Highlighting correctly in an emacs major mode - emacs

Question

I am developing an emacs major mode for a language (aka mydsl). However, using the techniques on xahlee's site doesn't seem to be working for some reason (possibly older emacs dialect..)
The key issues I am fighting with are (1) highlighting comments is not working and (2), the use of regexp-opt lines is not working.
I've reviewed the GNU manual and looked over cc-mode and elisp mode... those are significantly more complicated than I need.
;;;Standard # to newline comment
;;;Eventually should also have %% to %% multiline block comments
(defun mydsl-comment-dwim (arg)
"comment or uncomment"
(interactive "*P")
(require 'newcomment)
(let
((deactivate-mark nil)
(comment-start "#")
(comment-end "")
comment-dwim arg)))
(defvar mydsl-events
'("reservedword1"
"reservedword2"))
(defvar mydsl-keywords
'("other-keyword" "another-keyword"))
;;Highlight various elements
(setq mydsl-hilite
'(
; stuff between "
("\"\\.\\*\\?" . font-lock-string-face)
; : , ; { } => # $ = are all special elements
(":\\|,\\|;\\|{\\|}\\|=>\\|#\\|$\\|=" . font-lock-keyword-face)
( ,(regexp-opt mydsl-keywords 'words) . font-lock-builtin-face)
( ,(regexp-opt mydsl-events 'words) . font-lock-constant-face)
))
(defvar mydsl-tab-width nil "Width of a tab for MYDSL mode")
(define-derived-mode mydsl-mode fundamental-mode
"MYDSL mode is a major mode for editing MYDSL files"
;Recommended by manual
(kill-all-local-variables)
(setq mode-name "MYDSL script")
(setq font-lock-defaults '((mydsl-hilite)))
(if (null mydsl-tab-width)
(setq tab-width mydsl-tab-width)
(setq tab-width default-tab-width)
)
;Comment definitions
(define-key mydsl-mode-map [remap comment-dwim] 'mydsl-comment-dwim)
(modify-syntax-entry ?# "< b" mydsl-mode-syntax-table)
(modify-syntax-entry ?\n "> b" mydsl-mode-syntax-table)
;;A gnu-correct program will have some sort of hook call here.
)
(provide 'mydsl-mode)

Answer 1

You have a couple of syntactic problems in your code, but you got it nearly correct. Here's my edited version which appears to do the right thing for a buffer in mydsl-mode:
; No changes to the simple vars
(defvar mydsl-events
'("reservedword1"
"reservedword2"))
(defvar mydsl-keywords
'("other-keyword" "another-keyword"))
;; I'd probably put in a default that you want, as opposed to nil
(defvar mydsl-tab-width nil "Width of a tab for MYDSL mode")
;; Two small edits.
;; First is to put an extra set of parens () around the list
;; which is the format that font-lock-defaults wants
;; Second, you used ' (quote) at the outermost level where you wanted ` (backquote)
;; you were very close
(defvar mydsl-font-lock-defaults
`((
;; stuff between "
("\"\\.\\*\\?" . font-lock-string-face)
;; ; : , ; { } => # $ = are all special elements
(":\\|,\\|;\\|{\\|}\\|=>\\|#\\|$\\|=" . font-lock-keyword-face)
( ,(regexp-opt mydsl-keywords 'words) . font-lock-builtin-face)
( ,(regexp-opt mydsl-events 'words) . font-lock-constant-face)
)))
(define-derived-mode mydsl-mode fundamental-mode "MYDSL script"
"MYDSL mode is a major mode for editing MYDSL files"
;; fundamental-mode kills all local variables, no need to do it again
(setq mode-name "MYDSL script")
;; you again used quote when you had '((mydsl-hilite))
;; I just updated the variable to have the proper nesting (as noted above)
;; and use the value directly here
(setq font-lock-defaults mydsl-font-lock-defaults)
;; when there's an override, use it
;; otherwise it gets the default value
(when mydsl-tab-width
(setq tab-width mydsl-tab-width))
;; for comments
;; overriding these vars gets you what (I think) you want
;; they're made buffer local when you set them
(setq comment-start "#")
(setq comment-end "")
(modify-syntax-entry ?# "< b" mydsl-mode-syntax-table)
(modify-syntax-entry ?\n "> b" mydsl-mode-syntax-table)
;;A gnu-correct program will have some sort of hook call here.
)
(provide 'mydsl-mode)