnonymousOctober 31, 2014 at 8:18 AM

    THANX!!!

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  73. AnonymousFebruary 18, 2015 at 1:06 PM

    thanks

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  74. AnonymousApril 30, 2015 at 10:16 AM

    Yes, thank you.

    ReplyDelete
  75. AnonymousNovember 24, 2015 at 10:08 AM

    Thanks, Matt!
    Amazing this is still useful considering you posted it almost 7 years ago. Would be nice if it were simply a default syntax config for Notepad++ at this point! But oh, well...

    Thanks for saving me the hour+ trying to figure that one out!

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  76. AnonymousJanuary 7, 2016 at 11:06 AM

    Pfffft.......and on it goes......Yep Matt, this is still the main solution out there.....sad in a way ;) Thanks!

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  77. AnonymousApril 19, 2016 at 2:38 PM

    finally, an answer that works! thanks for this.

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  78. AnonymousApril 20, 2016 at 2:24 AM

    thank you sir! its very effective.

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  79. AnonymousJanuary 12, 2017 at 12:41 PM

    Did not work today. Got latest version of npp. Followed steps outlined above. Closed npp. Opened npp. Opened "login.aspx" and there was no syntax colorization, etc. Did not work for me. Windows 7. VS 2013. npp latest.

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  80. Alphons EversFebruary 20, 2018 at 9:39 AM

    Thanks Matt. This solved my issue.

    ReplyDelete

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