VimPyServer: A fast, lightweight, embedded Python server to control remotely Vim from telnet or netcat without X-Windows nor vim-server.

Author: Victor Polo de Gyves Montero <degyves@gmail.com>

License: BSD

Website: http://github.com/degyves/VimPyServer

Version: 0.1

Contents

  1. Intro

  2. Requirements

  3. Installation

  4. Usage

  5. Configuration

1. Intro

This is a plugin to control your vim editor via telnet. It starts a Python server inside Vim until you close the editor. This is an alternative to "vim -servername", which I could not use on a terminal only environment (it appears it requires X11).

Whit VimPyServer you can:

2. Requirements

  • VIM 7.4 with python and python3 (check it with vim --version)

  • Python 2.7.8 (Should work on Python 3. Please send me a message if you test it with version 3).

  • netcat (nc) is needed temporary. Will be unnecessary on future releases.

3. Installation

  1. If your are using pathogen just clone it to your ~/.vim/bundle:

  git clone https://github.com/degyves/VimPyServer.git

  1. Set your environment variables and restart your terminals:

    • Under Windows: add VIMPYSERVER_HOME to your environment variables (WIN+Pause, advanced settings). The value will be the path, in Windows format, of where you have cloned VimPyServer. Also add %VIMPYSERVER_HOME%\bin to your Windows PATH. Do not configure these variables on ~/.bashrc.

    • Under Linux/Mac: add VIMPYSERVER_HOME to your ~/.bashrc. The value will be the path where you have cloned VimPyServer. Also add $VIMPYSERVER_HOME\bin to your PATH.

    • Under OpenBSD: add VIMPYSERVER_HOME to your ~/.profile. The value will be the path where you have cloned VimPyServer. Also add $VIMPYSERVER_HOME\bin to your PATH.

That’s it! VimPyServer will own the first vim editor you use. If you open several vim editors, only the first one will be controlled by the VimPyServer. This will be changed later so any vim editor will have the ability to own (or not) its own VimPyServer.

4. Usage

You can send only one command per time. VimPyServer will remove spaces, newlines and tabs from the beginning and end of the command and send the command to the Vim editor owning the server.

Send a command from another terminal to your vim editor, controlled by VimPyServer. This will open ~/.bashrc.

  $ echo "e ~/.bashrc" | nc localhost 9876

Turn off VimPyServer:

  :call CloseVimPyServer()

Turn on VimPyServer:

  :call OpenVimPyServer()

5. Configuration

The following variables can be set on your ~/.vimrc but will need also to modify the VIMPYSERVER_HOME/bin/vp script:

Set this to disable the automatic start of VimPyServer:

  let g:VimPyServer_autostart=0

Set this to change the default port (9876 by default). It must be an integer:

  let g:VimPyServer_port=9876

Set this to change the default host ('127.0.0.1' by default). Must be string:

  let g:VimPyServer_host='127.0.0.1'

In vimperator-mode (C-i over a text input), VimPyServer has to notify when a buffer write has been made, so vimperator will update the text input. A netcat in server mode will be listening '127.0.0.1', port 9875 until VimPyServer connects to it to notify that a buffer write has happened. Change these variables on VIMPYSERVER_HOME/bin/vp and in our ~/.vimrc:

  let g:VimPyClient_port=9875
  let g:VimPyClient_host='127.0.0.1'

This way, you can also connect two Vim instances, to chat with your friends or remotely edit buffers! See README.asciidoc for an example.

6. Examples

Defaulting single Cygwin Vim instance with Windows Explorer "Open with…​"

Defaulting the text editor under windows directy to Cygwin Vim creates a lot of vim instances, one per each file. Why not edit all of your files on a single instance? This wil make it easier share text between your buffers, and faster, since you need not to change to another window.

  1. From Windows Explorer right-click on any file you want to edit. Select "Open with…​" and navigate to select $VIMPYSERVER_HOME/bin/VimPyServer.bat

  2. Now any file of this type you open with Explorer will be edited with the first Vim instance owned by VimPyServer.

Single Vim instance for Firefox + Vimperator

Surely have you noticed that with Firefox + Vimperator that you can use Vim to edit any input box? Just go to google, focus the search input box and press C-i. But wait, I don’t wanna open a new terminal and waste my coveted RAM. And since I have already opened Vim + VimPyServer, why not use it? VimPyServer to the rescue!

  • If you are on Windows edit your .vimperatorrc under c:\Users\YourUsername\.vimperatorrc) and add:

:set editor=c:/<YourCygwinUsersHome>/.vim/bundle/VimPyServer/bin/VimPyServer_Vimperator.bat

For example:

:set editor=c:/cygwin64/home/degyves/.vim/bundle/VimPyServer/bin/VimPyServer_Vimperator.bat

  • If you follow the *nix way, edit your .vimperatorrc and add:

:set editor=/<YourUserHome>/.vim/bundle/VimPyServer/bin/VimPyServer_Vimperator.sh

For example:

:set editor=/home/degyves/.vim/bundle/VimPyServer/bin/VimPyServer_Vimperator.sh

Single Vim instance for mutt (coming soon!)

Chat with VimPyServer inside vim and share snippets of code with your buddies, easier than ever!

  1. You run your Vim with VimPyServer on 192.168.1.2 port 9876.

  2. Your buddy runs its VimPyServer also, but on 192.168.1.3 port 9876.

  3. You target your VimPyClient variables, to your buddy’s VimPyServer:

  let g:VimPyClient_port=9876
  let g:VimPyClient_host='192.168.1.2'

  1. Your buddy targets you:

  let g:VimPyClient_port=9876
  let g:VimPyClient_host='192.168.1.3'

  1. Now let the fun begin:

  :call VimPyServerMessageToClient("echom 'hey, wazzap!")

  1. Read your buddies messages:

  :messages

  • Coming soon: as any message is interpreted as an ex-command, you can also share blocks of text.