IDE - twp possible features?

[francis]

From a long standing Pascal (1985 ->) and Delphi user - Lazarus is excellent - D2000 seems to have lost its way (imho).


1. Many years ago VB3 (dare I mention it, I did dabble once) had a code editing feature that let you select a procedure/function to code from a drop down list (I realise that you can get to a procedure from the code explorer)

The useful feature was that only the selected procedure/function displayed in the code editor.  I found this made working on medium / large projects easier.

Would a similar feature that gave 'procedure/function' isolation in the editor be useful?  You would need to be able to toggle beteween this mode and the classic 'view all code' in the editor.


2. Would a visual control creator be possible? or some form of compound control creation component?  Have these been started?


I would love to help however my coding skills are not up to it these days - the day job takes up too  much time - will advocate for Lazarus, OS and start using it to teach programming in school.

[Anonymous]

I may sugest another way of making larger project easier to manage

I thing about a navigator that would be someting like a treeview that we see in the Windows explorer left side. Each level could represent a section of the code and have a maximize and minimize option. That could be something like this according to the opened and closed part. I may have omit something but the idea is there.



(+)interface
(+)Implementation


(-)interface
.....(+) Type (TSomthing, TAnotherThing, TSomesortOfThing1, ...)
.....(+) Const
(+)Implementation


(-)interface
.....(-) Type
........... (+)TSomthing = Class(TSomthingElse)
........... TAnotherThing = Array[0..2] Of integer;
........... TSomesortOfThing1 = Array[0..2] Of TAnotherThing;
........... (+)TSomesortOfRec = Record;
.....(+) Const
(+)Implementation



(-)interface
.....(-) Type
........... (+)TSomthing = Class(TSomthingElse)
........... TAnotherThing = Array[0..2] Of integer;
........... TSomesortOfThing1 = Array[0..2] Of TAnotherThing;
........... (-)TSomesortOfRec = Record;
................. Name : String;
................. Val1 : Integer;
................. Val2 : Integer;
................. Val3 : Extended;
............... End;
.....(+) Const
(+)Implementation



(-)interface
.....(-) Type
........... (-)TSomthing = Class(TSomthingElse)
................ private
................... FOnStart: TNotifyEvent;
................... FWantsRestart: boolean;
................ public
................... constructor Create(const AnInput string);
................... destructor Destroy; override;
...................  procedure Execute;
...................  property WantsRestart: boolean read FWantsRestart;
................end;
........... TAnotherThing = Array[0..2] Of integer;
........... TSomesortOfThing1 = Array[0..2] Of TAnotherThing;
........... (+)TSomesortOfRec = Record;
.....(+) Const
(+)Implementation

(-)interface
.....(+) Type (TSomthing, TAnotherThing, TSomesortOfThing1, ...)
.....(-) Const
.......... Constance1 = 10;
.......... Constance1 = 20;
.......... Constance1 = 30;
(+)Implementation


(+)interface
(-)Implementation
........... (-)TSomthing = Class(TSomthingElse)
................ private
................... FOnStart: TNotifyEvent;
................... FWantsRestart: boolean;
................ public

constructor TSomthing.Create(const AnInput string);
Begin
  FOnStart := Nil;
  FWantsRestart := False;
End;

destructor TSomthing.Destroy;
Begin
  FOnStart := Nil;
  FWantsRestart := False;
End;

procedure TSomthing.Execute;
Begin
  If  FOnStart <> Nil  Then
       FOnStart;
End;

End.

[felipemdc]

I thing about a navigator that would be someting like a treeview that we see in the Windows explorer left side.

I read something about this on the mailling list some weeks ago. Maybe this feature has already being started.

If you want more details about it you should ask on the mailling list.

[felipemdc]

Would a similar feature that gave 'procedure/function' isolation in the editor be useful?  You would need to be able to toggle beteween this mode and the classic 'view all code' in the editor.

Usefull, yes, but this is not trivial to be implemented. Also already exists the code explorer, so the developers will probably focus on areas that are not covered currently.

So I wouldn´t expect it soon ..... unless you implement it =)

The code editor is called SynEdit if I recall correctly.

[felipemdc]

2. Would a visual control creator be possible? or some form of compound control creation component?  Have these been started?

Yes, this is totally possible, just needs to be implemented. I bet it could use much code from the form designer. I don´t think this has being started... but I may be wrong.

I would love to help however my coding skills are not up to it these days - the day job takes up too  much time - will advocate for Lazarus, OS and start using it to teach programming in school.

All help, including teaching lazarus to others is appreciated =)

The documentation also needs a hand... I usually write something that I learn to the wiki. I am also planning to add information to the online help.

[matthijs]

1. Many years ago VB3 (dare I mention it, I did dabble once) had a code editing feature that let you select a procedure/function to code from a drop down list (I realise that you can get to a procedure from the code explorer)

When entering some statement press <ctrl><space> and a list of possible procedures will appear. This is also valid for properties of a object. Enter the object name followed by a '.' and press <ctrl><space>.