2007 / June 25^th/ Using TextMate’s TODO bundle

If you use TextMate, you should really think about using the TODO bundle more often. It’s a pretty simple, low-maintenance bundle that adds tremendous value to your code.

Setting TODO, FIXME, and CHANGELOG

Using the bundle is pretty easy. In any language, just type in a quick comment with the prefix TODO, FIXME or CHANGED like so:

def view
  # TODO: different display for different types of clips: active, processing, etc
  @clip = Clip.find(params[:id])
  # TODO: Make a real related clips dealieo
  @related_clips = Clip.find(:all, :limit => 6, :conditions => ["clips.status = 'processed'"])
end

Using this syntax lets you keep pushing ahead at full steam and leave the hard stuff for later. For example, in the above example I wanted to get a quick functional prototype out the door. It wasn’t mandatory that the Related Clips actually be related: it was only mandatory that there was content present.

You can also use the keywords FIXME or CHANGED throughout your code, like so:

def view
  # FIXME: This totally breaks if an invalid ID is given
  @clip = Clip.find(params[:id])
  # CHANGED: @related_clips now uses a model method related_clips
  @related_clips = Clip.related_clips(params[:id])
end

This lets others working on the code let you know that you know something is broken and/or changed, but you just don’t have time to get to it.

Getting the information back

Well, that’s all fine and well.. but how do you know what needs to be fixed/changed/done ? Just hit Ctr+Shift+T and TextMate will pop up with a pretty little list, hyperlinked and all

I use this bundle practically every time I open up Textmate. It allows me to keep on a focused track of development, while still keeping a lot of “ooh, I need to do that sometime” kind of tasks on the radar.

1. 

   Steven Campbell

   June 25^th | #

   Yet another reason for me to purchase a Mac. :)

2. 

   Kyle

   June 25^th | #

   Great stuff–I had some issues with it picking up TODO’s in plugins in Rails, but it’s real easy to ignore folders. Here’s the example I found

3. 

   gastu

   June 25^th | #

   “I’m an Apple trapped inside a PC.”
   Kyle how use textmate in PC?!

4. 

   Zach Hale

   June 25^th | #

   Oh my god Kyle you are my savior. I have a feeling this will become about as useful as the subversion plugin. Thank you!!

5. 

   Kyle

   June 26^th | #

   “I’m an Apple trapped inside a PC.”
   Kyle how use textmate in PC?!

   Sorry, can’t be a miracle worker ;)

6. 

   Soryu

   June 26^th | #

   Hey Kyle, I’m the maintainer of the TODO bundle. Nice article!

   As it happens I just made a major update to the Bundle which will ship with the next build of TextMate. A little birdie told me that we will see a new build in a few days.

   My commit message: [CHANGED] Major update to the TODO List Bundle. More beautiful output with sortable lists and progress showing scanning folder.

   I have uploaded a on my website at http://public.serenity.de/todo.jpg.

   Thanks for spreading the word and have fun using TextMate,
   Soryu.

7. 

   Soryu

   June 26^th | #

   PS: the missing word there was “screenshot”, which hyperlinked via markdown to an image… which you stripped of course. silly me, did not actually want to include the image in the post. regards.

8. 

   Stephen Tudor

   June 26^th | #

   I love TxM and the TODO bundle. It’s also possible to add your own tags if the default TODO, FIXME, and CHANGED don’t embody your own style. As of the current version of the TODO bundle, you can edit the “TODO Markers” preferences in the Bundle Editor by adding new tags and the associated colors and regexp patterns. Just follow the example of how the existing tags are configured. When in doubt, check out the TODO bundle’s help command.

   Also, great job on the redesign! I might be wrong, but it looks like you might be using the golden mean for your column ratios.

9. 

   Dr J

   June 26^th | #

   Cool feature. I never have used the TODO bundle with TextMate and didn’t know that is what it was for. Instead I was compiling my own list. Looks like I’ve been wasting quite a bit of time…

10. 

    chris rhee

    June 27^th | #

    Thanks for the tip. I’ll definitely make use of this tomorrow. Every now and then I learn something completely new and can’t-live-without about TextMate - it’s probably one of my best software purchases.

11. 

    Geert

    July 5^th | #

    Thanks for sharing this. I’ll probably be using this a lot in my workflow now. Textmate is great.

12. 

    bumbleq

    July 27^th | #

    http://www.nabble.com/TODO-bundle-has-hardcoded-dependencies-to-RADAR-tag-t4135819.html

    I too changed my radar preferences now I need to figure out how to put it back to what it was ; doh
    - I thought i did a cut and paste to save the original but it looks like that did not work.

    If somebody can tell me what i need to put back into radar pref that would be awesome

    But indeed # TODO: is awesome

    thanks

13. 

    Trevor

    July 28^th | #

    Thank you for this extremely helpful Textmate hint. I’m just getting into Rails development and this will definitely speed up iterations.

14. 

    Paul Stamatiou

    August 12^th | #

    Thanks for the 101, I think I might start using this.

15. 

    Phil Thompson

    October 7^th | #

    For those asking about TextMate for PC there is now an Editor called E TextEditor. I’ve not used TextMate but I’m told E is pretty close to it and on top of that it does support the TextMate bundles so you can also use things like the TODOs.

    There is still some work to do (!) on it but I’ve already switched from RadRails and finding it very productive. A great gift for those coders that don’t have Macs for whatever reason.

16. 

    Andy

    October 8^th | #

    I have also been using E TextEditor on a PC.
    It is an amazing program - very fast.
    The TextMate bundles including TODO work on E TextEditor.
    I have used NetBeans and Komodo Edit and find E Text Editor much faster and more productive.

17. 

    Eric Barnes — Great List of Textmate Links

    December 30^th | #

    […] Using the To-Do Bundle […]

18. 

    Chris

    March 10^th | #

    Yes I too have a Mac at home with Textmate, and a works PC with ‘E’. E is definitely an excellent PC equivalent to Textmate, and very good value at less than £20. The only thing I miss on the PC is the integration with FTP that I get on the Mac with Transmit, but on the plus side, E works very well if using Tortoise SVN.

    E has also bombed a couple of times in typical PC fashion, but its still a very early release.

19. 

    evie

    March 15^th | #

    hello.

20. 

    Felipe

    March 21^st | #

    TextMate for PC = http://www.e-texteditor.com/

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