ZeroBrane Studio Lua IDE v1.40 is out; updated LÖVE API for 0.10.1

[Fuzzlix]

I do plan several improvements to the config management, but I dislike configuration GUI panels and the improvements planned are focused on providing more rapid feedback on those changes that can be shown quickly (like font/color/size changes), on eliminating the need to restart in most cases, and on searching for the appropriate configuration setting (similar to how fuzzy search works for files and symbols).

Meanwhile i can live with the situation. Finally i got all things set up and running - and most important: I found a way to backup my user.ini
But i remember all the time i need to invest to set up color cheme, code folding, fonts, and so on. As i sayed, i can live with the situation but i can understand others giving up at some point. May be, a user.ini-tweaker would be a nice addon giving some comfort.
(just my 2 cents)

[paulclinger]

Meanwhile i can live with the situation. Finally i got all things set up and running - and most important: I found a way to backup my user.ini

I find ability to track changes, back up, and share the config files to be one of the main benefits comparing to the gui preferences screens; I know these are not mutually exclusive, but usually the application provides one or the other, but not both.

> But i remember all the time i need to invest to set up color cheme, code folding, fonts, and so on. As i sayed, i can live with the situation but i can understand others giving up at some point. May be, a user.ini-tweaker would be a nice addon giving some comfort.
(just my 2 cents)

My initial assumption was that these changes would rarely need to be done, plus editing the file provides more flexibility (and takes less time to implement comparing to the update-preferences-from-gui-screen option).

I'm curious, what was the biggest hurdle? I can think of several:

1. Difficult to find what settings to change to affect something.
2. Difficult to find what values to set it to.
3. Difficult to see what the effect may be as updated require restart.
4. Need to restart the IDE for the changes to take effect.

To address the first two, I have a complete documentation on the website (general preferences and editor preferences), but envision a fuzzy search for settings (which will probably take names and comments into account for finding better matches). I also plan to show the list of preset values to select from when available.

To address the last two, I plan to apply the changes without restart when possible (for example for editor changes) and have a very fast restart process for those cases that do require restart (like menu and language changes).

[Fuzzlix]

At first i have to say, you did a really great job with zbs. All i am saying is no complain in any case.

I'm curious, what was the biggest hurdle? I can think of several:
1. Difficult to find what settings to change to affect something.
2. Difficult to find what values to set it to.

I remember i asked more than one time in the zbs mailing list about some settings and you pointed me to the right zbs-wiki-page. I got the feeling i am too stupid to read the documentation correctly. Its all well documented but sometimes in the past i cant find it. Meanwhile i know a little bit how your wiki is structured and i find what i am looking for.

not important for me:

3. Difficult to see what the effect may be as updated require restart.
4. Need to restart the IDE for the changes to take effect.

May be, after a fresh install and doing a 1st time user.ini edit, zbs may fill the user.ini with templates for the most important settings as comments. (your user-sample.lua is a good starting point) For instance one line for each style but only one for "tomorrow". This way a new user gets a quick overview about possible styles without searching and reading documentations. And it would be easier and quicker to experiment with setting by commenting out example lines. Restarting zbs manually is quick and no issue (for me).
May be this is the most simple way to add some comfort for zbs newbies. I will write a template skeleton and send it to you as a pm, if you are interested.

[paulclinger]

> I will write a template skeleton and send it to you as a pm, if you are interested.

@Fuzzlix, yes, I'd be interested to see what you can come up with, although I do have my reservations about this approach as the file gets stale after an upgrade. There was even a ticket to suggest that the documentation pages should use -- as the separator to make it easier to copy all the settings.

[paulclinger]

For those using the IDE from its github repository, I've updated the LÖVE API for 0.10.2 earlier this month.