1. introduction
  2. basics
  3. commands
  4. search
  5. visual mode
  6. configuration
  7. commandline commands
  8. macros
  9. marks and registers
  10. optional plugins

Introduction

The purpose of Vrapper is to extend existing text editors of the Eclipse platform to provide a modal interface like Vim does and a subset of Vim's features.

How it works

Instead of embedding Vim in Eclipse or creating a new text (Eclipse) editor with Vim functionality from scratch, Vrapper adds a layer on top of existing editors like the Java editor. The advantage of this approach is that all the features of the original editor are still available. For example it is still possible to use the refactoring capabilities of the Java editor.

While Vrapper is active, it adds a listener to every editor which is opened. Every keystroke send to the editor is then evaluated by Vrapper. In insert mode, keystrokes are simply passed to the underlying editor (unless they are remapped to something else). In other modes (e.g. visual or normal mode) most keystrokes will result in some action performed by Vrapper (e.g. delete, paste).

Targeted Users

Vrapper is neither able nor intended to be a replacement for Vim. It is meant to enhance the text editors of the Eclipse platform.

If you are a Vim user who is using Eclipse because of some specific features or want a faster way of editing text in Eclipse, Vrapper might be just what you are looking for. On the other hand, if you are a long-time Vim user and do not need any features of Eclipse editors, the alternatives below might suit you better.

Alternatives to Vrapper

There are two nice pieces of software with different approaches to the problem of combining Vim and Eclipse: Vimplugin, which completely embeds Vim as on OLE component, and Eclim, which lets you use a GUI-less Eclipse from Vim.

And of course, there is always the possibility to just use Vim as an external editor in Eclipse.

Useful Links