VSCode RML Extension

Professional RML (Report Markup Language) development environment for Visual Studio Code with intelligent code completion, comprehensive syntax highlighting, automatic Japanese font handling, and seamless PDF export capabilities.

Features

• 🎨 Rich Syntax Highlighting: Comprehensive XML-aware syntax highlighting with RML-specific tags, attributes, and values
• 💡 Intelligent Code Completion: Context-aware completions for tags, attributes, and values with rich snippets
• 📄 PDF Export: Convert RML files to PDF with a simple right-click
• 🌏 Japanese Font Support: Automatic CJK font registration (no setup required)
• 🔧 Language Configuration: Auto-closing brackets, comments, and intelligent pairing
• 📁 Context Menus: Right-click RML files for quick PDF export

PDF Preview

This extension focuses purely on RML to PDF conversion. For viewing PDFs, we recommend installing a dedicated PDF viewer extension:

Recommended: PDF Viewer (vscode-pdf)

• Excellent Japanese/CJK font support
• Clean, fast PDF viewing in VSCode
• Perfect integration with exported RML files

Installation

1. Install the extension from the VSCode marketplace
2. Recommended: Install PDF Viewer (vscode-pdf) for viewing PDFs
3. Ensure Python 3 is installed and available in your PATH
4. Install the required Python package: pip install trml2pdf

Usage

Basic Workflow

1. Create or open an .rml file
2. Write your RML content with rich syntax highlighting and intelligent code completion
3. Use Ctrl+Space for context-aware completions (tags, attributes, values)
4. Right-click the file and select "Export to PDF"
5. PDF is generated in the same directory as your RML file
6. Optional: Open the generated PDF with vscode-pdf extension for preview

Example RML File

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" standalone="no" ?>
<!DOCTYPE document SYSTEM "rml.dtd">
<document filename="example.pdf">

<template>
    <pageTemplate id="main">
        <frame id="main" x1="72" y1="72" width="451" height="698"/>
    </pageTemplate>
</template>

<stylesheet>
    <paraStyle name="title" fontName="Helvetica-Bold" fontSize="18" alignment="center"/>
    <paraStyle name="body" fontName="Helvetica" fontSize="12" alignment="left"/>
</stylesheet>

<story>
    <para style="title">My Report</para>
    <spacer length="20"/>
    <para style="body">This is the content of my report.</para>
</story>

</document>

Code Completion

The extension provides intelligent, context-aware code completion to speed up RML development.

Features

• 🏷️ Tag Completions: Type < to get suggestions for 40+ RML elements with smart snippets
• 🔧 Attribute Completions: Type space after a tag to see relevant attributes
• 🎨 Value Completions: Type " or ' to get predefined values (fonts, colors, alignments)
• 📖 Rich Documentation: Hover over completions to see detailed descriptions

Examples

Tag Completion:

<doc → suggests "document" with snippet:
<document filename="$1">
    $0
</document>

Attribute Completion:

<para → suggests: style, fontName, fontSize, textColor, alignment

Value Completion:

fontName=" → suggests: Helvetica, Times-Roman, HeiseiMin-W3, HeiseiKakuGo-W5
alignment=" → suggests: left, right, center, justify

Supported Elements

• Document Structure: document, template, pageTemplate, stylesheet, story
• Layout Elements: frame, pageGraphics, place
• Content Elements: para, spacer, image, blockTable, tr, td
• Style Elements: paraStyle, blockTableStyle
• Graphics: fill, setFont, drawString, circle, rect, line
• Font Registration: docinit, registerFont, registerTTFont, registerCIDFont
• Inline Formatting: b, i, u, sup, sub, font, span, br

Japanese Font Support

The extension automatically registers common CJK (Chinese, Japanese, Korean) fonts for seamless international text support.

Automatically Registered Fonts

When you export RML files, these CID fonts are automatically registered:

• HeiseiMin-W3 - Japanese Mincho (serif)
• HeiseiKakuGo-W5 - Japanese Gothic (sans-serif)
• STSong-Light - Chinese Simplified
• MSung-Light - Chinese Traditional
• HYGoThic-Medium - Korean

Usage in RML

Simply specify the font name in your stylesheet - no <docinit> tags required:

<stylesheet>
    <paraStyle name="japanese-serif" 
               fontName="HeiseiMin-W3" 
               fontSize="12"/>
    
    <paraStyle name="japanese-sans" 
               fontName="HeiseiKakuGo-W5" 
               fontSize="12"/>
</stylesheet>

<story>
    <para style="japanese-serif">これは明朝体のテキストです。</para>
    <para style="japanese-sans">これはゴシック体のテキストです。</para>
    <para style="japanese-serif">漢字、ひらがな、カタカナの混在テスト</para>
</story>

No Manual Setup Required

• ✅ Automatic Registration: Fonts are registered automatically during PDF generation
• ✅ Cross-Platform: Works on Windows, macOS, and Linux without font file paths
• ✅ Graceful Fallback: Silently skips unavailable fonts
• ✅ UTF-8 Support: Full Unicode character support

WSL2 Development

The extension works perfectly in WSL2 environments. Combined with vscode-pdf extension, you get seamless PDF viewing.

Recommended Setup

1. Install this RML extension in WSL2 VSCode
2. Install vscode-pdf extension for PDF viewing
3. Export RML files and view them directly in VSCode

Benefits

• 🌏 Perfect Font Rendering: vscode-pdf handles Japanese fonts excellently
• 🔄 No Path Issues: Everything stays within VSCode/WSL2
• 🖥️ Unified Workflow: Edit RML → Export PDF → View PDF all in one place

Sample Files

The extension includes sample RML files:

• sample/helloworld.rml - Basic RML structure
• sample/japanese-test.rml - Japanese font examples
• sample/table-helloworld.rml - Table layouts
• sample/style-helloworld.rml - Styling examples

Requirements

System Requirements

• Visual Studio Code 1.74.0 or higher
• Python 3.x installed and available in PATH
• trml2pdf Python package

Installation Commands

# Install Python dependencies
pip install trml2pdf

# Verify installation
python -c "import trml2pdf; print('RML support ready!')"

Commands

The extension provides the following command:

• RML: Export to PDF (rml.exportToPdf) - Convert RML file to PDF

Available in:

• Command Palette (Ctrl+Shift+P)
• Right-click context menu on .rml files
• Editor context menu when viewing RML files

After export, you can open the generated PDF with the vscode-pdf extension for immediate preview.

Configuration

The extension works out of the box with no configuration required. It automatically:

• Detects your Python installation
• Registers CJK fonts for international text
• Handles cross-platform path differences
• Integrates with your system's PDF viewer

Troubleshooting

Common Issues

"Python not found"

• Ensure Python 3 is installed and in your PATH
• Try python --version or python3 --version in your terminal

"Missing Python dependencies"

• Install the required package: pip install trml2pdf
• For Python 3: pip3 install trml2pdf

"Japanese text not displaying"

• The extension automatically handles CJK fonts
• Ensure your RML file is saved with UTF-8 encoding
• Check that your system supports the specified CID fonts

PDF Viewing Issues

• Install the recommended vscode-pdf extension for best PDF viewing experience
• Ensure your PDF viewer supports Japanese/CJK fonts if needed

Debug Information

The extension logs conversion progress to the Developer Console:

1. Press Ctrl+Shift+P
2. Type "Developer: Toggle Developer Tools"
3. Check the Console tab for debug output

Development

Building the Extension

# Install dependencies
npm install

# Compile TypeScript
npm run compile

# Watch for changes
npm run watch

Project Structure

vscode-report-markup-language/
├── src/
│   └── extension.ts          # Main extension logic
├── scripts/
│   └── rml2pdf.py           # Python RML converter
├── syntaxes/
│   └── rml.tmLanguage.json  # Syntax highlighting rules
├── sample/                   # Example RML files
├── package.json             # Extension manifest
└── README.md               # This file

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to:

• Report bugs and issues
• Request new features
• Submit pull requests
• Improve documentation

License

This extension is released under the MIT License.

Changelog

Latest Changes

• ✅ Intelligent Code Completion: Context-aware completions for 40+ RML elements with rich snippets
• ✅ Enhanced Syntax Highlighting: Comprehensive XML-aware highlighting with RML-specific tags and attributes
• ✅ Smart Value Recognition: Auto-completion for fonts, colors, alignments, and dimensions
• ✅ Professional IDE Experience: Rich documentation and type information for all completions
• ✅ Simplified PDF Export: Focused on reliable RML to PDF conversion
• ✅ Automatic CJK Font Registration: Japanese font support without manual configuration
• ✅ vscode-pdf Integration: Seamless PDF viewing with recommended extension

Enjoy creating beautiful PDFs with RML! 🎉