Feature requests

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mrupp
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Feature requests

Post by mrupp »

Hi there

I'm quite new to Hollywood and I'am using the Windows IDE. It's very nice in general, I especially like the list of functions for quick access and the F2 feature. Here are some ideas to improve it even further. With the exception of the last item, they are small (or small-ish) things that would help us coders a lot, imho:

1. Support for Ctrl-Tab shortcut
Because I'm used to it from so many other editors like Notepad++, Visual Studio, VisualStudio Code and others, by instinct I'm trying to switch between open tabs using the Ctrl-Tab shortcut. Unfortunately, this doesn't work with the Windows IDE and I always end up entering a tab character.

2. Improving "Search"
Calling "Search", it would be nice if the currently selected text would be pasted into the search field automatically. If multiple lines are selected, it's enough to use the first line.

3. Improving "Search" some more
When searching, I usually don't care if the text I'm looking for is above or below the current cursor. I would suggest an option (checked by default) called "Wrap around" (deutsch: "Am Ende von vorne beginnen") to restart the search when reaching the end (or beginning if searching backwards) of the file. To avoid an endless loop, the search would finish when reaching the place where it started, of course ;) . Again, see Notepad++ as a reference.

4. Search history
Again, being used to it from Notepad++, a search history would be nice, the search field would then be changed into a combobox and one could flick through previous search strings using arrows up and down. Maybe these search strings might even be preserved and still be there when returning to the IDE the next day. Alright, that last one (the preserving) is really just a nice-to-have.

5. Shortcut for "Replace"
I would very much like to see the Ctrl-H shortcut be used with "Replace", which is quite common for Windows programs.

6. Comment and uncomment multiple lines
It would be nice to be able to comment and uncomment all currently selected lines. I know this can be done using /* and */, but if this feature would come with some keyboard shortcuts, it would be so much quicker to include or exclude some bits of testing code, for example.

7. Intellisense
Some more intellisense functionality would be very welcomed, besides the correction of the casing (which already is a nice feat, btw.). Ctrl-Space in VS and VS Code open a popup with proposals for word completion. This would be great, but of course I can see that this might be a bit of a major task to implement.

Alright, let's hear what you think of my ideas.

Greetings,
Michael
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airsoftsoftwair
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Re: Feature requests

Post by airsoftsoftwair »

I think most of these can be implemented quite easily and I'm happy to do so. Intellisense, however, most certainly won't come because it's too much work :)
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mrupp
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Re: Feature requests

Post by mrupp »

airsoftsoftwair wrote: Sun Feb 07, 2021 9:37 pm I think most of these can be implemented quite easily and I'm happy to do so. Intellisense, however, most certainly won't come because it's too much work :)
Excellent!
Oh, and while you're at it, some more ideas: :D
  • In the tabbed view of indluded files, images, plugins, etc. could you add "Includes" for @INCLUDE ? Doubleclicking would open the included script file (analogue to "Files").
  • And now that the preprocessor @INCLUDE has been processed anyway, maybe you could make F2 to look for functions in the includes files, too? And maybe even list them in the list of functions?
  • And one last tiny thing: could you add a splitter between the list of functions and the attributes part? With the "Display" tab it would be nice to see all the attributes at once without having to scroll through them.
Sorry for all these requests, I'm impossible... :roll: (but a huge fan)

Cheers,
Michael
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airsoftsoftwair
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Re: Feature requests

Post by airsoftsoftwair »

mrupp wrote: Mon Feb 08, 2021 1:04 pm Sorry for all these requests, I'm impossible... :roll: (but a huge fan)
No worries :)
Flinx
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Re: Feature requests

Post by Flinx »

Because you are talking about the IDE: I would like to have two small things changed:
If you select text with the mouse to the end of the line, this also affects the line break. Other editors don't do that.
If the compiler finds an error and jumps to the relevant line in the editor, you then go to another position with the scroll bar and click in the window (for example because of a forgotten EndIf), the position of the scroll bar changes.

Ralf
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airsoftsoftwair
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Re: Feature requests

Post by airsoftsoftwair »

Flinx wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:58 pm If you select text with the mouse to the end of the line, this also affects the line break. Other editors don't do that.
I'm afraid that's not easily changeable. This seems to be the way Windows' RichEdit control behaves and I don't see any way to change that behaviour.
Flinx wrote: Mon Feb 15, 2021 1:58 pm If the compiler finds an error and jumps to the relevant line in the editor, you then go to another position with the scroll bar and click in the window (for example because of a forgotten EndIf), the position of the scroll bar changes.
Right, that's clearly a bug, will be fixed.

I've also implemented those of mrupp's ideas that could easily be added:

Code: Select all

- New [IDE]: Added a splitter control between the function list and the preprocessor scanner so that you
  can conveniently customize the dimensions of both controls
- New [IDE]: The IDE also scans for all includes now and adds them to a listview in the dock window on the
  right
- New [IDE]: Added commenting/uncommenting facilities; if there is no selection or if the selection is on
  a single line, the whole line is disabled using a semicolon comment; if multiple lines are selected, the
  text is commented using /* ... */ 
- New [IDE]: If text is marked when opening the find dialog, it will be used as the dialog's default find
  text now 
- New [IDE]: Pressing Ctrl+H now opens "Replace" as it is common on Windows 
- New [IDE]: Ctrl+TAB now allows you to cycle through all open tabs
All the other ones are too much work. But maybe in the future...
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mrupp
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Re: Feature requests

Post by mrupp »

This is great news, thank you very much, Andreas.
All the other ones are too much work. But maybe in the future...
I totally understand and I'm happy you implemented all the other ideas.

Any chance we could get a pre-release of the improved IDE? :P
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Re: Feature requests

Post by airsoftsoftwair »

mrupp wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 10:28 pm Any chance we could get a pre-release of the improved IDE? :P
Maybe, but I'll first have to do some polishing :)

The scrollbar bug reported by Flinx has been fixed now too:

Code: Select all

- Fix [IDE]: When a line was highlighted because it caused an error and the user moved the scrollbar to a
  new position and tried to change the cursor position, the scrollbar jumped back to the line containing
  the error
Flinx
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Re: Feature requests

Post by Flinx »

Thank you for listening to us, Andreas!
I hope my next wish is not also a feature of RichEdit: "Replace all" should really replace everything and not just the matches from the current cursor position to the end.
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Re: Feature requests

Post by airsoftsoftwair »

Flinx wrote: Wed Mar 10, 2021 10:42 am Thank you for listening to us, Andreas!
I hope my next wish is not also a feature of RichEdit: "Replace all" should really replace everything and not just the matches from the current cursor position to the end.
Oops, that's a bug of course. Fixed now.

Code: Select all

- Fix [IDE]: "Replace all" didn't replace all occurrences but just the ones down from the current cursor position
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