Live templates

To expand a live template, type the corresponding template abbreviation and press Tab. Let's see on how to insert the if-else block using the predefined ife template.

Gif

1. In the editor, type ife and press Tab.

2. Specify the required condition and press Tab to move to the next statement.

3. Type code executed if the condition is true and press Tab to move the else clause.

4. Type code executed if the condition is false and press Tab again to finish.

5. (Optional) Before finishing, you can press Shift+Tab to move to the previous clause and change it.

Surround templates can be useful to wrap a piece of HTML code with tags. Perform the following steps to do this:

Gif

1. Select the desired code fragment and press Ctrl+Alt+J.

2. From the invoked popup, select the Surround with template and press Enter.

3. Type the desired tag and press Enter.

1. Select code in the editor.

2. From the main menu, select Tools | Save as Live Template.

3. In the invoked dialog, specify the following settings.

   

   • Abbreviation: Specifies the template abbreviation used to expand a template in the editor. Here we use todo.

   • Description: Contains template description that will be displayed in the completion popup.

   • Template text: Template body containing code to be inserted.

   • Applicable in: Specifies the languages or pieces of code where you can expand the created code snippet. Click Change to specify the required context.

   Click OK.

4. To try the created template in action, type todo in the editor, and press Tab.

   

   Gif

1. Open Settings/Preferences and go to the Editor | Live Templates page.

2. Select the todo template created in the previous chapter.

3. Add the $DESCRIPTION$, $AUTHOR$, and $DATE$ variables in Template text, as shown below.

   

   # TODO
   # Description: $DESCRIPTION$
   # Author: $AUTHOR$
   # Date: $DATE$

4. Click the Edit variables button. In the invoked Edit Templates Variable dialog, provide default values enclosed in quotes in the Default value column.

   

   Click OK in this dialog and then click OK in Settings/Preferences.

   tip

   To learn how to provide variable values using expressions (the Expressions column), see Calculate variables using expressions.

5. To try the customized template in action, type todo in the editor and press Tab. Use Tab to jump between variables.

   

   Gif

   If necessary, press Shift+Tab to move to the previous variable.

RubyMine allows you to calculate live templates variables using expressions and insert the calculated values automatically. Let's modify our custom todo template created in the previous procedure.

1. In the Editor | Live Templates page, select the todo template and click the Edit variables button.

2. In the invoked Edit Templates Variable dialog, specify settings, as shown below.

   

   • DESCRIPTION: Leave a static Default value specified in the previous procedure.

   • AUTHOR: Expand Expression next to AUTHOR and select the user function from the list. This function returns the name of the current user.

   • DATE: Expand Expression next to DATE and select date from the list. This function returns the current system date in the specified format.

   • For both AUTHOR and DATE variables, enable the Skip if defined option. In this case, RubyMine won’t suggest that you specify these variables when expanding a template.

   Click OK in this dialog and then click OK in Settings/Preferences.

   tip

   Learn more about predefined functions used in expressions from Predefined functions used in variables.

3. In the editor, type todo, and press Tab to expand a template.

   

   Gif

   As you can see, RubyMine fills out Author and Date automatically with values obtained using the user and date functions, respectively. So, you only need to provide a description.

RubyMine supports the following predefined live template variables that cannot be modified:

• $END$ indicates the caret position when the code snippet is complete and you can no longer press Tab to jump to the next variable.

• $SELECTION$ is used in surround templates and denotes the code fragment to be wrapped. Learn more at Surround templates.

1. Open Settings/Preferences and go to the Editor | Live Templates page.

2. Select the Ruby group and click the button.

3. Specify settings, as shown below.

   

   • Abbreviation: Specifies the template abbreviation (ife_sur in our case).

   • Description: Contains template description that will be displayed in the Select Template popup.

   • Template text: Specify the template body in the following way:

     if $SELECTION$
         $STATEMENT_ONE$
     else
         $STATEMENT_TWO$
     end
     $END$

     Note that this code snippet contains the $SELECTION$ variable that will be replaced with the selected code when expanding a template.

   • Define: Click OK in this dialog and then click OK in Settings/Preferences.

4. To expand the created surround template, select the required code fragment in the editor and press Ctrl+Alt+J. Select the desired surround template and press Enter.

   

   Gif

   The selected code will be inserted as a condition. Use Tab to jump between variables. When you finish, the caret will be placed on the line next to the generated snippet as the $END$ variable is placed in Template text.

1. Choose File | Manage IDE Settings | Export Settings from the menu.

2. In the Export Settings dialog, make sure that the Live templates checkbox is selected and specify the path and name of the archive, where the exported settings will be saved.

3. Click OK to generate the file based on live template configuration files. You can share this file with your team members, or import it on another RubyMine installation.

1. Choose File | Manage IDE Settings | Import Settings from the menu.

2. Specify the path to the archive with the exported live template configuration.

3. In the Import Settings dialog, select the Live templates checkbox and click OK.

4. After restarting RubyMine, you will see the imported live templates on the Editor | Live Templates page of the IDE settings Ctrl+Alt+S.