Returning to LiveCode

[beetlejooce]

Hello!

I'm returning to LiveCode after a few year hiatus. I'm really loving some of the changes/updates made in the last few years. I was wondering if some of my old favorite add-ons were still viable. Tools like: NativeGeometry, TmControls, PowerDebug.... Are any of these still alive and/or relevant? Found Levure. Wow! Thanks for that!

Anyway, thanks in advance for any info/hints. Happy Coding

[bogs]

I can't speak to the rest of those, but PowerDebug is still around

[beetlejooce]

Thanks!

I noticed the dictionary has had a major upgrade as well, although it seems the "comments" are missing. Some of those comments were really helpful, if I remember correctly. Were they incorporated into the entries by chance?

[bogs]

The dictionary <sigh>

I don't know what they were thinking with that, and I don't use the newer version enough to really comment effectively on it. Brian on the other hand could probably tell you all about it

In some ways, I think the dictionary improved. Certainly at least the guide(s) are better and easier to get through than before. Some of the entries are better organized. Some are still wrong or missing information, and (imho) it is far too slow to load / use as it sits, it isn't effectively re-sizeable, it wastes a lot of space, etc etc etc.

When I am in anything newer than 7 (not often, since I am rarely out of the 6.x series and far more often in Mc), I use the tinyDictionary plugin Bern came up with, its fast, its re-sizeable, it works for me. If I need the actual Dictionary, I use the one at Brian's site, for some reason, it seems to work faster than the one included does, and you of course don't have to have Lc open to use it.

For the lack of comments, or when I am looking for something more in-depth than the dictionary entry, I often go to Max's excellent wiki.

None of the above really addresses your question though.

[richmond62]

although it seems the "comments" are

In my opinion the "upgraded" Dictionary was a backward step, so,
while using LiveCode 8.1.10 I tend to use the Dictionary from version 7.1.4.

You will find that there is a school of thought "round these parts" that,
while LiveCode has gained a lot, a lot of rather useful features seem to have disappeared as well.

[beetlejooce]

Thanks for all the info. I agree, the new dictionary has some good and bad. I'm certainly going to have to figure out how to kill the lovely autocomplete in the search box. In the meantime, I'll check out some of the links that were provided.

[bwmilby]

The first release of 9.1 will have my PR included which disables the autocorrect on the dictionary search field. Easy to include in your own copy if you want:
https://github.com/livecode/livecode-ide/pull/1969

[jmburnod]

Hi,

In my opinion the "upgraded" Dictionary was a backward step, so,
while using LiveCode 8.1.10 I tend to use the Dictionary from version 7.1.4

Bernd did TinyDictionary. Clic on "Sample stacks" and search "TinyDictionary".
Best reards
Jean-Marc

[bogs]

Bernd did TinyDictionary.

I have to agree, He (and Brian and a few others) really did a fantastic job on it. It is responsive as all get out, and can be resized to a far greater use of space and still be usable than the included dictionary. While you still don't get the comments previously included, you can write your own notes (although I don't think that survives going to a newer version right ? Cause the plugin pulls from the version your in? ).

tinyDictionary Really stable as of 0.8.2

However, I don't think that this is exactly what Richmond means by a step backwards. I think he is directly speaking to the lack of the comments built up over the years that were quite helpful in there, as well as other things.

*Edit to add - Brian's addition mentioned above does address the speed issues the included help has, but unless you have the screen space to effectively deploy that help guide, I consider that to be right up there with the "WTH" thoughts that go through my mind.

Richard at one time explained the whys behind moving to this space eating format were necessary, but I still can't seem to wrap my head around it being 'good' when a help system takes up about 960x1080 amount of space to display. Help systems are something that should be displayed out of the users way for reference, not something that demands screen space to the extent it is harder to code with it up than without it.

[bn]

jmburnod wrote: ↑Sat Aug 18, 2018 11:34 pm
Bernd did TinyDictionary.
I have to agree, He (and Brian and a few others) really did a fantastic job on it. It is responsive as all get out, and can be resized to a far greater use of space and still be usable than the included dictionary. While you still don't get the comments previously included, you can write your own notes (although I don't think that survives going to a newer version right ? Cause the plugin pulls from the version your in? ).

the notes the user makes for an entry survives newer versions of LC as well as of tinyDictionary.
Those notes are stored separately within a file in "Application Support"

However if you take a note for an entry in a newer version of LC and open tinyDictionary in an older version of LC that does not have that entry in the dictionary yet they obviously will not show.

http://livecodeshare.runrev.com/stack/8 ... Dictionary

or even easier from within LC click "Sample Stacks" and search for "tinyDictionary"

Kind regards
Bernd

[bogs]

Thank you for the clarification on the notes, Bernd