Azure Bicep User Defined Language for Notepad++

This repository provides a User Defined Language (UDL) definition for Notepad++ to enable syntax highlighting for Azure Bicep files (.bicep).

Bicep Language

Bicep is a Domain Specific Language (DSL) for deploying and managing Azure resources. It provides declarative syntax and simplifies the authoring experience compared to raw ARM templates.

More information is available here: What is Bicep?

Background

While VS Code with the official Bicep extension offers the best Bicep development experience, this UDL allows you to have basic syntax highlighting in Notepad++ if you prefer a lightweight editor.

Installation and Usage

1. Download the UDL file for your theme: You can either clone this repository or directly save the XML file directly.
   • Light theme: Bicep-UDL.xml
   • Dark theme: Bicep-UDL_dark.xml (thanks to @IAmCorbin)
2. Open Notepad++: Launch the application.
3. Open User Defined Language Dialog: Go to Language > Define your language....
4. Import the UDL: Click the Import... button in the "User Defined Language" dialog.
5. Select the XML file: Choose the downloaded XML file.
6. Close the Dialog: Close the "User Defined Language" dialog.
7. Open a Bicep file: Open a .bicep file. The syntax highlighting should now be applied.

Screenshots

Light Theme	Dark Theme
Bicep-UDL.xml	Bicep-UDL_dark.xml

Features

This UDL provides highlighting for:

• Keywords: param, var, output, in, targetScope, resource, module, output, existing, import, as, type, with, using, extends, func, assert, extension
• Literals: true, false, null, any
• Logical Operators: and, or, not
• Built-in Functions: for, if, concat, format, replace, split, uniqueString, resourceId, reference, json, int, bool, string, array, object, union, intersection, length, substring, range, toLower, base64
• Directives: # prefixed directives such as #disable-next-line, adminusername-should-not-be-literal, artifacts-parameters, decompiler-cleanup, explicit-values-for-loc-params, and many more
• Additional Keywords: resourceGroup, subscription, tenant, deployment, managementGroup, environment
• Operators: =, +, -, *, /, %, &, |, ^, !, ~, <, >, <=, >=, ==, !=, ??, :, ?
• Numbers: Integer and decimal numbers, supporting suffixes f, F, d, D and scientific notation (e, E)
• Strings: Single and double-quoted strings with escape sequence support
• Comments: Single-line (//) and multi-line (/* ... */) comments
• Brackets and Parentheses: {}, [], ()

Work in Progress and Limitations

This UDL is a work in progress. Notepad++'s UDL system has limitations compared to the more advanced textmate grammars or Language Server Protocol (LSP) used in VS Code. Therefore, this UDL has the following limitations:

• Complex String Interpolation: The more complex string interpolation (${...}) and verbatim strings (''') are not fully supported. Basic string highlighting is provided, but nested expressions within strings might not be highlighted correctly.
• Advanced Regex: The original Bicep grammar uses complex regular expressions that are difficult or impossible to fully replicate in Notepad++ UDLs.
• No Semantic Analysis: This UDL only provides syntax highlighting based on lexical analysis. It does not provide semantic features like code completion, validation, or go-to-definition.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! If you find any issues or have improvements, please feel free to open a pull request or submit an issue.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License.