Layer Editor - anyone use autocomplete?

[momijizukamori]

Anyone who has actually used the layer editor has probably discovered that it is kind of clunky and frustrating and is missing such basic things as line numbers (which is fantastic when the compiler gives you line numbers for errors, right?). There has been some talk of replacing it with something a little less frustrating, but the current editor has a few things that would be difficult to impossible to re-implement, which is most of the left-hand sidebar stuff and autocomplete (don't ask me how we have autocomplete, but Fu says we do and I trust Fu).

So, basically - does anyone use these features in the layer editor?

Comments

[branchandroot]

I didn't even know we /had/ autocomplete. The left-hand pane that lists what functions you have can be handy sometimes, but I'd give it up in return for line numbers. Or maybe even syntax coloring! *dreams big*

[momijizukamori]

If we update it I am totally writing syntax coloring.

And yeah, Fu was like 'does anyone actually use autocomplete?' and I think my actual response was '....we have autocomplete?'

[carene_waterman]

The left-hand pane is mildly useful.

Line numbers are essential in my opinion, as is syntax highlighting.

I've never used the autocomplete.

An export as a text file feature to avoid having to copy and paste to save backups would be awesome.

[momijizukamori]

/makes a note of that last item!

[syntheid]

How... do you even use the autocomplete?

I have only once or twice remembered that left-hand pane existed and used it for anything. I'm also in the camp of I'd give it up for line numbers and syntax highlighting.

Not losing your place in editing when saving would be nice, too, though maybe that's a little much to ask for.

[momijizukamori]

Fu explained it to me but I stuffed myself with tex-mex and a margarita not long after so uh, I don't actually remember.

And we can dream! (I kind of hate that too, although not as much as I hate how hitting tab fucks everything up)

[syntheid]

Ooh yes, being able to use tab would be brilliant. (Or just having auto-indent... that would work too.)

[momijizukamori]

I lean towards 'functional tab' just because that is the thing that makes me want to murder the layout editor the most, and our indentation structure isn't consistent across styles we already have.

[exor674]

I'm pretty sure I'd use the autocomplete.... if it actually working well had a better chance as me rolling an 8 on a d6.

[momijizukamori]

If you know how to use it at all that puts you ahead of the rest of us *g*

[ninetydegrees]

I hate autocomplete because it sucks; if it was working well I might use it but it's not an indispensable feature to me. OTOH, I find the left-hand pane pretty useful when it works but that's also related to the fact that the editor is slow to reload the code when you compile it. If that got better I wouldn't rely on it so much.

Edit: also more room to display long lines and error messages would be a thousand times better than a non-collapsible navigation pane.

The only two things I really care about are line numbers and syntax highlighting. And possibly advanced search/replace. I'd rather have these than keep the current features.

[momijizukamori]

The replacement foxfirefey suggested as looking like the best alternative has a find/replace that can take regex! And yeah, while I'm going to have to write a custom syntax file, line numbers and syntax highlighting are a definite go no matter what.

(The one we're looking at is CodeMirror which has all sorts of crazy-cool features, though I can tell already I will need more JS skills to implement it)

[turlough]

I'm echoing everyone else, we have autocomplete? Also, I would much rather have line numbers and syntax highlight than both autocomplete and the sidebar. (I only use the editor for compiling, all other layer work I do in TextEditor.)

[momijizukamori]

I've started to do more and more stuff in gedit and then just use it for compiling, because gedit doesn't do horrible things to tab and I wrote syntax highlighting for it, heh.

[liv]

I didn't even know we had autocomplete, but I do like the left pane for navigation when I'm doing big styles bugs. I would rather have line numbers than the left pane, though!

[baggyeyes]

Will the new editor work without Javascript? The current editor will work without Javascript, although the sidebar will not.

I disable Java and Javascript (along with images) to speed up the browser on dial up.

[momijizukamori]

Unfortunately basically anything that provides syntax highlighting and line numbers needs JS to go :(