Mail Archives: djgpp/1999/04/29/10:27:39
> I was forced to use VB5 at work. I don't like BASIC, but the
interface is
>very nice. It uses a similar interface to VC++6. If you type the name of
a class
>object and a '.' (as well as "->" in C++) and it lists all of the public
members
>of the class. Also, if you type the name of a function it doesn't
actually type
>out the prototype, but prints the syntax just below the cursor in a small
"Tool
>tip" style window.
You know, when the are compiler errors, and you press enter over an error
message in MessageWindow... then the cursor goes to the line the error
refered to. The line it highlighted and... the error message is displayed
in the bottom line of the editor window! (That's where I wanted to get to)
Since RHIDE doesn't have "ToolTips", we could use that line to display the
prototype.
>It also offers word-completion with Ctrl+Space (like the
>macros in rhide/setedit) where if I typed "po" it would show a small drop
down
>list with
>popen
>pow
>pow10
>pow2
>in it (these were the libc entries starting with "po"). You could then
select one
>and press enter, and it would finish the function name, then show the
syntax. It
>may be silly to use this for 3-5 character function names, but it would be
very
>nice for weird classes with long member names. But it would have to
actually scan
>the code for prototype definitions (so it could get the local
functions/classes).
I don't think scaning the code is a good idea. It is too complex, and
probably too slow. (Have you ever used VC++'s WizardBar?) The only example
of fast code scanning I've ever seen is RHIDE's "Goto to Function". I don't
know how SET implemented that, but the result is just perfect. The docs
mention some "heuristic"... VC++ probably uses some brute force algorithm,
I guess; that's why it is too slow.
My idea was RHIDE to keep a list of header files in which to search for the
matching prototypes. For instance, my list would have all the libc headers
(or I could merge them in one file) and allegro.h. Then if you wanted your
own functions to "join the game", you could add your headers to the list.
It's just like running grep on the list of header files.
>I thought it would be such a valuable addition that I was planning on
attempting
>to impliment it and submit it for SetEdit/Rhide, but I realized it was a
large
>task and required lots of knowledge of compiler design which I don't have.
It
>would need to do all of the proprocessing which could be passed on to "gcc
-E",
I don't see what does it have to do with preprocessing. You're just
inserting text into your code. The next time you compile, the compiler
deals with it.
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