Sublime Text 3 “essential” packages(plugins)

This story is about how to install and set up “essential” packages;

Intro

In any IDE there are “essential” features that make Developers life much easier than any other features. These are;

1. AutoComplete
2. Moving around by definition, symbol, and reference
3. Refactor
4. Live Linting
5. Auto Importing Modules/Classes

I truly believe above 5 features are must-haves when developing any software using any code editors.

Package Control

Before installing any plugins to ST3, we first need (actually should) to install Package Control, this is done by following the instruction in;

Installation — Package Control

Now we can install package with ease by using Package Control.

TypeScript Package

If you use TypeScript as I do, most of the functionalities that editor require are already available with a help of a plugin that glues the functionality provided by TypeScript compiler with the editor view. Simply installing TypeScript package by following the instruction at;

TypeScript — Packages — Package Control

Now with TypeScript Package, we have;

1. AutoComplete
2. Moving around by definition, symbol, and reference
3. Refactor

And other useful stuff like formatting.

SublimeLinter-tslint Package

We need a linter to live update linting errors. Simply follow the instruction at;

SublimeLinter/SublimeLinter-tslint

Make sure to read instructions carefully, because you have to install SublimeLinter as well. (Just follow the instruction in above link). With this package we have a feature 4) Live Linting

ImportHelper Package

We need auto import capability. This took me a while for me to get it right. First, we need to install ImportHelper Package, by following the instruction at;

unlight/sublime-import-helper

Now, this will not work out of the box. We need to save the folder that contains the node_modules as a Project (Project > Save Project As). When we save the folder as a project we need to save the sublime-project file at the root of the folder. If you save the sublime-project file at a place other than the folder’s root (for example using ProjectManager package), ImportHelper Package does not scan node_modules folder which leads to not being able to Auto Import classes. With this package now we have 5) Auto Importing Modules/Classes.

Conclusion

Above 5 packages are without doubt must-haves. Of course, there are things that are good to have and this is when the real customization starts. Below story looks at and installs optional Packages;

To update later with optional package installation story