Author Topic: Feedback on Code::Blocks  (Read 20283 times)

Gena01

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Feedback on Code::Blocks
« on: July 23, 2006, 03:11:54 am »
Hi. it's been a while since I looked at Code::Blocks. I am currently using MingwStudio  and thought I'd try to do the same stuff with Code::Blocks. 

I installed July 21,2006 nightly build.

Here are some things I noticed:
1. When Code::Blocks starts up with blank workspace "Project" menu has all the items enabled, but none of them do anything?. (MingwStudio actually has Create and Open items under Project menu)
2. Left Clicking or Right Clicking on the "Workspace" icon does not produce any popup menus or shortcuts.
3. You can save a workspace (which I would guess could contain multiple projects), but there's no recent workspaces menu item. And doing File->Open you get a filter for All Files (*.*)
4. If I have a file open for editing inside Code::Blocks and then I go and update that same file from outside of Code::Blocks, then Code::Blocks doesn't prompt me to reload the file. So if I continue to edit and save my file again it will override whatever changes were made outside of the IDE to the same file(s).
5. I setup win32.hlp as my help file inside Code::Blocks.  One nice feature that MingwStudio has is that I can be editing source code. And if i have mu cursor under SendMessage and if I press F1 then it opens up help on the topic of SendMessage. This way I can easily lookup any word within the help file by using F1.
6. If I hide the "build log" window and I do compile/build then it doesn't show it again unless I press F2. Is it possible to add an option to automatically show the "Build Log" when I am compiling something?
7.  If I have some warnings in my code and I press Ctrl+F9 then I can see my warnings in the "Build Messages". However if I press F9 the warnings are removed and not shown at all. (and my exe file is executed)
8. I am using GNU CC compiler. And some compiler options are missing from the lists (these are the ones MingwStudio also has) :
  - Enable Standard compiler warnings (-W) option is actually "Extra Warnings (-W)" in MingwStudio
  - Warnings, as errors (-Werror) would be nice to see on that list too..
9. It would be nice to see a version control plugin integrated into Code::Blocks. Having SVN directly in the IDE would be awesome.
10. Would be nice to have a "Release Unicode" and "Debug Unicode" targets available when creating new GUI or DLL projects for windows, but I can clone and setup those things myself for my projects.
11. Would be nice to have an import option for MingwStudio projects for people who are using that IDE.

These are just some of the things that I noticed. I think Code::Blocks is a great IDE that's growing and has a lot of potential. 

Gena01

Offline kidmosey

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #1 on: July 23, 2006, 04:58:35 am »
1. When Code::Blocks starts up with blank workspace "Project" menu has all the items enabled, but none of them do anything?. (MingwStudio actually has Create and Open items under Project menu)

At least it doesn't crash, eh? ;)

2. Left Clicking or Right Clicking on the "Workspace" icon does not produce any popup menus or shortcuts.

What should it bring up?  I think it lacks a context menu to avoid redundancy.  116 different ways to add a project to a workspace is only going to be more confusing, not more convenient.

3. You can save a workspace (which I would guess could contain multiple projects), but there's no recent workspaces menu item. And doing File->Open you get a filter for All Files (*.*)

Recent workspaces are saved under "Recent Projects". I don't know why.

4. If I have a file open for editing inside Code::Blocks and then I go and update that same file from outside of Code::Blocks, then Code::Blocks doesn't prompt me to reload the file. So if I continue to edit and save my file again it will override whatever changes were made outside of the IDE to the same file(s).

Settings->Environment->General Settings: "Check for externally modified files" (it works for me)

5. I setup win32.hlp as my help file inside Code::Blocks.  One nice feature that MingwStudio has is that I can be editing source code. And if i have mu cursor under SendMessage and if I press F1 then it opens up help on the topic of SendMessage. This way I can easily lookup any word within the help file by using F1.

That would be convenient, but for now the help plugin has a context menu.  Right click the word, then go to "Locate In" and select the help file to search.

6. If I hide the "build log" window and I do compile/build then it doesn't show it again unless I press F2. Is it possible to add an option to automatically show the "Build Log" when I am compiling something?

Settings->Environment->View: "Auto-hide message pane"  All relevant options should be here.

7.  If I have some warnings in my code and I press Ctrl+F9 then I can see my warnings in the "Build Messages". However if I press F9 the warnings are removed and not shown at all. (and my exe file is executed)

F9 is build and run.  Build and Run are two different steps; so, since the messages are cleared for each step, you only get to see the results of the Run step.  By what you wrote, you may have already realized this.  I am not aware of a way to keep the messages from being cleared or to save them.  I just build the project instead of Build & Run; then after I check the messages, I will (Build &)Run.

8. I am using GNU CC compiler. And some compiler options are missing from the lists (these are the ones MingwStudio also has) :
  - Enable Standard compiler warnings (-W) option is actually "Extra Warnings (-W)" in MingwStudio
  - Warnings, as errors (-Werror) would be nice to see on that list too..

You can still add -Werror under the "Other Options" tab, but I agree it would be more convenient to have it as a compiler option in the warnings checklist.

9. It would be nice to see a version control plugin integrated into Code::Blocks. Having SVN directly in the IDE would be awesome.

I thought they were working on that.  It was causing a horrible crash on RC2, though (it says on the download page).

10. Would be nice to have a "Release Unicode" and "Debug Unicode" targets available when creating new GUI or DLL projects for windows, but I can clone and setup those things myself for my projects.

Should only be a matter of learning wizard scripting (don't expect me to recommend wizards EVER again ;)).  This seems like something that could benefit all C::B users, though.

11. Would be nice to have an import option for MingwStudio projects for people who are using that IDE.

Don't know how familiar anyone here is with MingwStudio (I've never heard of it).


Well, I hope I was at least *some* help here.  I'm still relatively new to C::B. :D
« Last Edit: July 23, 2006, 05:00:54 am by kidmosey »
3 years until google knows more than god.

takeshimiya

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #2 on: July 23, 2006, 02:34:45 pm »
2. Left Clicking or Right Clicking on the "Workspace" icon does not produce any popup menus or shortcuts.

What should it bring up?  I think it lacks a context menu to avoid redundancy.  116 different ways to add a project to a workspace is only going to be more confusing, not more convenient.
I don't think it lacks a context menu to avoid redundancy. It lacks because it has not been done yet.
And every IDE I know from the context menu let's you do:
* New Project
* Add Existing Project
* New Workspace
* Save Workspace
* Some other things

So it will be more confusing not having them. This is common behaviour.

5. I setup win32.hlp as my help file inside Code::Blocks.  One nice feature that MingwStudio has is that I can be editing source code. And if i have mu cursor under SendMessage and if I press F1 then it opens up help on the topic of SendMessage. This way I can easily lookup any word within the help file by using F1.

That would be convenient, but for now the help plugin has a context menu.  Right click the word, then go to "Locate In" and select the help file to search.
You can do exactly the same with the Help Plugin:
Go to Settings->Environment->Help files and choose "This is the default help file (shortcut: F1)". :)

Gena01

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #3 on: July 23, 2006, 02:42:03 pm »
5. I setup win32.hlp as my help file inside Code::Blocks.  One nice feature that MingwStudio has is that I can be editing source code. And if i have mu cursor under SendMessage and if I press F1 then it opens up help on the topic of SendMessage. This way I can easily lookup any word within the help file by using F1.

That would be convenient, but for now the help plugin has a context menu.  Right click the word, then go to "Locate In" and select the help file to search.
You can do exactly the same with the Help Plugin:
Go to Settings->Environment->Help files and choose "This is the default help file (shortcut: F1)". :)


But I did set it up as my default help file. It doesn't do lookups like "Lookup In" does..

Gena01

Offline Ceniza

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #4 on: July 23, 2006, 06:43:59 pm »
Right, it does NOT do keyword lookup when pressing F1.

It's the second time I see someone expecting that behavior... I should add it :)

takeshimiya

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #5 on: July 23, 2006, 11:53:40 pm »
Right, it does NOT do keyword lookup when pressing F1.

It's the second time I see someone expecting that behavior... I should add it :)

Hmm, bad memory from another program. :P
Yes, it's the expected behaviour after all. :)

Offline kidmosey

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #6 on: July 24, 2006, 03:53:03 am »
It's the second time I see someone expecting that behavior... I should add it :)

How about this?  Needs to check if a keyword exists, I think, but I don't know how to do that.
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Offline Ceniza

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #7 on: July 24, 2006, 04:53:35 am »
Thanks for the patch kidmosey but my solution to get that behavior was just to remove code and share the event IDs and Bind to one function only :)

I just hope people don't start asking for removal of that now :D

BTW, I've noticed a weird behavior in that plugin but I've been unable to find the right way to reproduce it, but it happens sometimes: playing with the configuration dialog, adding, moving up and down the F1 association changes to another file. Has anyone else noticed it?

Offline kidmosey

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #8 on: July 24, 2006, 07:31:53 am »
BTW, I've noticed a weird behavior in that plugin but I've been unable to find the right way to reproduce it, but it happens sometimes: playing with the configuration dialog, adding, moving up and down the F1 association changes to another file. Has anyone else noticed it?

Add a new entry with an empty location.
Set it as default.
Click OK.
Return to the config menu and the entry is missing.  Any entry you add will now become the default entry.  This has all sorts of nice effects whenever you move the entry up/down in the list before clicking OK. 

Guessing this has something to do with the save method saving all entries, or the load method not loading empty entries.
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Offline Ceniza

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #9 on: July 24, 2006, 07:41:06 am »
kidmosey: that one looks nice enough... but the thing is: I'ven't set any other entry to be the default one and it changes. I wonder if it has anything to do with empty locations too...

Offline kidmosey

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #10 on: July 24, 2006, 09:35:43 am »
Ceniza, it could.  If you create an empty location and move it in front of your default, when you reopen (or maybe if you just save) the configuration, it will set the next entry after your default as the new default (I think).

I haven't been able to find another way to do it, yet.

EDIT:
This seems to fix it, at any rate.
Code
help_common.cpp: line 53
+    else if (m_DefaultHelpIndex >= count)
+        m_DefaultHelpIndex--;
« Last Edit: July 24, 2006, 09:49:59 am by kidmosey »
3 years until google knows more than god.

Gena01

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #11 on: July 24, 2006, 06:18:10 pm »
Thank you for fixing the help plugin to do word lookups. (haven't downloaded todays build yet, but I saw it in the changelog). Should I open Feature Requests regarding the right click menus and "Project" menu not working when there's only a blank workspace?

P.S. Is there a help file for Code::Blocks? Is one being worked on?

Gena01

Gena01

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #12 on: July 24, 2006, 06:19:56 pm »
7.  If I have some warnings in my code and I press Ctrl+F9 then I can see my warnings in the "Build Messages". However if I press F9 the warnings are removed and not shown at all. (and my exe file is executed)
8. I am using GNU CC compiler. And some compiler options are missing from the lists (these are the ones MingwStudio also has) :
  - Enable Standard compiler warnings (-W) option is actually "Extra Warnings (-W)" in MingwStudio
  - Warnings, as errors (-Werror) would be nice to see on that list too..
9. It would be nice to see a version control plugin integrated into Code::Blocks. Having SVN directly in the IDE would be awesome.
10. Would be nice to have a "Release Unicode" and "Debug Unicode" targets available when creating new GUI or DLL projects for windows, but I can clone and setup those things myself for my projects.
11. Would be nice to have an import option for MingwStudio projects for people who are using that IDE.

Also what about these items?

Thank you

Gena01

Offline kidmosey

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #13 on: July 24, 2006, 06:48:42 pm »
7.  If I have some warnings in my code and I press Ctrl+F9 then I can see my warnings in the "Build Messages". However if I press F9 the warnings are removed and not shown at all. (and my exe file is executed)

What functionality do you want here?  Do you want an option to save your message buffer between builds or do you want it to not reset between build and run?

10. Would be nice to have a "Release Unicode" and "Debug Unicode" targets available when creating new GUI or DLL projects for windows, but I can clone and setup those things myself for my projects.

I was thinking about this one... You think instead of two new wizards it could be possible to just include a "Unicode" checkbox in nearly every wizard?  It seems that would make for less clutter/wizards.
« Last Edit: July 24, 2006, 06:52:21 pm by kidmosey »
3 years until google knows more than god.

Gena01

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Re: Feedback on Code::Blocks
« Reply #14 on: July 24, 2006, 08:14:57 pm »
7.  If I have some warnings in my code and I press Ctrl+F9 then I can see my warnings in the "Build Messages". However if I press F9 the warnings are removed and not shown at all. (and my exe file is executed)

What functionality do you want here?  Do you want an option to save your message buffer between builds or do you want it to not reset between build and run?

Well I would suggest to make things consistent. And for me that would be the same behavior when I press F9 or Ctrl+F9 in terms of warnings and messages.

Gena01