IDE - Wishlist

[iwannaprogram]

One thing that is bothering me a little is the IDE interface. I feel that the coding is much easier to use than the ease of the Interface itself. One of the reasons are that once i finish the design of the program, i should be able to hide the Tool box without needing to open it again - I know the hot-keys to switch from Edit mode and Browser mode exist but, as far as the interface goes, these options could be placed somewhere else since they are the most used buttons from that Tool box. One thing I have noticed is that i rarely use the main window toolbar - i only used it on the first week to click on the users samples.

The way LiveCode splits the toolbar from the main box is fine, but it makes it really annoying when those boxes are just floating around all over the place when i am working.
If you didnt want to create a program window to contain the main window and the tool box, could you have still left the resize button usable? couldnt you have left this button, which is grayed out, function in a way that would push the main window and the tool bar to the top right and far left side of the screen?


Look, I know these things are small. really small in fact they don't really matter much to many. But isnt this what a GUI team is for. How many forum topics have you seen about how imperfect the Windows Start menu is. Or how hard the Ubuntu desktop interface is for people when they are looking for something. Or how about media players? WMP, Quicktime, VLC, Banshee, Winamp? GUI matters. It may not have anything to do with how strong the language is but it can sure help the new people like myself in adapting. With this said, it could be that many of the strong programmers of LC have already adapted and are comfortable with the GUI. This is a real brainf#$^%. I know. Im sure im one of many who have whined about the IDE.

I'm just a guy who is a freak about customization. I like tweaking everything. I like black background and colored text on my editors and it kinda makes me sad that i work at night with a bright script editor window - lol. It's the little stuff that can add more work hours to a programmer on his favorite language. I know Notepad++ helped me write PHP code so much better than other editors i tried.

Thank you

[sturgis]

You might check out the glx2 editor here. https://bitbucket.org/mwieder/glx2/downloads Also as an alternative to the toolbar there is powertools, which also includes a few extra widgets. glx2 is pretty good, I especially like the fact that it has code completion.

Also keep in mind that the editor itself is written in livecode so you can tweak almost anything.

Oh, and I think some people still use the metacard IDE with livecode too so that might be worth looking at.

[shaosean]

Best thing about the IDE is it is written in Rev so you can modify it all you want.. I had made a plugin that allowed you to create your own script editor colour themes..

[jacque]

You can hide the toolbar icons, or its text, or both. If you hide both the entire bar disappears.

I couldn't work without it though, I use it all the time. The group-related icons in particular are a big convenience. The dictionary icon is my preferred way to open the dictionary, and when testing mobile apps there is no faster way to the emulator than the Test button. Everyone has their own work flow though, which is why you can remove it if you prefer.

[Paul.RaulersonBUSrLn]

Best thing about the IDE is it is written in Rev so you can modify it all you want.. I had made a plugin that allowed you to create your own script editor colour themes..

How does one go about modifying it? Like for instance, adding extra shortcuts or things like that? I would love code completion, similar to Xcode, but it is enough work just leaning LiveCode right now. Fun though.

Thanks
-Paul

[shaosean]

You can either modify the IDE stacks or write a plugin to over-ride the IDE.. While writing a plugin is the preferred way, but some times you will have to modify the IDE stacks.. As for auto-completion, I would add a frontscript to watch for the keys being typed and when a key command is pressed, fill in the rest of the word.. Check out the functionNames function (as well as the other ones mentioned in that doc entry)..

[Jeremy_R]

I feel the exact same way about the IDE and after looking around without any solutions I decided to take the task upon myself.

I have a queue of contracts for mobile apps waiting and I believe I've come up with a few designs that I feel complement LiveCode more than it's standard IDE. I've been spending what time I don't work on my current paid project to get this new IDE up and integrated as I believe it will significantly reduce my development time. I'm not planning anything public at this stage, but I feel I should at least share some of my early designs incase it inspires anyone else. Here's some features I have implemented now and hoping to start using for my paid gigs later this week, nothing better than road testing early to iron out the kinks.

Improved fields properties palette
I've created a new palette to eventually replace the standard properties palette which hurts me to use. This palette enables me to change the Name, Tooltip, content and size of the field with one click each since they are all on the one window. That's one-click max to start editing any of those very common elements that you'll surely do hundreds of times during any given project, compared to a max of three clicks for the standard properties palette (Dropdown -> Contents / Properites / Size -> click on desired field). That's just the start, there'll be a few more additions to the main window and the introduction of tabs for other areas will give a -1 mouse click improvement over the standard palette.

Redesigned text formatting
I've completely replaced the way text is handled, the difference is what I'm calling Phonts (highly original). When you're designing a UI you use a very small set of fonts and a smaller variation of font properties (size,bold,plain..) giving all the options in the standard IDE just opens yourself up to too many font variations, mistaken or not. Phonts keeps things simple, create phonts for a header, sub title, content and legalese then with one click (it's on the first window below the content field!) you can format the text of the selected field.

Obviously UI design isn't all about the reduced number of mouse clicks, there's many other elements at play and this is why I'm doubting it'll end up outside my work station. It's being designed straight up as a tool to speed up the number of contracts I can get done, while improving my quality of work by reducing potential design flaws as is the case with phonts and the upcoming addition of a Prefabs component

I do hope LiveCode are working on a design overhaul, I felt they improved upon the MetaCard interface but just stopped innovating from there :/

[FourthWorld]

I like "Phonts". Well done.

I've been in touch with the team about the IDE, and while I'm not at liberty to discuss any specifics it's obvious that they're continually working on it and I don't think they'd mind me saying that their plans for it will continue to increase its utility going forward.

I don't know if they have considered having a limited set of fonts available for mobile work, and that's kinda of a nice thing so I'll mention it at next opportunity.

[Klaus]

Hi friends,

maybe this is of interest for you?
http://forums.runrev.com/phpBB2/viewtop ... =4&t=13168


Best

Klaus

[richmond62]

set the height of stack "revMenubar" to 26

the 'Divider' (which, oddly enough is a button) below the Menu items 'File, Edit, Tools . . .' has its bottom set at 26.

set the height of stack "revTools" to 37: this leaves you with just the 'Browse' and the 'Pointer' buttons.

you can put those in an openStack script in the Menubar stack.

Certainly gets rid of the bothersome icons and all the rest you can get from the drop-down menus anyway.

[richmond62]

"it makes it really annoying when those boxes are just floating around all over the place when i am working"

indeed . . .

setting up (i.e. installing Livecode) on one's machine one gets the "revMenubar" stack about 25% of the way down the screen, and the "revTools" stack about 50% down and 25% in from the left.

the first thing I do whenever I get hold of a version of Livecode is do this:

put a script into the "revMenubar" stack like this;

on openStack
put item 3 of the screenRect into WIDD
if WIDD > 808 then --mind you, come to think of it, if your screen resolution width is less than 808 pixels you have other problems to worry about . . . LOL
put WIDD/2 into WID2
put (WID2 - 404) into LEFFT
set the left of screen "revMenubar" to LEFFT
end if
set the top of stack "revMenubar" to 0
------------------------------------------------
set the top of stack "revTools" to 0
set the left of stack "revTools" to 0
------------------------------------------------
end openStack

Be careful to uncheck "can't modify" in the Basic panel of the preferences palette for the "revMenubar" stack, and then, because
SAVE has been mucked around with vis-a-vis the "revTools" and the "revMenubar" stacks you have to type:

save stack "revMenubar" into the Message box and then press ENTER on your keyboard.
that parks them fairly efficiently.

[bobcoffee]

The auto complete feature is a start but...

I would really^3 like to see all the same words highlighted in the script editor when you make a selection.
Yes you could use the search but it is slightly different. It is a more convenient to see the selection highlighted everywhere, especially locally around the area you are working.

This is pretty standard in eclipse and other high quality IDEs so lets bring LiveCode up to the highest standard, yes?

[richmond62]

"It is a more convenient to see the selection highlighted everywhere"

That is, of course, highly subjective; but written in such a way as to imply that we
are all fools if we don't agree.

This sort of stuff should be either:

1. A policy decision of RunRev (who can be as subjective as they like as they own the THING),

or

2. Decided after some sort of user survey.

[bobcoffee]

Sorry to write my wish list item in such a way to make you feel that way. My bad.

But I have a simpler solution. Just have a preferences check box to either have the "highlite all same selection" on/off. This way programmers who don't want it can simply turn off the functionality in the preferences menu.

Since this is the wish list area. I am just making a wish..


coffee16