editor-server

editor-server is a HTTP server which interfaces with a specified file. editor-server could be used for integration with applications which uses $EDITOR or $VISUAL for file editing.

It is important to understand that editor-server is not an editor in fact, it does simulate a text editor with four basic functionalities:

• Read all file contents
• Overwrite all file contents
• Save contents to file
• Reload contents from file

Currently editor-server is being developed to be used by Dracon IntelliJ Plugin to integrate IntelliJ editor with pijul record command, but could be used in any kind of project to simulate a basic file editor.

Usage

editor-server -p [port] [file]

Starting editor-server

For example, to start an editor-server listening on port 7070 to read and write to a file named example.json:

editor-server -p 7070 example.json

Reading file contents from buffer

editor-server caches file contents in memory, to read the cached contents, send a GET request to /read endpoint.

GET http://localhost:7070/read

It does respond with entire file contents stored in memory.

Writing file contents to buffer

editor-server caches file contents in memory, to write contents to cache, send a POST request to /write endpoint with the contents in the body of request.

POST http://localhost:7070/read
{"name": "editor-server"}

It writes the content to buffer in memory and respond with the amount of bytes written.

Saving file contents/flushing data

As pointed before, editor-server caches file contents in memory, to save the contents to file you must call /save endpoint.

GET http://localhost:7070/save

It does resets the contents of the file (all changes made directly to file are discarded) and writes the contents from the buffer, responding with the amount of bytes written.

Reloading file contents

To reload file contents stored in the buffer (in other words, to load the file contents into the buffer), call /reload endpoint.

GET http://localhost:7070/reload

It does read file contents into the buffer and respond with the amount of bytes read.

Closing the editor

To close the editor, call the /close endpoint, it does flushes all contents stored in buffer to the file, if this is not the desired behavior, just call /reload to discard buffer changes, before closing the editor.

GET http://localhost:7070/close

Specifying PORT without -p parameter

editor-server supports port specification through $EDITOR_SERVER_PORT environment variable.

Practical uses

editor-server will be used in Dracon IntelliJ Plugin as replacement for copie. An editor-server will be launched with a random port and file contents will be read and written through REST API when file is changed in the IntelliJ Editor.