Fun with the IDE

shakeshuck · Post by **shakeshuck** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 1:56 pm

Guys,

The IDE is driving me nuts!

I'm already getting frustrated (with myself) trying to work out what I need to do, to get things working the way I want, but the IDE isn't helping when it:

- reformats the code differently to the way I want it without asking
- changes values of rgb colours while I'm typing them (!)
- changes windows to 'visible = false' without me asking (!)

Arrgghhhh!

Post by **jerome** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 2:13 pm

Sorry the IDE is giving you a hard time.

There seems to be a lot of things annoying you here. Perhaps if we could take a calm look at these issues one by one we could:
A) help you avoid them or working around them for the time being
and
B) figure out a way to solve them so they do not frustrate you or other potential users in the future

Are some or all of these issues while using the Form Designer / Property Sheet?
This will end up reformatting the code as it outputs the code in one specific way.
The changes should be minimal however and limited to setting the form or controls properties.

There is also some automatic completion of methods when you start writing e.g.:
bool OnCreate(

Regarding changing values of RGB colors while you're typing them, do you have an example of what code you're writing exactly? I don't think I am familiar with such an issue

Changing windows to 'visible = false' -- this is a strange one as well

Do you have an example?

Hoping we can help alleviate the frustration and improve things!

Cheers,

Jerome

shakeshuck · Post by **shakeshuck** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 4:09 pm

jerome wrote: Are some or all of these issues while using the Form Designer / Property Sheet?
This will end up reformatting the code as it outputs the code in one specific way.
The changes should be minimal however and limited to setting the form or controls properties.

I have a few windows in a child/parent setup; I should have put them in separate files, but haven't so the designer is not too much use the way I have it at the moment. I've also included some basic calculations to supply positions which confuses the designer (not surprisingly)!

I am however using the properties sheet regularly.

Regarding changing values of RGB colors while you're typing them, do you have an example of what code you're writing exactly? I don't think I am familiar with such an issue

This is in the properties sheet. If I open up the rgb tree for a window background, and type in a value into (say) the red field then press the cursor down arrow, as it selects the next field (in this case green), it alters the previous value I typed into the red field.

Changing windows to 'visible = false' -- this is a strange one as well Do you have an example?

I was just reminded of an oddity (as it did it again!) where sometimes when I am typing in the source pane, focus is taken away from me and my typing could be going anywhere - this last time it happened, the focus appeared to have gone to the properties pane (which is perhaps why values are changing if I'm not looking while I'm typing)...

Formatting wise, some of it could be related to property changes. I fixed it from scrunching control definitions together by adding comment lines where I wanted gaps. It does keep putting variable definitions and value assignments all on one line, though.

Post by **jerome** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 4:45 pm

Calculations will indeed confuse the form designer (and it will not have a visible area to work with if a 'size' or 'clientSize' isn't explicit set on the form being edited). The designer should however leave alone those calculations (it should not overwrite them with 0 or bad values).

Which version of the SDK / IDE are you using? What does the About box say?
The latest official version is 0.44.11 but from the official Windows build will show up in the IDE as:

Build 0.44.10-40-g1a195e7

I can't seem to reproduce the RGB behavior with that version, down arrow works fine for me.

Also, which platform are you on? Windows, Linux? (If Linux, which Distribution / Desktop Environment / Window Manager)

Regarding focus being taken away from you... Could it be hitting the F4 key (that brings up the property pane)?. Escape brings the focus back to the Code Editor. Please let me know if you figure out how to reproduce this 'focus being taken away from you from the code editor'. I can't imagine what else could be doing that other than the function keys, or Alt-Number combinations...

When editing from the property sheet, this will definitely result in the IDE editing the code by itself, and unfortunately at this point it has a fixed set of formatting rules. But this editing is done only to code setting up properties. Of course you can edit those properties directly in the code if you want to preserve your own formatting (So far the property sheet serves more an introductory purposes, or for quickly putting some GUI together. After a while we end up editing the code directly most of the times).

Hoping we can make things work better for you.

Best regards,

Jerome

shakeshuck · Post by **shakeshuck** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 7:32 pm

I'm using the 32-bit Windows version, the same build number as you quote, running on Win 7.

I managed to make a small video showing the rgb problem, (unfortunately in wmv format). Is there an address I can send it to?

Post by **jerome** » Tue Dec 08, 2015 8:04 pm

Hi Shakeshuck,

Thanks, that should be most useful. You can e-mail it to me to jerome@ecere.com if it's small enough, or make it available anywhere I can download it...