Advanced Code Editor plugin

This plugin is only available for paid TinyMCE subscriptions.

The Advanced Code Editor plugin (advcode) brings a more advanced code editor to TinyMCE. This code editor makes it easier to modify the HTML, and is a useful add-on for power users. It comes with features often found in IDEs, all enabled by default:

  • Syntax color highlighting.

  • Bracket matching.

  • Code folding.

  • Multiple selections/carets.

  • Search and Replace.

  • Dark or light mode button for code display.

  • Increase and decrease display font size buttons.

  • Full-screen mode button.

For the Advanced Code Editor to offer a full-screen mode requires the Full screen plugin and requires Advanced Code Editor to be running in inline mode.

The difference between the Code and Advanced Code Editor plugins

  • TinyMCE

  • HTML

  • JS

  • Edit on CodePen

The Code Plugin

The Advanced Code Editor Plugin

 
<table>
  <thead>
    <tr>
      <th style="width: 50%;"><h2>The Code Plugin</h2></th>
      <th style="width: 50%;"><h2>The Advanced Code Editor Plugin</h2></th>
    </tr>
  </thead>
  <tbody>
    <tr>
      <td style="width: 50%;">
        <textarea class="codedemo">
          <p>The Code (<code>code</code>) plugin provides a dialog for viewing and editing the HTML of the editor content.</p>
          <p>To open the Code dialog:</p>
          <ul>
            <li>On the menu bar, open <strong>View</strong> &gt; <strong>Source code</strong>.</li>
            <li>On the menu bar, open <strong>Tools</strong> &gt; <strong>Source code</strong>.</li>
            <li>Click the <strong>Source code</strong> toolbar button.</li>
          </ul>
        </textarea>
      </td>
      <td style="width: 50%;">
        <textarea class="advcodedemo">
          <p>The Advanced Code Editor (<code>advcode</code>) plugin provides the same dialog as the code (<code>code</code>) plugin, but with the following additional features:</p>
          <ul>
            <li>Syntax highlighting.</li>
            <li>Element matching and closing.</li>
            <li>Code folding.</li>
            <li>Multiple selections/carets.</li>
            <li>Search and replace.</li>
            <li>Dark or light mode for code display.</li>
            <li>Increase and decrease display font size.</li>
            <li>Full-screen mode.</li>
          </ul>
          <p>For the Advanced Code Editor to offer a full-screen mode requires the <a href="https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/fullscreen">Full screen</a> plugin and requires the Advanced Code Editor to be running in <a href="https://tiny.cloud/docs/tinymce/6/advcode/#advcode_inline">inline mode</a>.</p>
          <p>To open the Advanced Code Editor dialog:</p>
          <ul>
            <li>On the menu bar, open <strong>View</strong> &gt; <strong>Source code</strong>.</li>
            <li>On the menu bar, open <strong>Tools</strong> &gt; <strong>Source code</strong>.</li>
            <li>Click the <strong>Source code</strong> toolbar button.</li>
          </ul>
        </textarea>
      </td>
    </tr>
  </tbody>
</table>
tinymce.init({
  selector: 'textarea.advcodedemo',
  plugins: 'advcode',
  toolbar: 'code',
  height: 600,
  content_style: 'body { font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:16px }'
});

tinymce.init({
  selector: 'textarea.codedemo',
  plugins: 'code',
  toolbar: 'code',
  height: 600,
  content_style: 'body { font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size:16px }'
});

Example: basic setup

tinymce.init({
  selector: 'textarea',  // change this value according to your HTML
  plugins: 'advcode',
  toolbar: 'code'
});

Example: enable the Advanced Code Editor full-screen mode button

tinymce.init({
  selector: "textarea",  // change this value according to your HTML
  advcode_inline: true,
  plugins: [
    "fullscreen", "advcode",
  ],
  toolbar: "code"
});

Selection state when opening and closing the code editor

The safest assumption is that selection state is not preserved when switching between the rich-text editor (ie, the default TinyMCE editor instance) to the code editor dialog view of a TinyMCE document.

Switching from the rich-text editor view to the code editor

If the current selection in the TinyMCE instance is collapsed (ie, is a flashing insertion point), the insertion point will be in the equivalent place when the code editor is opened.

If the current selection in the rich-text editor is an actual selection, that state is not preserved when switching to the code editor.

Instead, the insertion point in the code editor is placed at the beginning of what was the selection in the rich-text editor.

Switching from the code editor back to the rich-text editor view

When switching back from the code-view dialog to the rich-text editor, selection state is almost never preserved.

If you have a selection or a collapsed selection in the rich-text editor and

  1. open the code view dialog;

  2. make no changes; and

  3. exit the code view dialog by clicking Cancel (or pressing the Esc key);

the selection or collapsed selection will likely be preserved in the rich-text editor.

Otherwise, the selection state is not preserved on round-tripping from rich-text to code-view and back.

Instead, the insertion point is placed at the beginning of the editable block closest to the beginning of the TinyMCE document.

advcode_inline

This feature is only available for TinyMCE 6.3 and later.

As part of the TinyMCE 6.3 release, the Advanced Code Editor plugin includes a new option, advcode_inline, that allows users to open the Advanced Code Editor within TinyMCE’s existing editor space instead of being displayed in a separate dialog box.

Type : boolean,

Default: false

Example: basic setup

tinymce.init({
  selector: 'textarea', // change this value according to your HTML
  plugins: 'advcode',
  advcode_inline: true,
  toolbar: 'code',
});

Advanced Code Editor search and replace keyboard shortcuts

Advanced Code Editor provides the following shortcuts within the code dialog.

Action PC Mac

Find

Ctrl+F

Command+F

Find next instance

Ctrl+G

Command+G

Find previous instance

Shift+Ctrl+G

Shift+Command+G

Replace

Ctrl+H

Command+Option+F

Replace All

Shift+Ctrl+R

Shift+Command+Option+F

Toolbar buttons

The Advanced Code Editor plugin provides the following toolbar buttons:

Toolbar button identifier Description

code

Opens the code dialog.

These toolbar buttons can be added to the editor using:

The Advanced Code Editor plugin provides the following menu items:

Menu item identifier Default Menu Location Description

code

View

Opens the code dialog.

These menu items can be added to the editor using:

Commands

The Advanced Code plugin provides the following TinyMCE command.

Command Description

mceCodeEditor

Opens the code editor dialog.
Example
tinymce.activeEditor.execCommand('mceCodeEditor');