Two Versions of ABAP Syntax Highlighting in Notepad++

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It was quite confusing for me before I figured out that the User Defined Language (UDL) in Notepad++ have 2 different versions i.e. v1 and v2 which are not compatible with each other as well as the UDL XML file used for import/export.

In Notepad++, there is a feature which you can define your own language for syntax highlighting i.e. User Defined Language (UDL). UDL can be exported and imported with XML file. There are a bunch of UDL files available here (include 2 files for ABAP) so you don't need to define everything by yourself.

However, there are two versions of UDL and they are not compatible with each other. So before import a new UDL file, you should check the version first. Here is how to check:

Determine UDL Version of Notepad++

Open User Defined Language settings. Depending on your Notepad++ version, this may in the menu Language --> Define your language...

Otherwise, it may be in menu View --> User-Defined Dialogue...

Notice the title bar, if it shows v2... then it is version 2

Otherwise it is version 1.

Determine UDL Version of XML File

XML File of UDL version 2 will have an attribute something like udlVersion="2.1" in UserLang tag.

Otherwise, it is version 1.

Now, you can import the right UDL version into your Notepad++.

Here are my UDL files of both version for ABAP language on GitHub:

• ABAP UDL (Version 1)
• ABAP UDL (Version 2)

I created both files based on the UDL files from this page and this blog.