In visual mode, IntelliJ's native "Surround selection on typing" feature is conflicted with Ideavim, how can I fix that

[CaliInn-Li]

In IntelliJ IDEA, I can select text and type a bracket/quote to automatically wrap the selection
e.g., select hello → type ( → get (hello)
This is controlled by Settings → Editor → General → Smart Keys → "Surround selection on typing quote or brace".
After installing IdeaVim, this native functionality stops working. I've tried:

sethandler ( n-v:ide
sethandler ) n-v:ide
sethandler < n-v:ide
sethandler > n-v:ide

" Unmap in normal mode
nunmap (
nunmap )
nunmap <
nunmap >

" Unmap in visual mode
vunmap (
vunmap )
vunmap <
vunmap >

But these are all not working, how can I fix that? Thanks for help!

[Thomas Gautvedt (OptimusCrime)]

I don't think that you can unset handling of keys like this (but I might be wrong).

Another approach would be to do surround the "vim way". There is a plugin that does what you describe, though the mapping is a bit different: https://github.com/JetBrains/ideavim/wiki/IdeaVim-Plugins#surround-adds-provides-mappings-to-easily-delete-change-and-add-surroundings-in-pairs

In Visual mode, you can do S<some character to wrap> e.g. S" to wrap the selection in double quotes.

[Matt Ellis (citizenmatt)]

Yeah, you can't unmap these as they aren't maps, but built in Vim commands. ( is a built in motion for Normal and Visual mode, and can't be unmapped. sethandler doesn't work either, because that's a mechanism to solve conflicts with IDE shortcuts, and ( isn't an IDE shortcut, it's just a character that can be typed.

But, there is something you can do. ( is a Vim command in Normal and Visual, but not in Select mode. So you could switch your Visual selection to Select mode (<C-G>) and then type any character as a normal character. Hitting ( now would cause the IDE to surround the selection.

And if you can do it manually, you can set up a mapping for it too. So you could use something like:

xnoremap ( <C-G>(

This will set up a mapping in Visual mode. When you hit ( now, it doesn't act like a motion, but switches to Select mode and types (, wrapping the current selection. You could also try xnoremap ( <C-G>(<Esc> to surround the selection and exit Select mode (well, exit Insert mode. Typing ( replaces the selection so dropping out of Select into Insert).

And of course, you can add other maps for other surround characters too, such as [ and ".

[CaliInn-Li]

Yeah, you can't unmap these as they aren't maps, but built in Vim commands. ( is a built in motion for Normal and Visual mode, and can't be unmapped. sethandler doesn't work either, because that's a mechanism to solve conflicts with IDE shortcuts, and ( isn't an IDE shortcut, it's just a character that can be typed.

But, there is something you can do. ( is a Vim command in Normal and Visual, but not in Select mode. So you could switch your Visual selection to Select mode (<C-G>) and then type any character as a normal character. Hitting ( now would cause the IDE to surround the selection.

And if you can do it manually, you can set up a mapping for it too. So you could use something like:

xnoremap ( <C-G>(

This will set up a mapping in Visual mode. When you hit ( now, it doesn't act like a motion, but switches to Select mode and types (, wrapping the current selection. You could also try xnoremap ( <C-G>(<Esc> to surround the selection and exit Select mode (well, exit Insert mode. Typing ( replaces the selection so dropping out of Select into Insert).

And of course, you can add other maps for other surround characters too, such as [ and ".

Thanks a lot for your help!!! I had been searching everywhere on the internet but couldn’t find a solution. I think this is the most elegant way for that.

Just leaving my ideavmrc here in case it helps someone later:

xnoremap ( <C-G>(<Esc>
xnoremap ) <C-G>)<Esc>
xnoremap [ <C-G>[<Esc>
xnoremap ] <C-G>]<Esc>
xnoremap " <C-G>"<Esc>

This works perfectly —thank you again!!