= Using Vim with Django =
This page is intended to be used as a collection of hints for using the Vim editor with Django.

 * Tips:
   * Vim Modeline
 * Plugins:
   * snippetsEmu
   * xml.vim
   * Project
 * Vim/IDE:
   * PIDA


== Tips ==
=== Vim Modeline ===
To insure that all developers are using a standard tab format (as long as they are using Vim), you can add a Vim modeline (special comment) to your files, to set people in the same mode for that file.  Example:

{{{
# vim: ai ts=4 sts=4 et sw=4
}}}

[http://py.vaults.ca/~x/python_and_vim.html Tab Setting Reference for Python and Vim]


== Plugins ==
=== snippetsEmu ===
Development takes place on [http://code.google.com/p/snippetsemu Google Code], where the subversion repository includes predefined snippets for django/python/etc.

[http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1318 SnippetsEmu] allows one to define abbreviations which can be expanded into larger blocks of text.  The abbreviations can also contain place markers which can be 'jumped to' in a similar manner to the macros defined in TextMate on OS X.

One can add specific abbreviations for models or templates based on file contents.  Adding the following line to your ~/.vim/after/ftplugin/python.vim file (create it if you don't have it) will allow you to define abbreviations just for models (use the file \Program Files\vim\vimfiles\after\ftplugin\python.vim under Windows):
{{{
if getline(1) =~ 'from django.db import models'
    "Your abbreviations here
endif
}}}

The following is a collection of Django specific abbreviations for use with the plugin (using the default start and end tags: '<{' and '}>'):
Models:
{{{
Snip addmodel class <{}>(models.Model):<CR><><CR><CR>def __str__(self):<CR>return "%s" % (<{}>,)<CR><CR>class Admin:<CR>pass<CR><CR>
Snip mcf models.CharField(maxlength=<{}>)<CR><{}>
Snip mff models.FileField(upload_to=<{}>)<CR><{}>
Snip mfpf models.FilePathField(path=<{}>, match="<{}>", recursive=<False>)<CR><{}>
Snip mfloat models.FloatField(max_digits=<{}>, decimal_places=<{}>)<CR><{}>
Snip mfk models.ForeignKey(<{}>, edit_inline=<False>)<CR><{}>
Snip m2m models.ManyToManyField(<{}>)<CR><{}>
Snip o2o models.OneToOneField(<{}>)<CR><{}>
}}}

Templates:
Templates should be used with different tag delimiters as they will no doubt contain (X)HTML which will confuse the plugin.  Assuming start and end tags are '@':

{{{
Iabbr fore {% for @entry@ in @list@ %}<CR>{{ @entry@.@@ }}<CR>@@{% endfor %}<CR>@@
}}}


=== XML.vim ===
The [http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=301 xml.vim] plugin is really useful for editing XML and HTML files.  It makes tag completion easy and allows you to bounce between start and end tags.

=== Syntax for templates === 

Dave Hodder has contributed standard [http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1487 Vim syntax files].

If you are interested in rolling your own, this is a simple addition to let Vim deal with Django template syntax:

Create the file:
{{{$VIM/vimfiles/after/syntax/html.vim}}}
with the following content:

{{{
syn region  djangotagmarkers start="{{" end="}}"
syn region  djangovariablemarkers start="{%" end="%}"
command! -nargs=+ HiLink hi def link <args>
HiLink djangotagmarkers PreProc
HiLink djangovariablemarkers PreProc
delcommand HiLink
}}}


=== Project.vim ===
The [http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=69 Project] plugin adds IDE file organisation functionality to Vim.

Something like the following could be used to view a project's files.

{{{
Django Project=/path/to/project CD=. filter="*.py" {
 __init__.py
 settings.py
 urls.py
 apps=apps {
  __init__.py
  app1=app1Dir {
   __init__.py
   views.py
   models=app1ModelsDir {
    __init__.py
    app1models.py
   }
  }
  app2=app2Dir {
   __init__.py
   views.py
   models=app2modelsDir {
    __init__.py
    app2Dir.py
   }
  }
 media=mediaDir {
  images=imagesDir {
  }
 }
}
}}}

Such a structure can also be created by using the build in '\C' command which will recurse through the whole directory tree.

== Vim/IDE ==
=== PIDA ===

Although this is not Django-specific (I don't think some of the other stuff in here is very Django-specific either), [http://pida.berlios.de PIDA] looks like a pretty nice IDE environment for VIM+Python, which would therefore help you out in Django :).