Ale compatibility?

[twilco]

Hi there! Thanks for making this awesome tool. I see integration with Syntastic is possible, but what about ale? Is this currently possible?

[suoto]

Happy you liked :)

It's possible yes, but it does require some changes on the backed side first to support LSP (planned but not yet started at the moment). Async checks is something I'd be keen on adding anyway, let's see how it goes

[suoto]

vim-hdl uses HDL Code Checker and since ALE implements LSP, you can just use HDL Code Checker instead.

1. Install HDL Code Checker

   pip install hdlcc

2. Add the following to your .vimrc

   " Gets the path to the nearest g:vimhdl_conf_file
   function! s:GetProjectRoot(buffer) abort
     let l:config_file = get(b:, 'vimhdl_conf_file', get(g:, 'vimhdl_conf_file', 'vimhdl.prj'))
   
     let l:project_root = ale#path#FindNearestFile(a:buffer, l:config_file)
     let l:project_root = !empty(l:project_root) ? fnamemodify(l:project_root, ':h') : ''
   
     return l:project_root
   endfunction
   
   " Setup ALE to use HDL Code Checker
   function! s:hdlccLspSetup() abort
   
     for l:filetype in ['vhdl', 'verilog', 'systemverilog']
       try
         call ale#linter#Define(l:filetype, {
               \ 'name': 'vimhdl',
               \ 'lsp': 'stdio',
               \ 'language': l:filetype,
               \ 'executable': 'hdlcc',
               \ 'command': 'hdlcc --lsp',
               \ 'project_root': function('s:GetProjectRoot'),
               \ })
   
         if exists('g:ale_linters')
           let l:existing = get(g:ale_linters, l:filetype, [])
           let g:ale_linters[l:filetype] = l:existing + ['vimhdl', ]
         else
           let g:ale_linters = { l:filetype : ['vimhdl', ] }
         endif
   
       catch /^Vim\%((\a\+)\)\=:E117/
         " If setting up ALE didn't work, just bail
         return
       endtry
     endfor
   endfunction

3. Restart vim

4. On a VHDL/Verilog/SystemVerilog file, you can then use ALEInfo to check which linters are available

   :ALEInfo
    Current Filetype: verilog
   Available Linters: ['vimhdl', 'iverilog', 'verilator', 'vlog', 'xvlog']
     Enabled Linters: ['vimhdl']
   
   ...
   
     Command History:
   (executable check - success) hdlcc
   (started) ['/bin/bash', '-c', 'hdlcc --lsp']

   Let me know if you have any issues