In VIM, a VIM plugin has to be made to create a user interface which contains the menus of RefactorErl as well as those commands with the help of which the refactorings can be run and the files loaded in the system can be handled.

Installation

To install the plugin, you can copy it to the vim ftplugin directory. The plugin is located in REFACTORERL/lib/referl_ui/vim/ftplugin directory and consists of 2 files: referl.py and referl.vim. For the plugin you also need python 2. You can download it from ​http://www.python.org. For global installation, the ftplugin directory is usually located in /usr/share/vim/vimVersion/ftplugin, for local install copy the plugin to HOME/.vim/ftplugin directory.

Next, you should modify the refpath variable in the referl.vim script to the installation directory of RefactorErl. You should also set the other variables shown in the table.

Variable name	Value
refpath	you must enter the full path to the RefactorErl executable under the directory of the tool (under bin directory).
ref_base_path	you must enter the full path to the root directory of the tool.
ref_undo_mode	selective_undo or one_step
ref_datadir	path to directory of data used by RefactorErl
ref_name_type	sname or name
ref_server_name	name of the server node
ref_db_type	here you can choose the database type RefactorErl uses.

If you want to use the plugin only as filetype plugin then you should copy the files instead of plugin under ftplugin, and also add the following lines to your .vimrc. (The .vimrc is located under HOME.)

au BufNewFile,BufRead *.hrl source path/to/referl.vim
au BufNewFile,BufRead *.erl source path/to/referl.vim

Since VIM interface is based on CLI it should be properly configured. For proper configuration of CLI, see the corresponding section CommandLineInterface.

The VIM interface also supports an undo function, which has to modes: one step mode and selective undo mode. In the VIM script you have to set the ref_undo_mode variable. If you choose selective undo mode, you need an additional software component. For details about install and the usage of the undo function see page EmacsInterface/Undo.

For details about the undo function see page EmacsInterface/Undo.

Since the VIM interface does not cover all features of the tool, it is a good idea to use another interface, e.g. the Erlang shell interface (ri).

Menu and command structure

VIM can be used both in command line and in graphical environment. The VIM plugin of RefactorErl supports both of them. In the graphical front-end every command can be reached from the RefactorErl menu. The features are grouped to be easily found. These groups and the most important tasks can be found in the following, and the second column of the table shows the corresponding command to be used in non-graphical mode.

Menu item	Command
Server	---
Files	---
Undo (One step only)	Refundo
Undo	Refundo
Redo	Refredo
Semantic query	Refsq
Function	---
Introduce/Eliminate?	---
Move to another module	---
Renaming	---
Upgrade	---
Help	Refh

Server submenu

The server can be started and stopped by the menus and commands shown in the following table. If the RefactorErl cannot be started an error message is shown in command buffer.

Menu item	Command
Server	---
-> Start	RefSta
-> Stop	RefSto

Files submenu

Features dealing with files can be found in the following tables. Draw graph makes a graphical representation of the database by creating a dot file.

Menu item	Command
Files	---
-> Add file	Refa
-> Drop file	Refd
-> Show database	Refls
-> Draw Graph	Refgraph

Function submenu

This submenu contains only the Reorder function parameter refactoring, this menu group has been created for future use.

Menu item	Command
Function	---
-> Reorder function parameter	Refof

Introduce/Eliminate? submenu

In this submenu the refactorings concerning introduction and elimination of certain language constructs can be found.

Menu item	Command
Introduce/Eliminate?	---
-> Eliminate function call	Refef
-> Eliminate macro substitution	Refem
-> Eliminate variable	Refev
-> Eliminate fun expression	Refeu
-> Introduce function	Refif
-> Introduce import	Refii
-> Introduce record	Refir
-> Introduce variable	Refiv
-> Introduce process	Reffp
-> Introduce function argument	Refia
-> Introduce tuple	Reftf
-> Transform list comprehension	Reftl

Move to another module submenu

In this menu item the refactorings concerning moving can be found. The modules changed by the refactoring are not opened.

Menu item	Command
Move to another module	---
-> Move function	Refmf
-> Move macro	Refmm
-> Move record	Refmr

Upgrade submenu

The upgrade regexp refactoring can be found in the Upgrade submenu. This menu has been created for future use, too.

Menu item	Command
Upgrade	---
-> Upgrade regexp interface	Refuir

Renaming submenu

The universal renamer and the type specific renamer refactorings can be found in this submenu.

Menu item	Command
Renaming	---
-> Universal renamer	Refr
-> Rename function	Refrf
-> Rename header	Refrh
-> Rename macro	Refrc
-> Rename module	Refrm
-> Rename record	Refrrd
-> Rename record field	Refrrf
-> Rename variable	Refrv

Position based refactorings

Refactorings need either a single position or a range as a subject. In VIM, a range can be selected only in Visual mode, but you cannot execute a single statement while Visual mode is active, so you have to save the boundaries of the selection by pressing F2. Then you can run the range based refactorings. Position based refactorings are not affected by any saved ranges, they determine the actual cursor position every time a refactoring is started.

Interaction

If any of the given argument is missing or incorrect the interface provides user interaction to collect required data. To cancel an ongoing interaction you should use a blank answer.

Semantic queries

Semantic queries are fully supported in VIM interface. VIM does not support links to different sources, but the path and the location are listed after all entity in the result. This filepath can be copied and pasted after an open command (:e +line filepath ).