Better Highlights

Some features of the plugin require a paid subscription.
Compatible with IntelliJ IDEA (Ultimate, Community), Android Studio and 16 more
Screenshot 1
Screenshot 2

Features:

  • Colorize comments.
  • Reference source code in comments.
  • Show cognitive complexity for methods.
  • Use gutter icons for highlights.
  • Highlight regions (whole line highlight).
  • Reference files in comments.
  • Reference other comments inside comments.
  • [PAID] Highlight keywords, methods and functions (syntax highlight).
  • [PAID] Highlight anything by RegExp.
  • [PAID] Define highlight severity for comment/tokens/regexp.
  • [PAID] Display settings for cognitive complexity.
  • [PAID] Define custom start/end tokens for wikilink format.
  • [PAID] Reference source code in comments outside wikilink.
  • [PAID] Add custom gutter icons.
  • [PAID] Wikilink support in Markdown and plain text files.

Elevate your coding experience with "Better Highlights", one of the best plugins designed for JetBrains products. Unleash the power of keyword, methods and comment highlighting, seamless code referencing in comments, and real-time cognitive complexity metrics. Compatible with all JetBrains IDEs, including IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio, PyCharm, PhpStorm, Webstorm and more, this top plugin guarantees coding excellence, no matter the JetBrains tool you use.

Comment/Region/Keyword/Method/Functions/RegExp plugin functionality description:

  • "Highlighting" means ability of changing color of programming language keywords, comments etc.
  • Highlighting is based on first word in commented line. By default, are used tokens *, !, ?.
  • User can add own custom tokens for colorizing comment lines.
  • Comment highlighting supports default color settings change - color, background color, bold, italic, effects.
  • Region highlighting is used to colorize whole commented line with some background color to visually separate blocks of code.
  • Keyword highlighting is used to colorize programming language keywords in other words custom syntax highlight. Method keywords is used to colorize keywords, which are part of method signature (most often used to change color of access modifiers private/public/protected on methods, but not classes).
  • Method/Functions highlighting is used to colorize methods and functions implementation and usage/reference. Methods/Functions are defined with RegExp (most often used to change color of getter and setters).
  • RegExp highlighting is used to colorize anything by RegExp. Usually is used to colorize language constructions, which are not keywords or to colorize some phrases, not just single keyword.
  • RegExp highlighting can be limited to certain files with file name regexps.
  • Simple word is also a valid RegExp, so could be used to colorize regular language constructions, which are not keywords.
  • User can select different highlight severity to override Error and Warning highlights and display highlights in list of errors/warnings.
  • User can select gutter icon for comment/region/keyword/method/function/regexp highlighting.

Wikilink plugin functionality description:

  • Wikilink is a format of linking articles used in Wikipedia, where links are wrapped with double square brackets. For example, [[this is wikilink]].
  • Highlights wikilinks in comments.
  • Wikilink highlighting supports default color settings change - color, background color, bold, italic, effects.
  • Support wikilink references to files (absolute or relative path) (link to file in comment).
  • Support wikilink references to tagged comments (link comments).
  • Support wikilink references to classes and class methods/fields (link source code). This is one of the best feature of plugin.
  • Support wikilink references for non-OOP languages via file name with [[filename.ext#funcitonName]]
  • Wikilink references supports "Go to definition", "Find usages" and "Rename refactoring" intellij out of the box functionality.
  • Intellij Inspection to find and highlight unresolved references in wikilink(not existing links) for file and project levels.
  • Support tagged comments autocompletion in wikilink.
  • Support class names and methods autocompletion in wikilink.
  • Define user start/end tokens instead of using wikilink format.
  • Support source code references in comments outside wikilink (any word would be resolved as source code reference).
  • Support wikilinks in Markdown and plain text files with references to Markdown file without extension. This can be used for Personal Knowledge Management (Second Brain) to create links between notes.

Cognitive complexity plugin functionality description:

  • Calculates SonarQube Cognitive Complexity metric for methods,which was proposed by G. Ann Campbell in Cognitive Complexity - A new way of measuring understandability.
  • Metric is shown as inlay hint with realtime live calculation. This is one of the most recommended feature of plugin.
  • User can adjust position of inlay hint, define custom description text, custom description background and display complexity icon in gutter.
  • "high cognitive complexity" inspection is available to find in project all methods with high complexity.

Plugin functionality support by language:

Language Comment, Region,
RegExp highlighting*
Method/Function
highlighting
Keyword
highlighting
Highlight
complexity
Source code
reference
(wikilink)
JavaScript/Typescript + + + + +
Python + + + + +
Java + + + + +
C# (Rider) + + + +
C/C++ (Rider/Clion Nova) + + +
C/C++/Objective-C + + + + +
PHP + + + + +
Go + + + + +
Kotlin + + + + +
Dart + + + + +
Rust + + + + +
Ruby + + + + +
Lua (EmmyLua) + + + + +
SQL + + + +
Shell scripting +
Markdown + +
HTML / XML + +
Plain text files +

* Highlighting should work with any language, not only mentioned in table (for example, lua, groovy, scala, haskell, erlang, elixir etc.)

If you need support for another language or some additional functionality - feel free to create a ticket in bugtracker.


Examples of commonly used keyword highlights:

  • abstract - usually used with "Highlight only in method definitions" to ease determining of abstract methods in abstract classes.
  • public - usually used with "Highlight only in method definitions" to ease determining of public methods in Util/Helper classes.
  • ! - usually used to ease determining of "not" inversion in "if" clauses. Note that in C# "!" is not keyword, so regexp should be used instead in Rider.
  • return - usually used to ease determining of method exists in long methods.

How-to:


Your coding journey doesn't have to be ordinary - take your coding experience to new heights with the most useful and top-rated "Better Highlights" plugin. Enhance code readability with highlighting keywords and comments, bringing brilliance to every line. Level up code clarity instantly with real-time cognitive complexity metrics. This cool plugin is your go-to for optimizing your workflow, seamlessly referencing source code from comments. Ready to transform your code now? Install "Better Highlights" and witness the future of coding clarity.


Supports all Jetbrains products: IntelliJ IDEA, Android Studio, Aqua, CLion, GoLand, PhpStorm, PyCharm, Rider, RubyMine, RustRover, WebStorm.

What’s New

2024.3.4

  • (Feature) Add support for case-insensitive keyword tokens.

2024.3.3

  • (Feature) Add support for case-insensitive comment tokens.

2024.3.2

  • (Bug Fix) Fix IndexOutOfBoundsException on wikilink end sequence auto insertion.
  • (Internal) Migrate on latest plugin build toolchain.

2024.3.1

  • (Feature) Add wikilink support in markdown files and plain text files.
  • (Feature) Add support for wikilink reference to markdown files by name without extension.

2024.2.14

  • (Bug Fix) Fix NoClassDefFoundError with disabled Kotlin plugin.

2024.2.13.1

  • (Feature) Add support of wikilinks to Kotlin top level functions via FQN.
  • (Feature) Add wikilink label in autocompletion list.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working wikilinks to Kotlin classes.

2024.2.12

  • (Feature) Add support of wikilinks in markdown comments.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix exception on new line creation during auto-insert of comment token.

2024.2.11

  • (Feature) Automatically insert comment token from previous line on new line creation.

2024.2.10

  • (Feature) Enable multiline RegExp support by default.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix StringIndexOutOfBoundsException and NPE in wikilink resolving.

2024.2.9

  • (Bug Fix) Fix wikilink exceptions when Java plugin is missing.

2024.2.8

  • (Feature) Add support for Java Markdown comments.
  • (Improvement) Improve performance of IDE, while typing comment .
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working highlighting and wikilinks in Doc comments.

2024.2.7

  • (Feature) Associate regexp with file names.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix current color scheme selection in settings UI.

2024.2.6

  • (Internal) Remove legacy settings support (prior 2024.1.32).
  • (Improvement) Enable Kotlin K2 support.

2024.2.5

  • (Feature) Add method/function highlight for C# and C.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix wrong highlight for overlapping comment tokens.

2024.2.4

  • (Feature) Add method/function highlight for Lua and SQL.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix NPE for JS method/function highlight.

2024.2.3

  • (Feature) Add method/function highlight for Dart, Rust and Ruby.

2024.2.2.1

  • (Bug Fix) Fix wrong highlighting of variable names with Method/Function highlight.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix NPE on settings pages.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix insertion of wrong wikilink end sequence.

2024.2.1

  • (Feature) Add method/function highlight for Python, PHP and Go.

2024.2.0

  • (Feature) Add method/function highlight for Java, Kotlin, JS and TS.

2024.1.34

  • (Improvement) Changed way of persisting Icons and Severity settings (required for new requested functionality).
  • (Bug Fix) Fix StringIndexOutOfBoundsException in Rider.

2024.1.33

  • (Internal) Migrate on IntelliJ Platform Gradle Plugin v2.
  • (Improvement) Change configuration settings names to group them in settings export dialog.

2024.1.32

  • (Improvement) Changed way of persisting settings (required for new requested functionality).
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not saving settings on severity and gutter icon update.

2024.1.31

  • (Improvement) Improve performance of comment highlighting.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix false positive highlighting in plain text files.

2024.1.30

  • (Feature) Allow to consider any line in Plain text files as commented line.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix PsiInvalidElementAccessException exception.

2024.1.29

  • (Bug Fix) Fix false positive highlighting in plain text files.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix multiline comment highlighting on Windows.

2024.1.28

  • (Feature) Add support for markdown wikilink reference to headers via filename.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix unresolved wikilink reference highlight for code references outside wikilink.

2024.1.27

  • (Bug Fix) Fix missing highlighting for comment tokens.
  • (Improvement) Improve compatibility with latest EAP.

2024.1.26

  • (Feature) Add highlighting and wikilink support for C/C++ with CLion Nova(Resharper) engine.
  • (Feature) Add support for C/C++ wikilink code reference to functions via filename.

2024.1.25

  • (Improvement) Settings UI improvements for color scheme selection.

2024.1.24

  • (Feature) Add support for PHP/JS/TS wikilink code reference to functions via filename.

2024.1.23

  • (Improvement) Cognitive complexity performance improvements.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix empty gutter icons rendering.

2024.1.22

  • (Improvement) Performance improvements of icon rendering.
  • (Bug Fix) Fixed complexity icon positioning.

2024.1.21

  • (Feature) Add support for Python wikilink code reference to functions via filename.
  • (Improvement) Improved support of icons rendering(custom and cognitive complexity) on Mac/Retina displays.

2024.1.20

  • (Feature) Add high cognitive complexity inspection.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix PluginException with cognitive complexity gutter icons.

2024.1.19

  • (Feature) Add possibility to display cognitive complexity icon in gutter.
  • (Improvement) Add more configuration options for cognitive complexity: display threshold, custom text description, custom background color for text description.

2024.1.18

  • (Feature) Add Cognitive Complexity support for Vue.js.
  • (Improvement) Improve support for older Intellij IDE versions.

2024.1.17

  • (Bug Fix) Fix exceptions in Rider with Python Community plugin.

2024.1.16

  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working references to C# interfaces.

2024.1.15

  • (Feature) Add wikilink end sequence autocompletion in comments.
  • (Bug Fix) Disable support for Luanalysis plugin

2024.1.14

  • (Feature) Add support of wikilink code reference for Lua.
  • (Feature) Add cognitive complexity metrics for Lua

2024.1.13

  • (Feature) Add support for Kotlin type aliases in wikilink.
  • (Improvement) Speed up autocompletion of Java and Kotlin classes in wikilink.

2024.1.11

  • (Improvement) Add support for absolute path to file in wikilink.

2024.1.10

  • (Improvement) Add possibility to modify tokens in settings UI (not only add or remove).
  • (Bug Fix) Fix minor bugs in settings UI.

2024.1.9

  • (Bug Fix) Fix missing wikilink autocompletion in doc comments for Java and Python.

2024.1.8

  • (Improvement) Implement inspection to find unresolved references in wikilink(not existing links).

2024.1.7

  • (Improvement) Support source code reference for Kotlin top level functions via filename [[File.kt#functionName]].

2024.1.6

  • (Bug Fix) Fix missing cognitive complexity for Go struct methods.

2024.1.5

  • (Improvement) Improve compatibility of new gutter icon functionality with other third-party plugins.

2024.1.4

  • (Feature) Add gutter icon for comment/region/keyword/regexp highlight.

2024.1.2

  • (Improvement) Highlight all groups in RegExp highlighter.
  • (Improvement) Add Quick Documentation for Wikilink tags references (link to another comment).

2024.1.1

  • (Improvement) Support group matching in RegExp highlighting.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working wikilinks to sql create procedure declaration.

2024.1.0

  • (Feature) Add wikilink source code reference support for non-OOP languages - GO, Rust, SQL.

2023.8.12

  • (Improvement) Add possibility to reference methods from parent classes in wikilink.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix UI display of RegExp tokens on token removal.

2023.8.11

  • (Improvement) Add keyword highlighting for SQL.

2023.8.10

  • (Improvement) Improve performance of Range Highlighting (whole line highlight)
  • (Bug Fix) Fix missing Range Highlight in Doc Comments.

2023.8.9

  • (Feature) Add possibility to select severity for highlight tokens (allows to display keyword/comments in list of error/warnings).

2023.8.8

  • (Improvement) Instant update of highlighting in opened files after settings change.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix missing Kotlin properties in Wikilink references.

2023.8.7

  • (Feature) Add possibility to reference class fields/properties in wikilinks.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix wikilink autocompletion bug with showing methods from wrong classes.
  • (Improvement) Fix compatibility with Rider 2023.3.

2023.8.6

  • (Feature) Add possibility to reference source code in comments outside wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add settings to define custom start/end tokens for wikilink.
  • (Improvement) Improve compatibility with latest EAP.

2023.8.5

  • (Feature) Add settings to configure cognitive complexity thresholds.
  • (Feature) Add settings to configure cognitive complexity inlay hint display position.

2023.8.4

  • (Bug Fix) Fix keyword token duplication on save in new UI.

2023.8.3

  • (Improvement) Add missing localizations.

2023.8.2

  • (Bug Fix) Fix color selection and saving.

2023.8.1

  • (Improvement) New configuration settings UI.

2023.7.14

  • (Feature) Display cognitive complexity in .tsx files (Typescript JSX).

2023.7.13

  • (Improvement) Improve compatibility with 2023.3 EAP version and Huawei DevEco.
  • (Improvement) Add support for new Rust plugin.

2023.7.12

  • (Feature) Add autocompletion for tagged comments in wikilink comments.

2023.7.11

  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working cognitive complexity for Kotlin.
  • (Bug Fix) Do not mark RegExp highlight as error.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working async/await keyword highlighting in JS.

2023.7.10

  • (Feature) Add support to reference Dart source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add autocompletion for Dart source code references in wikilink comments.

2023.7.9

  • (Feature) Add autocompletion for C# and C++ source code references in wikilink comments.

2023.7.8

  • (Feature) Display cognitive complexity for Rust and Dart.

2023.7.7

  • (Feature) Add autocompletion for Python, PHP, Kotlin, Ruby source code references in wikilink comments.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix exception during C# class names indexing.

2023.7.5

  • (Bug Fix) Fix bug with empty Inspections settings page.

2023.7.4

  • (Feature) Add autocompletion for JavaScript/Typescript source code references in wikilink comments.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix bug in persisting cognitive complexity settings.

2023.7.3

  • (Feature) Display cognitive complexity for PHP, Python, Kotlin, Go, Ruby.

2023.7.2

  • (Feature) Display cognitive complexity for Javascript/Typescript.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix bug in complexity calculation for recursive functions.

2023.7.1

  • (Feature) Display cognitive complexity for C++ methods.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix RegExp not overriding IDE colors.

2023.7.0

  • (Feature) Display cognitive complexity for Java class methods.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix missing wikilink references in Java and Python doc comments.

2023.6.8

  • (Improvement) Improve performance of keywords highlighting.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working keyword highlighting on IDE startup.

2023.6.7

  • (Bug Fix) Fix missing highlight in decompiled java .class files.

2023.6.6

  • (Improvement) Improve performance of keywords highlighting in java files.

2023.6.4

  • (Feature) Add support to reference C++ source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add support to reference C# source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Improvement) Update jetbrains gradle plugin version.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix IndexOutOfBoundException in wikilink tag resolving.

2023.6.3

  • (Improvement) Comment/keyword/regexp highlighting would not be blocked by indexing process, would be faster and executed only once right after file is opened.

2023.6.2

  • (Bug Fix) Fix wikilink reference wrong behaviour on rename refactoring for class and methods.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix wikilink reference wrong behaviour on change package refactoring for java classes.
  • (Improvement) Speed up Java source code wikilink reference resolving.
  • (Feature) Reference classes and methods separately in wikilinks.

2023.6.1

  • (Feature) Add settings sync support.
  • (Feature) Add autocompletion for Java source code references in wikilink comments.

2023.6.0

  • (Freemium) Hide keyword and regexp highlighting under check license call.

2023.5.4

  • (Beta Test) Add initial implementation of license check calls. All functionality is still free and no need for purchasing license.

2023.5.3

  • (Improvement) Major performance improvements for Wikilink Tag reference provider.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix major highlight exception on missing Python plugin.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix bug with highlighting wikilinks without references.

2023.5.1

  • (Feature) Add Ruby keyword highlight support.
  • (Feature) Add support to reference Ruby source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Improvement) Minor performance improvements for Wikilink highlight.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix NPE during File reference resolving in Wikilink.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not working Python multi-line comment highlighting.

2023.5.0

  • (Feature) Add RegExp highlight support.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix major deserialization PluginException for stored configuration.

2023.4.3

  • (Bug Fix) Fix PluginException for stored configuration.

2023.4.2

  • (Feature) Add support to reference PHP source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add support to reference Python source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add support to reference Javascript/Typescript source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix bug with missing wikilinks color settings.

2023.4.0

  • (Feature) Introduce region comment highlighting (whole line highlight).
  • (Improvement) Memory consumption improvements for Wikilink.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix keyword annotations not working on Rider.

2023.3.2

  • (Improvement) Performance improvements of find usages and reference creation for Wikilinks.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix not resolving wikilinks by Java class short name.

2023.3.1

  • (Feature) Add initial support for wikilink in comments.
  • (Feature) Add initial support for tagging comments.
  • (Feature) Add support to reference comment tags in comments via wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add support to reference files in comments via wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add support to reference source code in comments via wikilink.
  • (Feature) Add Python keywords support.
  • (Feature) Add Dart keywords support.
  • (Improvement) Add support for attributes highlighting in C++.

2023.2.10

  • (Feature) Add Go keywords support.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix PluginException for stored configuration. Will require renter all custom tokens.

2023.2.9

  • (Feature) Add Lua keywords support.
  • (Feature) Add Rust keywords support.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix PluginException for C++.

2.5.3

  • (Bug Fix) Fix highlight of XML tags as keywords.

2.5.2

  • (Bug Fix) Fix case-insensitive keyword highlighting.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix highlight of inner text in XML.

2.5.1

  • (Bug Fix) Fix keyword highlight for async/await in JS.
  • (Bug Fix) Fix keyword highlight for C# in Rider 2022+.

2.5

  • (Feature) Add possibility to highlight XML/HTML keywords.
  • (Improvement) Migrate on Java 17 and newest gradle.

2.4.1

  • (Feature) Add possibility to highlight Javascript/Typescript keywords.

2.4

  • (Feature) Add support of Lexer based highlighting, which is used in Rider to highlight C++ files.
  • (Feature) Add support for java tokens highlighting (null, true, false).

2.3.2

  • (Bug Fix) Fix comment highlighting for tokens, which contains other tokens.

2.3.1

  • (Bug Fix) Fix comment highlighting for Twig and Blade templates.

2.3

  • (Feature) Add possibility to highlight PHP keywords.
  • (Bug Fix) Add tab sign as valid start line char.

2.2

  • (Feature) Add possibility to highlight comments in plain txt files.
  • (Feature) Add keyword highlighting for C/C++/ObjectiveC.
  • (Feature) Add possibility to highlight Kotlin keywords.
  • (Improvement) Migrate on newest gradle.
  • (Improvement) Move settings panel into "Editor" section.

2.1

  • (Feature) Add keyword highlighting for C#.
  • (Feature) Add possibility to remove/modify default tokens.
  • (Feature) Add possibility to highlight any keyword type, not only method keywords.

2.0

  • (Feature) Add possibility to create custom highlighting for java keyword.
  • (Feature) Add default highlight for public keyword.
  • (Improvement) Migrate on java 11 toolchain.

1.3.6

  • (Improvement) Migrate on java 11 toolchain.

1.3.5

  • (Improvement) Migrate on non-deprecated api usage.
  • (Improvement) Disable until version plugin definition.

1.3.4

  • (Bug Fix) Fix StringIndexOutOfBoundsException on Rider IDE.

1.3.3

  • (Bug Fix) Made compatible with EAP builds.

1.3.2

  • (Documentation) Add how-to define custom user token.

1.3.1

  • (Feature) Add possibility to create custom tokens.
  • (Bug Fix) Define plugin compatibility starting from version 2019.1.

1.2

  • (Feature) Improve performance.
  • (Feature) Change default color scheme.

1.1

  • (Bug Fix) Fix fail positive highlight of xml comments.

1.0

  • (Feature) Add support for one line, multi line and doc comments highlighting.
Jan 12, 2025
Version 2024.3.4

Rating & Reviews

4.4
53 Ratings (766,709 Downloads)
5
4
3
2
1

Clint Priest

09.12.2024

I love the features it has, especially comment line highlighting. Was freemium for a while but found I was using it so much I paid for a license.

+1

750983352

06.12.2024

My reason to use rider: Unreal engine support Better Highlights plugin

+1

ZHOUXING

27.11.2024

Can be identified

/ *

  • @Author: your name
  • /

May not / * *

  • @Author: your name
  • /

Why is that?

0

Additional Information

Vendor:
Plugin ID:
com.clutcher.comments_highlighter