ZeroBrane Studio Lua IDE v0.50 is out

[Zarty55]

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@Zarty55, do you mean this list: http://studio.zerobrane.com/doc-editor- ... tcuts.html? There is also the list of menu shortcuts you can change.

Exactly this! Thanks! There's actually a lot of stuff I didn't know it had

[drakmaniso]

ZBS is compiled with its own libpng (1.6) and its own zlib, so it's interesting that the error is about bad parameter to zlib. Do you know what versions of libpng and zlib GNOME 3 is shipped with?

On Arch Linux (64bit) I have these versions installed:
libpng 1.6.10
zlib 1.2.8

There is at least one other WxWidgets application on my system, and it works with the default theme (it uses wxgtk 3.0.0).

You mean to select "foob" automatically when you click Enter even though "foobar" is currently selected in auto-complete? I think it's problematic, because it makes it difficult to separate Enter to confirm your choice from Enter to ignore the choice and enter Enter. I can always move the selection that matches the current word to the first position, but this only partially solves the issue. I can also add something like Shift-Enter or Ctrl-Enter to ignore the opened auto-complete and behave like Enter, but not sure if people are going to use it. I'm open to suggestions .

Here's what Sublime Text seems to do:

1. Sort the entries by most recently used.
1. If the user type something that complely correspond to an entry, move this entry at the top.

The combination of both works really well.

This doesn't solve the "Enter" problem, but maybe there's no complete solution. I'll probably move autocomplete validation to the Tab key for my personal use (if I can do that in a plugin), but I don't think that would work for everyone.

This will remove the caption from the Output/Local console window.

The problem is that the window can't be easily undocked now, but I can add "View Caption" menu that will allow you to toggle captions on/off.

I think a better option would be to add an entry to the contextual menu of the notebook, and it should directly dock/undock the pane.

I've been considering changing it, but couldn't find a good way to provide a choice of projects. I can probably do the following: Remove the caption and move the project dropdown to its own tab. The project tree becomes a notebook with Files / Projects / Symbols tabs, similar to editor tabs and Output/Console tabs. This will keep things more consistent. This will also allow to provide some additional information on the Project tab if needed. Symbols is reserved for project wide symbol navigation...

Actually, my whole point is trying to reduce visual clutter, so adding tabs to the side panel is *really* not something I'd like! I don't think that symbol navigation works when put in a side panel, because it then compete with file selection (so you're constantly switching tabs), and is often a total mess to navigate, with lot of ordering issues. The current menu dropdown is better for that, and it could be added as a popup for a specific keyboard shortcut. Again, Sublime Text does this kind of things really well, and its reputation come in good part from its "Goto anything" popup menu.

In terms of the selected item, it still has its use as you can do delete/rename operations from the keyboard on an item that is not necessarily opened in the editor. You can also rename folders, which can't be opened in the editor at all.

IMHO, File management is done in the file browser, it doesn't have any place in an editor. In fact, it's often a source of problems (for example, ZBS don't seem to use the trash on delete!).

For some of the aspects I recognize their deficiencies, but can't find a good alternative. Some of the things you see in other editors may not be directly applicable simply because they make things confusing (or not obvious) to new users. Maybe I should have "expert mode" (rather than "minimalist mode") to hide all those elements that users are already familiar with.

I think that's a common misconception, that adding a lot of buttons/UI elements will help new users find functionality. I'm pretty sure it's the other way around. There is a reason why editors like Sublime Text (or Brackets) are so successful: the experience is streamlined, and functionality is exposed only when needed, as opposed to all at once.

However, a lot of experienced programmers are used to a specific interface, and don't want to change something that works for them. I understand that ZBS is probably more targeted at this userbase. Compromise *never* works in UI design, so if you're reluctant to get rid of some of the "clutter" I spoke of, you probably shouldn't try to go in that direction at all.

I'll try to craft a "Clean UI" plugin for my personal use, if I can make sense of how WxWidgets works.

Thanks for taking the time to consider my suggestions.

[SiENcE]

> Tested and confirmed that i need to disable my firewall (Comodo Firewall, Windows 7). So I suggest a hint somewhere.

Do you mean that the debugging works without filewall changes, but live coding doesn't? Does it simply not connect?

Yes, it simply does not connect. But there no hint. It is executed but changing values does have no effect.

> Take this as an example: https://github.com/kennethdamica/Monocle
> [string "(function()local lights = requ..."]:1: attempt to call global 'require' (a nil value)

I'll need to check that. I took a quick look, but main.lua in the project starts with "lights = require('monocle')" and in your example, it starts with "local lights...". Have you made any changes to the project code?

Indeed I modified the code, but the effect is the same.

Here is the log of Monocle unmodified.

Code: Select all

Scratchpad error on line 1:
[string "(function()lights = require('m..."]:1: attempt to call global 'require' (a nil value)

This would only be executed when you use live coding and would have no impact on any "normal" execution. (not tested, but you get the idea.)

Thx!

[paulclinger]

> IMHO, File management is done in the file browser, it doesn't have any place in an editor. In fact, it's often a source of problems (for example, ZBS don't seem to use the trash on delete!).

Much to my own surprise it was one of the frequently requested features.

I'll try to craft a "Clean UI" plugin for my personal use, if I can make sense of how WxWidgets works.

Something like this?

There is a bunch of changes planned, but the idea is that you will be able to get something like that if you want and the default settings will be close(-er) to the screenshots. Obviously the colors can be changed...

[paulclinger]

Here is the log of Monocle unmodified.

Code: Select all

Scratchpad error on line 1:
[string "(function()lights = require('m..."]:1: attempt to call global 'require' (a nil value)

Hm, I can't run it at all. I get "monocle.lua:277: attempt to call field 'triangle' (a nil value)". I'm running 0.9.0. Should I try with a different version?

[Reef]

Something like this: http://imgur.com/OQPBYBa,s0jbe3B?

There is a bunch of changes planned, but the idea is that you will be able to get something like that if you want and the default settings will be close(-er) to the screenshots. Obviously the colors can be changed...

That looks great! I love Zerobrane and appreciate the extensive features and how extremely well it integrates with LOVE. I think it's the easiest way to get started since it has autocompletion and API reference right in the IDE. However, lately I have found myself using Sublime Text when I don't want any clutter. I'd love to be able to strip down the ZBS interface to resemble something like that.

[drakmaniso]

Yes, that screenshot looks closer to what I like, too (within the limits of what WxWidgets can achieve, I suppose).

I was able to achieve something close to this by messing around with a plugin, though there's much I haven't figured out yet (e.g. how to use single-click to switch between files in the side panel).

[paulclinger]

Something like this: http://imgur.com/OQPBYBa,s0jbe3B? There is a bunch of changes planned, but the idea is that you will be able to get something like that if you want and the default settings will be close(-er) to the screenshots. Obviously the colors can be changed...

I'd love to be able to strip down the ZBS interface to resemble something like that.

Yes, when all this is done, you definitely will be able to get something like this.

[paulclinger]

I was able to achieve something close to this by messing around with a plugin, though there's much I haven't figured out yet (e.g. how to use single-click to switch between files in the side panel).

You probably have to handle wxEVT_LEFT_DOWN event and do something similar to what's in wxEVT_COMMAND_TREE_ITEM_ACTIVATED event in src/editor/filetree.lua.

I can probably do better though. I can make the one click to open the file if it's on the indentation, the icon or on the right side of the file name. This way you can get one click (with a large coverage area) and still select/rename it if you want. I just tested and it works quite well. I plan on pushing this change out shortly.

[paulclinger]

@drakmaniso, pushed one-click changes. Give them a try.