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@nikhil2004-blip nikhil2004-blip commented Nov 18, 2025

Fix highlight priority handling and add consistency test

Fixes: #6011

Overview

This PR fixes an issue where overlapping syntax highlight captures did not respect priority ordering, causing inconsistent styling for identical tokens depending on surrounding context.

A new deterministic priority system has been implemented so that when multiple highlight captures overlap on the same region, the correct one now consistently wins.

Additionally, a test has been added to ensure long-term correctness of this behavior.

Changes Included

1. Priority-based highlight conflict resolution

A new HIGHLIGHT_PRIORITY map defines stable ordering:

  • Lower number = higher priority
  • Specific captures (e.g., keyword.control) override generic ones (e.g., variable)

The new logic:

  • Groups highlights by their (start, end) span
  • Selects only the highest-priority highlight per span
  • Applies highlight styles using the theme's syntax_styles
  • This eliminates nondeterministic overwrites

2. New test: test_range_highlighting_priority_consistency

Added under:

tests/text_area/test_highlight_priority.py

This test verifies:

  • The token range receives the same final highlight whether it appears alone or after another expression
  • Conflicting captures produce identical resolved highlight output
  • The priority rules work correctly and deterministically
  • This protects against regressions

Checklist

  • Docstrings on all new or modified functions / classes
  • Updated documentation
  • Updated CHANGELOG.md (where appropriate)

Note: Documentation and changelog can be updated after review.


@TomJGooding
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It's been a while since I looked at the tree-sitter code, but I'm not convinced this is the correct fix.

Can I ask just for transparency: did you generate this PR with AI?

@nikhil2004-blip
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I used AI assistant to help me with wording and structuring the PR description, but the logic, debugging, and final code changes were done by me after understanding the issue.

I based the fix on reading through the text area, highlighting the area and verifying where priority resolution was happening
I also wrote a test for he issue

If something looks incorrect or could be better I
Am happy to work through it .

@TomJGooding
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From a quick test it doesn't look like this fixes anything:

image

I'm also pretty sure your test will pass even without your changes?

@nikhil2004-blip
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Can you guide me through it like what should I improve in it ..

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Syntax highlighting issue in TextArea

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