Error: Using a Dictionary as a String and similar errors when running textidote check/toggle

[bondhugula]

With textidote 0.9 https://github.com/sylvainhalle/textidote/releases/tag/v0.9, on running a :TeXtidoteToggle, I get:

End of grammar check.
Error detected while processing function textidote#Toggle[2]..textidote#Clear:
line   23:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   28:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   33:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   38:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   53:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String

VIM - Vi IMproved 8.2

:TeXtidoteCheck yields the same error and doesn't yield any output either, leaving this line in the console:

# java -jar ~/.local/textidote.jar --no-color --check en --encoding utf-8 --output plain ...

and the status line:

Press on error to discard it, to jump its location, and then to fix it.

The standalone command:

java -jar ~/.local/textidote.jar <tex file> works fine.

[PatrBal]

Hey,
thanks for reporting. I use the plugin everyday and I have never come across that error (I also use textidote v0.9).

One question. Was the plugin working fine before and this error suddenly showed up?

I need to be able to reproduce the error to provide a solution. Could you please attach a sample .tex file giving the error?

[bondhugula]

Hey, thanks for reporting. I use the plugin everyday and I have never come across that error (I also use textidote v0.9).

One question. Was the plugin working fine before and this error suddenly showed up?

It's the first time I'm trying to use this plugin.

I need to be able to reproduce the error to provide a solution. Could you please attach a sample .tex file giving the error?

It happens on any tex file - nothing to do with its content. For example, this one:

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}

\begin{document}

ABC is a word.

\end{document}

sample.tex                                                                                                                      2,0-1          All
End of grammar check.
Error detected while processing function textidote#Toggle[2]..textidote#Clear:
line   23:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String

The line number referenced doesn't exist as well.

[bondhugula]

Hey, thanks for reporting. I use the plugin everyday and I have never come across that error (I also use textidote v0.9).

Can I know which version of Vim you have?

[PatrBal]

I mainly use NeoVIM 0.12.2, but I also tried with VIM 9.1 and it works fine with both on my end.

[PatrBal]

Can you provide the configuration lines for the plugin in your .vimrc file?

[bondhugula]

Can you provide the configuration lines for the plugin in your .vimrc file?

These are the only two relevant lines I have:

Plugin 'PatrBal/vim-textidote'

let g:textidote_jar = '~/.local/textidote.jar'

[bondhugula]

I mainly use NeoVIM 0.12.2, but I also tried with VIM 9.1 and it works fine with both on my end.

I'm using vim 8.2 though.

[bondhugula]

I mainly use NeoVIM 0.12.2, but I also tried with VIM 9.1 and it works fine with both on my end.

I'm using vim 8.2 though.

I can confirm that I see the same issue with vim 9.1 on an Ubuntu 22.04 LTS.

[PatrBal]

OK. Please, can you run the following test.

Create a file minimalConfig.vim with content:

set nocompatible
set rtp-=~/.vim
set rtp-=~/.vim/after
set rtp^=/Users/patrick.ballard/.vim/pack/myPlugins/start/vim-textidote

let g:textidote_jar = '/opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/textidote/libexec/textidote.jar'
let g:textidote_cmd = 'java -Djdk.xml.totalEntitySizeLimit=50000000 -jar /opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/textidote/libexec/textidote.jar'

Change the paths to vim-textidote and to textidote.jar to match your own install.
Then, create a file sample.tex with content:

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}

\begin{document}

ABC is a words. This is a bad speling.

\end{document}

Now, run the command:
vim -u minimalConfig.vim sample.tex
to start vim with only the vim-textidote plugin and run :TeXtidoteToggle in vim to call the plugin.

Do you still have the error E731?

[bondhugula]

\documentclass[a4paper,11pt]{article}

\begin{document}

ABC is a words. This is a bad speling.

\end{document}

Thank you for the minimal reproducer. I see the same issue this way as well - nothing happens on running the toggle command.

# java -Djdk.xml.totalEntitySizeLimit=50000000 -jar ~/.local/textidote.jar --no-color --check en --encoding utf-8 --output plain /home/uday/csa/yuva-ssb/sample.tex 

After the above appears, there is no highlighting. Hitting Enter on the text line yields similar errors. Here's the :messages output after all this:

Error detected while processing function textidote#QuickFix[2]..textidote#FindErrorIndex:
line   30:
E896: Argument of get() must be a List, Dictionary or Blob

Selecting a range and doing the textidote check yields:

Messages maintainer: Bram Moolenaar <Bram@vim.org>
"sample.tex" 7L, 112B
Calling TeXtidote...
"[TeXtidote]" [Modified][Not edited] line 1 of 2 --50%-- col 1
Press <BS> on error to discard it, <CR> to jump its location, and then <Tab> to fix it.
Error detected while processing function textidote#QuickFix[2]..textidote#FindErrorIndex:
line   30:
E896: Argument of get() must be a List, Dictionary or Blob
End of grammar check.
Error detected while processing function textidote#Check[8]..textidote#Clear:
line   23:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   28:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   33:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   38:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
line   53:
E731: Using a Dictionary as a String
Calling TeXtidote...
"[TeXtidote]" [Modified][Not edited] line 1 of 2 --50%-- col 1
Press <BS> on error to discard it, <CR> to jump its location, and then <Tab> to fix it.

[PatrBal]

Can you provide the ouput of the following command in the terminal:
java -Djdk.xml.totalEntitySizeLimit=50000000 -jar /opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/textidote/libexec/textidote.jar --no-color --check en --encoding utf-8 sample.tex
after, of course, inserting the correct path for textidote.jar

[PatrBal]

And, also, can you share the output of:
vim --version

[bondhugula]

Can you provide the ouput of the following command in the terminal: java -Djdk.xml.totalEntitySizeLimit=50000000 -jar /opt/homebrew/var/homebrew/linked/textidote/libexec/textidote.jar --no-color --check en --encoding utf-8 sample.tex after, of course, inserting the correct path for textidote.jar

$ java -Djdk.xml.totalEntitySizeLimit=50000000 -jar ~/.local/textidote.jar --no-color --check en --encoding utf-8 sample.tex
TeXtidote v0.9 - A linter for LaTeX documents and others
(C) 2018-2023 Sylvain Hallé - All rights reserved

Found 2 warning(s)
Total analysis time: 1 second(s)

* L5C8-L5C14 The plural noun "words" cannot be used with the article "a". Did 
  you mean 'a word'? Suggestions: [a word] (8) 
  [lt:en:A_NNS] 
  ABC is a words. This is a bad speling.
         ^^^^^^^
* L5C31-L5C37 Possible spelling mistake found. Suggestions: [spelling, 
  spewing, spieling] (31) [lt:en:MORFOLOGIK_RULE_EN_US] 
  ABC is a words. This is a bad speling.

VIM - Vi IMproved 8.2 (2019 Dec 12, compiled Apr 22 2026 18:21:19)
Included patches: 1-16, 647, 17-579, 1969, 580-647, 678, 648-1848, 4975, 5016, 5023, 5072, 2068, 1849-1854, 1857, 1855-1857, 1331, 1858, 1858-1859, 1873, 1860-1969, 1992, 1970-1992, 2010, 1993-2068, 2106, 2069-2106, 2108, 2107-2109, 2109-3995, 4563, 4646, 4774, 4895, 4899, 4901, 4919, 213, 1840, 1846-1847, 2110-2112, 2121
Modified by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Compiled by team+vim@tracker.debian.org
Huge version without GUI.  Features included (+) or not (-):
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+arabic            +find_in_path      +mouse_xterm       -tcl
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+autochdir         +folding           +multi_lang        +terminal
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-balloon_eval      +fork()            +netbeans_intg     +termresponse
+balloon_eval_term +gettext           +num64             +textobjects
-browse            -hangul_input      +packages          +textprop
++builtin_terms    +iconv             +path_extra        +timers
+byte_offset       +insert_expand     -perl              +title
+channel           +ipv6              +persistent_undo   -toolbar
+cindent           +job               +popupwin          +user_commands
-clientserver      +jumplist          +postscript        +vartabs
-clipboard         +keymap            +printer           +vertsplit
+cmdline_compl     +lambda            +profile           +vim9script
+cmdline_hist      +langmap           -python            +viminfo
+cmdline_info      +libcall           +python3           +virtualedit
+comments          +linebreak         +quickfix          +visual
+conceal           +lispindent        +reltime           +visualextra
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+dialog_con        +mksession         +smartindent       +writebackup
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+digraphs          +mouse             -sound             -xfontset
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-ebcdic            +mouse_dec         +startuptime       -xpm
+emacs_tags        +mouse_gpm         +statusline        -xsmp
+eval              -mouse_jsbterm     -sun_workshop      -xterm_clipboard
+ex_extra          +mouse_netterm     +syntax            -xterm_save
+extra_search      +mouse_sgr         +tag_binary        
-farsi             -mouse_sysmouse    -tag_old_static    
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 2nd user vimrc file: "~/.vim/vimrc"
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Compilation: gcc -c -I. -Iproto -DHAVE_CONFIG_H -Wdate-time -g -O2 -ffile-prefix-map=/build/vim-scV7NP/vim-8.2.3995=. -flto=auto -ffat-lto-objects -flto=auto -ffat-lto-objects -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security -D_REENTRANT -U_FORTIFY_SOURCE -D_FORTIFY_SOURCE=1 
Linking: gcc -Wl,-Bsymbolic-functions -flto=auto -ffat-lto-objects -flto=auto -Wl,-z,relro -Wl,-z,now -Wl,--as-needed -o vim -lm -ltinfo -lselinux -lsodium -lacl -lattr -lgpm -L/usr/lib/python3.10/config-3.10-x86_64-linux-gnu -lpython3.10 -lcrypt -ldl -lm -lm```

[PatrBal]

OK, thanks. So, the plugin is able to get the error list from textidote.
But, the parsing of the errors fails on your end.
In addition to standard vimscript that your vim version is able to handle, the plugin uses also 3 basic shell commands: awk, sort and cat. So one possible explanation that I see is that, for some reason, your vim cannot access those.
In vim, can you you run the following ex commands.
:!awk -Wversion 2>/dev/null || awk --version
:!sort --version
:!which cat
and share the output?