Some time ago Hetima published a plugin for TextMate called MissingDrawer which “provides Xcode-like project window interface without drawer.”
I thought this would be a great idea but found it a little incomplete. Thankfully they released the source code under the MIT license which made modifications very easy.
UPDATE: I’ve set up a Google Code project at code.google.com/p/textmate-missingdrawer/ to handle bug reports and feature requests a little better. You are very welcome to join the project and make this plugin even more useful.
UPDATE 2: Updated screenshot for 2008-03-19 version.
UPDATE 3: I fixed some of the bugs in version 2008-06-10, download it at Google Code.
So without further ado, here a current screenshot:
Download, Installation instructions and changelog
Please go to http://code.google.com/p/textmate-missingdrawer/.

comments
Many thanks! I disliked this old-style Panther drawer a long time…
Awesome! (:
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You're welcome :)
Really lovely!
This is excellent. Great work, and thanks.
Very nice! Any way to get it to show up on the right side, though?
Dude, you rock :)
Thanks guys, that's very kind.
@Alex No, the there is no way to decide on which side the panel shows up at the moment. Though the source is included and I would be happy to have such functionality :)
Great plugin! I'd like to second the question for a right hand side view.
Doh!
Very nice. Is there a key command to shift focus between the main pane and the MissingDrawer pane? This would be to replicate the key command CMD+Option+Tilde with OSX drawers.
For a right hand solution: comment out lines 79 to 87 in HTMDSplitView.m and swap "contentView" and "leftView" in line 42 of HTMDMissingDrawer.m.
It's not perfect, needs some polish and a preference instead of a code-hack.
Cheers,
Jan
--
@Kevin Indeed, this would be a great addition. I try to add this in the next version.
@Jan Great! Though this is a little hack-ish. I'll implement a menu item for this function.
Jan: that didn't quite work for me. I ended up with a very confused TextMate that had a resizer handle directly under the window resizer. Thanks for the suggestion, though!
Now that's the best thing I've seen for TextMate - now bring on v2 of this excellent application..
This is great, thanks for the work! Was wondering, I do a lot of work direct via FTP (Transmit) which opens the file in TextMate, and uploads it upon Save. Would it be possible to incorporate your drawer so the files I open via Transmit open in one TextMate window with your drawer (and tabs), rather than a new individual window for each file opened? It's the one piece I find missing from an otherwise perfect app.
Just curious! Thanks again for your plug-in.
Ever since I started using textmate I have wanted this. Thank you!!!!
Wondering if there's a way to turn on the alternating row coloring like in the drawer/most list views in OSX?
Any way to have some Expand all / Collapse all functionnality with your drawer?
I'm really looking forward to it...
I am having the same problem with this version that I did with the last. It will not work after quitting and relaunching TM. In fact, in order to even get my standard project drawer back, I have to remove the plugin entirely. TM Version 1.5.7 (1455), Leopard 10.5.2. O well, back to stock TM.
Many thanks for this! Love it!
[...] MissingDrawer plugin for TextMate has been resurrected, enhanced and released. The plugin “provides Xcode-like [...]
[...] Missing Drawer plugin for Textmate If you use Textmate, and aren’t a huge fan of apple’s rounded, recessed drawer for file browsing in projects, grab Missing Drawer and fix it up! It makes a more structured, window-integrated drawer for you. I use Textmate once in a while, for one-off text files or XML editing, but mainly use Coda for making sites. [...]
[...] Il est de retour, et ça fait du bien ! [...]
I second the request for being able to change the side the drawer shows up on.
very yummy! thanks a lot.
Anybody figure out how to make the sidebar blue like every other Leopard app?
Any pointers would be awes!
[...] Resurrecting MissingDrawer plugin for TextMate: [...]
Fantastic!
After using this for an hour I'm already addicted to it.
Now, can we have the drawer with a lightblue background (and probably even leopard-style folders) like in Mail.app & co?
BUG: COMMAND-R toggles the folder list instead of just revealing the current file in it (it does do the reveal, but always toggles the list).
I have the same problem as Chris describes above. After closing all tabs and restarting Textmate I can't get project drawer to show again.
@Chris and @Marcus: I thought this was happening to me, too. It turned out that the panel was there, but was 1 pixel wide. Open a project and check the edge of the window. In my case there was an extra dark gray column at the window's edge. (It looked like a 2-pixel wide border instead of 1.) You should be able to grab that extra 1-pixel column and drag the panel back open.
Thanks to all of you! This is really great, I did not expect so much feedback but I'm willing to implement your feature requests. Cocoa and Objective-C are pretty new to me, so please have patience :)
So, I've set up a Google Code project at http://code.google.com/p/textmate-missingdrawer/ to handle bug reports and feature requests a little better. You are very welcome to join the project and make this plugin even more useful. I already checked in the code and created some wiki pages to keep the discussion going. I hope you like it. If not, don't worry and just post your comment here.
[...] Jannis Leidel » Resurrecting MissingDrawer plugin for TextMate (tags: textmate plugin missingdrawer) [...]
http://code.google.com/p/textmate-missingdrawer/wiki/ProjectIdeas
For anyone looking to make it iTunes blue, I've added a comment on the project ideas of the wiki on how to do this yourself. It's one line of code, nothing too scarey.
Spectacular! Absolutely awesome work - this plugin has been extremely helpful to me and I'm so happy to see the improvements. Keep up the good work!
Pax,
- Stan
[...] new MissingDrawer builds off of the original, adding some aesthetic UI tweaks along with some usability polish. On [...]
Thank you so much for this update..
BTW, I've noticed a newer version (2008-03-19). What's the changelog?
Thanks!
Oh, I see now.. Blue background by default. Nice.
Sorry for the double post.
Ah, sorry forgot to update the changelog!
I just added a blue background.. this was an easy fix. Still working on the other feature request.
Thanks to orta for the code!
This does not seem to work as intended on Tiger. The background is an ugly grey/purple color. Would really like the alternating blue/white background, in general.
This is cool. But I would like to see the current file highlighted in gray/blue just like the selected playlist/source in iTunes. :)
[...] Jannis Leidel » Resurrecting MissingDrawer plugin for TextMate Drawers are so 10.1. The MissingDrawer plugin changes the TextMate project to a sidebar, like it’s 2008 and not 2002. (tags: textmate hacks @installonmymac) [...]
This is a very nice addition to Textmate, but I agree with <a href="#comment-258" rel="nofollow">Daniël</a>. The currently highlighted file needs to be the blue gradient style as in the iTunes sidebar. The light grey highlight against blue background is very difficult to pick out at a glance.
One other touch which would make this really nice is if the background color and highlight got lighter when the window is not active, also as in iTunes.
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Sorry if this question is offtopic :)
Maybe you know, how I can fix source code for sort directories in list on first place? Maybe as "sort by type" in Finder...
Anybody else still running Tiger and disappointed at the darkish grey look to the background can fix this themselves with a little effort (and Xcode). In HTMDSidebarBorderView.m, line 139, replace
[realOutlineView setBackgroundColor:[NSColor colorWithCalibratedRed:0.82f green:0.84f blue:0.88f alpha:0.8f]];
with:
[realOutlineView setBackgroundColor:[NSColor colorWithCalibratedRed:0.82f green:0.84f blue:0.88f alpha:1.0f]];
Then just build (Command-B) with Xcode. You'll find the new plugin in the build/Release folder of your MissingDrawer folder.
I'm guessing that in Tiger the alpha component isn't being applied as intended. I'm not entirely sure why you'd want an alpha component to a background fill colour anyway, but then I'm not a Cocoa developer :)
[...] (Payware) - das Schweizer Taschenmesser für einfache Textdateien, HTML, PHP, CSS, etc. (inkl. The missing drawer und [...]
Hell yes!
I was holding out in the hope that TextMate 2.0 would have a sidebar like this. But I don't need to wait any longer.
This makes TextMate so much nicer than it already is. Thanks for the great work!
Make Textmate even better. Thanks
Hey
My text mate has been acting insane since installing this plugin. Using command + t to open a file quickly results in many many many instances of the same file appearing. This is also the case with a "project search", in addition to this, when doing a project-wide "find and replace" I've managed to roll back my templates for my current project, three times today.. I thought I was going bat shit mad.
Hi Ben,
I'm running Textmate on Leopard daily with this plugin, so I'm rather baffled. Since this sounds like a serious condition, could you please post a issue at http://code.google.com/p/textmate-missingdrawer/issues/list? If you are using other plugins please list them there, too. Thanks :)
Oh man, thanks a lot.
it was the only thing i dislike from tm big time!
How about a column view horizontal panel?
hochu vodki!t
These prayers help me to keep God in my life, especially with the many distractions I encounter.
That makes life easier on a decent sized display! Nice One!
its very strange, but sometimes a when I open a project the drawer doesn't shown. Even if I click View > Show drawer??
any thoughts ?
you missed one already! but don't give up... i didn't even know about it til now. seems like a fun experiments.
The article written by your very good, I like it very much. I will keep your new article.
Long time no see, Jannis.
I recently took a look to the Missing Drawer Xcode project, made it work on 10.6 and added a "Open Terminal Here" button to the button panel in the drawer. Interested in sharing?
Best,
Chris
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the request for being able to change the side the drawer shows up on.
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Spectacular! Absolutely awesome work - this plugin has been extremely helpful to me and I'm so happy to see the improvements. Keep up the good work!
Thanks
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can we have the drawer with a lightblue background (and probably even leopard-style folders) like in Mail.app & co?
When is the next post comming on this topic.
Regards
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The currently highlighted file needs to be the blue gradient style as in the iTunes sidebar. The light grey highlight against blue background is very difficult to pick out at a glance.
made it work on 10.6 and added a "Open Terminal Here" button to the button panel in the drawer. Interested in sharing?
Good work,Its really awesome work for coders must involve if you love coding.
I open via Transmit open in one TextMate window with your drawer (and tabs), rather than a new individual window for each file opened? It's the one piece I find missing from an otherwise perfect app.
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Any way to have some Expand all / Collapse all functionnality with your drawer?
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