Plug-ins are code modules that you can install to enhance TextWrangler's features. These modules are also called BBEdit plug-ins because their format was originally defined for BBEdit. Language modules provide support for syntax coloring, and optionally, function browsing, for programming languages beyond those built in, while plug-ins provide specialized text processing and related features. Many developers have written language modules or plug-ins for BBEdit, which are available from various web sites including ours.
For complete details about installing, using, and developing plug-ins, please see Chapter 13 of the user manual. (Choose "User Manual" from the Help menu.)
A wide variety of BBEdit plug-ins are available from third parties. An extensive though not exhaustive listing is available in the support section of our web site:
http://www.barebones.com/support/bbedit/plugin_library.shtml
The Tools menu will be empty if no plug-ins are installed at all, or if no compatible plug-ins are installed. If you're used to having commands on the Tools menu, please note that all of the factory plug-ins supplied with previous versions of TextWrangler are now available as commands on the Text menu. This includes the following:
In addition, "Hex Dump" is now available on the File menu.
If you were using third-party plug-ins with a previous version of TextWrangler, and those plug-ins no longer appear on the Tools menu after you placed them in the "Plug-Ins" folder of TextWrangler's application support folder, then the plug-ins are probably not compatible. Please see the next section, "Plug-In Compatibility."
The Tools menu isn't necessary to use TextWrangler, so if you don't plan to install any third-party plug-ins and would like to recover some space in your menu bar, turn off the "BBEdit Plug-Ins" option in the Application preferences panel.
You will not be able to use any third-party plug-ins which have not been specifically updated for Mac OS X compatibility, or which do not support Unicode text. If TextWrangler encounters such a plug-in, it will not load that plug-in, and will log a message to the system console to help you identify the plug-in and the reason it wasn't loaded.
Contact the developers of your plug-ins or visit our web site for more information on the availability of updated plug-ins.