Cursor color in Stata 12 .do file editor (and high-contrast settings more generally)

[Matt Jans]

I just setup my own high-contrast scheme in my .do file editor (with black background). However, the cursor is now not visible. I can't see anywhere to change the cursor color. Any advice? Thanks!

[ben earnhart]

Did you do so with an outside 3rd-party tool, or, did you open a .do file and choose edit-->preferences? I don't have Stata 12 handy to check out all options under 12, but in Stata 13, you have a lot of control via edit-->preferences.

[Roberto Ferrer]

From Stata Technical Support (07nov2014):

Currently there is not a setting to change the cursor color for the Windows
Do-file Editor. I have put in a request to the developers so they can add that
ability in the future.

[Matt Jans]

Thanks for the quick responses Ben and Roberto! I never checked back b/c I found a work-around of making the background gray (instead of black) and it makes the cursor (which is black) possible to see. Sorry my first message wasn't clear. I did the syntax window settings all within Stata (not a 3rd party program) just by going to Preferences and changing the background and font colors. In 12 there doesn't seem to be any option to change the color of the cursor there.

[Mathias Pedersen Heinze]

Has there been any developments on this issue in the meantime?

[Matt Jans]

Nothing on my end, and I haven't had a chance to work in v14 yet to see what it looks like.

[Sergiy Radyakin]

Nothing changed in v14.0 in this respect. At least on windows.

[Hua Peng (StataCorp)]

From -help whatsnew- in Stata 14, in the 01dec2015 updates:

19.  (Windows) The Do-file Editor has the following improvements:

         a.  The Do-file Editor now allows you to set the cursor color.  To set your cursor
             color preferences, choose Edit > Preferences...  from the menu, and then select
             "Cursor color" on the Editor font tab.

[Matt Jans]

Thanks much, Hua Peng (StataCorp) !

[Matt Jans]

After using v14 for a few weeks now, I should say that this is a GREAT new feature. Makes the do-file editor much more useful to me. If anyone following this thread hasn't done the Dec1, 2015 updates, make sure you do those.

Only recommendation for next update would be to either have a set of color schemes like Rstudio has, so it's possible to just pick one instead of having to set it separately on any new install. Also the ability to save the scheme and import it to a new install would be nice. Maybe that's there and I just don't know how I do this. But changing the editor color and GUI display to Classic are the first two things I do every time I have a new install.

Thanks!

[Mathias Pedersen Heinze]

Only recommendation for next update would be to either have a set of color schemes like Rstudio has, so it's possible to just pick one instead of having to set it separately on any new install. Also the ability to save the scheme and import it to a new install would be nice. Maybe that's there and I just don't know how I do this. But changing the editor color and GUI display to Classic are the first two things I do every time I have a new install.

Thanks!

I can only agree with Matt. It is a great improvement to the Do-file editor that we are now able to customize the coloring without the cursor disappearing, but I would also love to see (1) a set of predefined color schemes to choose from - perhaps just the same schemes as in the Stata result window - and (2) an option to save the chosen scheme so that you don't have to configure it every single time you open a new editor.

Thanks for having this issue in mind, Stata!

[Samuel Saari]

Anyone have a workaround for Stata 13.1? I would like to have a black or dark gray background in the do-file editor and cannot see the cursor, neither can I change the color of the cursor.

Thanks!