CIF Syntax Highlighter and more

The CIF extension helps crystallographers and materials scientists work more efficiently with .cif and .dic files by providing syntax highlighting, hover tooltips, and intelligent auto-completion inside Visual Studio Code.

Contributing

Found a bug or have a feature request? Open an issue or submit a pull request on GitHub.

Features

• Syntax highlighting for CIF tags, data blocks, save frames, strings, and comments
• Designed for working with CIF dictionaries and data files
• Hover text for tags showing tag definition from loaded dictionaries
• Auto-complete CIF tags based on loaded dictionaries

File Extensions Supported

• .cif
• .dic

Preview

Here's what CIF syntax highlighting looks like in VS Code:

Here's what the CIF hover text looks like in VS Code:

Future Ideas

• 💡 Have an idea? Open a feature request here!

Configuration

A minimal set of CIF dictionary files are provided. These include

DDL1 dictionaries:

• cif_core.dic
• ddl_core.dic
• cif_pd.dic

DDL2 dictionary:

• mmcif_pdbx_v50.dic
• mmcif_ddl.dic

DDLm dictionaries:

• cif_core.dic
• ddl.dic
• templ_attr.cif
• templ_enum.cif
• cif_pow.dic
• multi_block_core.dic

If you want to use your own, customised set of dictionaries, you can specify them in your settings.json:

  "cifTools.dictionaryPaths": [
    "path/to/dictionary1.dic",
    "path/to/dictionary2.dic"
  ]

Specifying your own dictionaries will override all default dictionaries.

See the COMCIFS github or PDBx/mmCIF Dictionary Resources for other available dictionaries.

License

MIT

Installation

🌐 Install from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace

The easiest way to install CIF Syntax Support is directly from the Visual Studio Code Marketplace.

Option 1: Using the Extensions View

1. Open Visual Studio Code.
2. Go to the Extensions view:
   • Click the Extensions icon in the Activity Bar on the side.
   • Or press Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+X (macOS).
3. In the search bar, type:

   CIF Syntax Support
   

4. Look for the extension by MatthewRowles and click Install.

Option 2: Install via Command Palette

1. Open the Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P or Cmd+Shift+P).
2. Type and select:

   Extensions: Install Extensions
   

3. Search for CIF Syntax Support and click Install.

Or visit the Visual Studio Marketplace page to install it directly.

🛠️ Manual Installation from VSIX File

If you have a .vsix file (e.g., provided via email, GitHub release, or another source), you can manually install the extension in Visual Studio Code.

Download the .vsix file from Github

• Visit the Releases page.
• Download the latest .vsix file (it will look like cifvsc-x.y.z.vsix).

Then:

Option 1: Using the Extensions View

1. Open Visual Studio Code.
2. Open the Extensions view:
   • Click the squares icon in the left sidebar or
   • Press Ctrl+Shift+X (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+X (macOS).
3. Click the More Actions (⋯) menu at the top-right of the Extensions panel.
4. Select Install from VSIX...
5. Browse to and select your .vsix file.
6. The extension will install, and you may be prompted to Reload the window.

Option 2: Using the Command Palette

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Windows/Linux) or Cmd+Shift+P (macOS) to open the Command Palette.
2. Type and select: Extensions: Install from VSIX...
3. Choose the .vsix file from your system.
4. Wait for the installation to finish and reload if prompted.