Hi, I've got some wishes for the editor and navigating in code. When a .scad file contains several modules I find the navigation to be less than ideal. I wish there was a way to jump to the definition of a module (F12 in Visual Studio, F2 in QT creator). In both Visual Studio and QT creator there is also a dropdown at the top of the editor that lists all the methods. Perhaps OpenSCAD could have the same type of dropdown for navigating to modules? I also wish the module definition navigation understood that some modules are defined in external .scad files, and that they were opened up when navigated to. This also leads me to another wish - that instead of opening several instances of OpenSCAD, each file should live inside its own tab in the same instance. What do you think? -- View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865.html Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

Well everything is possible, but it costs, in development effort, code bloat, learning curve etc. For me, I'd like dev resources to focus on 1. bug fixes, 2. performance, 3. modelling (for want of a better word) features/convenience (ie enhance the language), the concept of an IDE is down the list for me, granted the Scintilla change is very nice, but for anything big, I'll be using Notepad++ with OpenSCAD Auto-completion (so I just have to type 't' to get 'translate(['). Maybe the best you could do would be to find an open source IDE 'library' that could be more easily incorporated and which is compatible with Scintilla. Don't mean to be overly critical... ----- Unless specifically shown otherwise above, my contribution is in the Public Domain; To the extent possible under law, I have waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is published globally via the internet. :) Inclusion of works of previous authors is not included in the above. The TPP is no simple “trade agreement.” Fight it! http://www.ourfairdeal.org/ -- View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10868.html Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

p.s. Have you seen using external editors <https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/Using_an_external_Editor_with_OpenSCAD> , it works quite well. ----- Unless specifically shown otherwise above, my contribution is in the Public Domain; To the extent possible under law, I have waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is published globally via the internet. :) Inclusion of works of previous authors is not included in the above. The TPP is no simple “trade agreement.” Fight it! http://www.ourfairdeal.org/ -- View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10869.html Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

Seconded Michael. I love OpenSCAD and use it as my primary modelling software, but I've never typed a line of code into it. I use notepad++ with the syntax highlighting plugin. There are function list plugins for notepad++ too. They might fulfill some of your requirements. On 2 January 2015 at 08:44, MichaelAtOz <oz.at.michael@gmail.com> wrote: > p.s. Have you seen using external editors > <https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/Using_an_external_Editor_with_OpenSCAD> > , it works quite well. > > > > ----- > Unless specifically shown otherwise above, my contribution is in the Public Domain; To the extent possible under law, I have waived all copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is published globally via the internet. :) Inclusion of works of previous authors is not included in the above. > > The TPP is no simple “trade agreement.” Fight it! http://www.ourfairdeal.org/ > -- > View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10869.html > Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > Discuss@lists.openscad.org > http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org

I LOVE working with .scad in Notepad++. It's a pleasure and tremendously more powerful than using the built-in editor. The only thing about Notepad++ that's missing for me is a concept of 'project', but that's massively outweighed by something as simple as column select (a feature I can't live without.) Maybe it's just because my .scad dev efforts are too small to require a full IDE yet so Notepad++ meets my needs. Bigger efforts will eventually benefit from an IDE for .scad work. But is OpenSCAD (as an app) trying (currently) to be an engine or an IDE? It helps to have a focus. The feature list for a good IDE is painfully long (and causes religious wars between developers.) Kinda sorta aiming at becoming both concurrently is a tough way to make meaningful progress. My vote is for a more powerful engine first. It does make me wonder about trying to write a NetBeans plugin for OpenSCAD (I'd rather shoot myself than use Eclipse.) I have no idea what's involved, but I'll start reading. It would be overkill for all but the biggest efforts, but efforts appear to be getting bigger so who knows! On Thu Jan 01 2015 at 4:54:37 PM tjhowse <tjhowse@gmail.com> wrote: > Seconded Michael. I love OpenSCAD and use it as my primary modelling > software, but I've never typed a line of code into it. I use notepad++ > with the syntax highlighting plugin. > > There are function list plugins for notepad++ too. They might fulfill > some of your requirements. > > On 2 January 2015 at 08:44, MichaelAtOz <oz.at.michael@gmail.com> wrote: > > p.s. Have you seen using external editors > > <https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/ > Using_an_external_Editor_with_OpenSCAD> > > , it works quite well. > > > > > > > > ----- > > Unless specifically shown otherwise above, my contribution is in the > Public Domain; To the extent possible under law, I have waived all > copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is > published globally via the internet. :) Inclusion of works of previous > authors is not included in the above. > > > > The TPP is no simple “trade agreement.” Fight it! > http://www.ourfairdeal.org/ > > -- > > View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/ > Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10869.html > > Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > > > > _______________________________________________ > > OpenSCAD mailing list > > Discuss@lists.openscad.org > > http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org > > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > Discuss@lists.openscad.org > http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org >

Well, if you had a program that was just an stl viewer, could script up vim to compile. On Jan 1, 2015 5:49 PM, "Tim Deagan" <tim@deagan.net> wrote: > I LOVE working with .scad in Notepad++. It's a pleasure and tremendously > more powerful than using the built-in editor. The only thing about > Notepad++ that's missing for me is a concept of 'project', but that's > massively outweighed by something as simple as column select (a feature I > can't live without.) Maybe it's just because my .scad dev efforts are too > small to require a full IDE yet so Notepad++ meets my needs. Bigger > efforts will eventually benefit from an IDE for .scad work. > > But is OpenSCAD (as an app) trying (currently) to be an engine or an IDE? > It helps to have a focus. The feature list for a good IDE is painfully > long (and causes religious wars between developers.) Kinda sorta aiming at > becoming both concurrently is a tough way to make meaningful progress. My > vote is for a more powerful engine first. > > It does make me wonder about trying to write a NetBeans plugin for > OpenSCAD (I'd rather shoot myself than use Eclipse.) I have no idea what's > involved, but I'll start reading. It would be overkill for all but the > biggest efforts, but efforts appear to be getting bigger so who knows! > > On Thu Jan 01 2015 at 4:54:37 PM tjhowse <tjhowse@gmail.com> wrote: > >> Seconded Michael. I love OpenSCAD and use it as my primary modelling >> software, but I've never typed a line of code into it. I use notepad++ >> with the syntax highlighting plugin. >> >> There are function list plugins for notepad++ too. They might fulfill >> some of your requirements. >> >> On 2 January 2015 at 08:44, MichaelAtOz <oz.at.michael@gmail.com> wrote: >> > p.s. Have you seen using external editors >> > <https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/ >> Using_an_external_Editor_with_OpenSCAD> >> > , it works quite well. >> > >> > >> > >> > ----- >> > Unless specifically shown otherwise above, my contribution is in the >> Public Domain; To the extent possible under law, I have waived all >> copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This work is >> published globally via the internet. :) Inclusion of works of previous >> authors is not included in the above. >> > >> > The TPP is no simple “trade agreement.” Fight it! >> http://www.ourfairdeal.org/ >> > -- >> > View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/ >> Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10869.html >> > Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com. >> > >> > _______________________________________________ >> > OpenSCAD mailing list >> > Discuss@lists.openscad.org >> > http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org >> >> _______________________________________________ >> OpenSCAD mailing list >> Discuss@lists.openscad.org >> http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org >> > > _______________________________________________ > OpenSCAD mailing list > Discuss@lists.openscad.org > http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org > >

Just as an FYI, NetBeans language support looks a bit tedious but basically straightforward. http://wiki.netbeans.org/How_to_create_support_for_a_new_language <http://wiki.netbeans.org/How_to_create_support_for_a_new_language> A lot of the lexer and parser stuff may be reusable(ish) from what's in the source . The syntax highlighting may be at least partially reusable form the Notepad++ implementation. -- View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10874.html Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

On Thu, 1 Jan 2015 17:59:07 -0600 Joseph Lenox <lenox.joseph@gmail.com> wrote: > Well, if you had a program that was just an stl viewer, could script > up vim to compile. I do all of my OpenSCAD development in vim with the OpenSCAD "Automatic Reload and Compile" option turned on. No need for any vim scripting. I would definitely prefer the OpenSCAD engine be improved more than updating IDE features. I see the OpenSCAD editing as a nice-to-have feature that I will mostly ignore. For bigger projects, I tend to use the OpenSCAD command line features and a Makefile to build stuff (all the way through slicing to gcode). So the OpenSCAD editing features are irrelevant to me. Just another opinion. > On Jan 1, 2015 5:49 PM, "Tim Deagan" <tim@deagan.net> wrote: > > > I LOVE working with .scad in Notepad++. It's a pleasure and > > tremendously more powerful than using the built-in editor. The > > only thing about Notepad++ that's missing for me is a concept of > > 'project', but that's massively outweighed by something as simple > > as column select (a feature I can't live without.) Maybe it's > > just because my .scad dev efforts are too small to require a full > > IDE yet so Notepad++ meets my needs. Bigger efforts will > > eventually benefit from an IDE for .scad work. > > > > But is OpenSCAD (as an app) trying (currently) to be an engine or > > an IDE? It helps to have a focus. The feature list for a good IDE > > is painfully long (and causes religious wars between developers.) > > Kinda sorta aiming at becoming both concurrently is a tough way to > > make meaningful progress. My vote is for a more powerful engine > > first. > > > > It does make me wonder about trying to write a NetBeans plugin for > > OpenSCAD (I'd rather shoot myself than use Eclipse.) I have no > > idea what's involved, but I'll start reading. It would be overkill > > for all but the biggest efforts, but efforts appear to be getting > > bigger so who knows! > > > > On Thu Jan 01 2015 at 4:54:37 PM tjhowse <tjhowse@gmail.com> wrote: > > > >> Seconded Michael. I love OpenSCAD and use it as my primary > >> modelling software, but I've never typed a line of code into it. I > >> use notepad++ with the syntax highlighting plugin. > >> > >> There are function list plugins for notepad++ too. They might > >> fulfill some of your requirements. > >> > >> On 2 January 2015 at 08:44, MichaelAtOz <oz.at.michael@gmail.com> > >> wrote: > >> > p.s. Have you seen using external editors > >> > <https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/OpenSCAD_User_Manual/ > >> Using_an_external_Editor_with_OpenSCAD> > >> > , it works quite well. > >> > > >> > > >> > > >> > ----- > >> > Unless specifically shown otherwise above, my contribution is in > >> > the > >> Public Domain; To the extent possible under law, I have waived all > >> copyright and related or neighbouring rights to this work. This > >> work is published globally via the internet. :) Inclusion of works > >> of previous authors is not included in the above. > >> > > >> > The TPP is no simple “trade agreement.” Fight it! > >> http://www.ourfairdeal.org/ > >> > -- > >> > View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/ > >> Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10869.html > >> > Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com. > >> > > >> > _______________________________________________ > >> > OpenSCAD mailing list > >> > Discuss@lists.openscad.org > >> > http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org > >> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> OpenSCAD mailing list > >> Discuss@lists.openscad.org > >> http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org > >> > > > > _______________________________________________ > > OpenSCAD mailing list > > Discuss@lists.openscad.org > > http://lists.openscad.org/mailman/listinfo/discuss_lists.openscad.org > > > > -- The competent programmer is fully aware of the limited size of his own skull. He therefore approaches his task with full humility, and avoids clever tricks like the plague. -- Edsger Dijkstra

wow! even easier: https://netbeans.org/community/magazine/html/03/schliemann/ Single file scripting language support approach. -- View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10879.html Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.

tdeagan wrote > But is OpenSCAD (as an app) trying (currently) to be an engine or an IDE? > It helps to have a focus. The feature list for a good IDE is painfully > long (and causes religious wars between developers.) Kinda sorta aiming > at > becoming both concurrently is a tough way to make meaningful progress. My > vote is for a more powerful engine first. Sure, I don't disagree that improving the engine is more important than the IDE, but some minor improvements might still be worth the effort. Tim asked if OpenSCAD is trying to be an IDE or an engine. I'd say it's an application with both a frontend and a backend. Both are important. Sure, having a perfect IDE isn't worth much if the engine sucks, so I'm inclined to agree that the backend/engine is the most important. But for attracting and keeping new users of OpenSCAD I'm also thinking that the workaround with using an external IDE (yes, I think that is a workaround, not a proper longterm solution) isn't good. The built-in IDE should be good enough so that an external editor isn't required. -- View this message in context: http://forum.openscad.org/Wishes-for-code-navigation-tp10865p10881.html Sent from the OpenSCAD mailing list archive at Nabble.com.