I’ve tried to make friends with the Xojo editor, and I keep giving it a go.
But I have worked out what it is that makes me return to the 2012 edition time after time to make changes.
Its the property inspector.
I have an integer property, I select it.
I’m presented with acres of empty screen space, but nowhere on the whole screen can I see or edit the value of the integer
Instead I have to open the inspector window.
It floats, and it goes away when Im not watching. If I leave it open, I have to keep moving it ‘out of the way’
And when I close it when Im done out of habit, I have to keep opening it again when I need to amend anything else.
If I could dock it inside the main window I’d be content.
Its a small thing, but it stops me short and irritates every single time , like finding a hair in your food.
I can’t see any reason why the value can’t be at the top of the massive empty pane of the editor window.
Is it only me that runs into this?
Is there a trick or setting that I’ve missed?
I too still develop with RB and compile with Xojo. My main problems - besides the one you are describing - are:
the navigator is not manageable by keyboard strokes only (like the RB one). Suddenly the focus jumps to the editor, even if it doesn’t make sense (computed properties for example).
there is an option missing in the Preferences dialog, that in the navigator the focus should jump only on pressing Return/Enter, not when you arrive at an item.
searching for text has become more complicated (you can’t reach “Match Case” and “Whole Word” without using the mouse).
there is no keyboard shortcut for closing the bottom panel (Search, Errors, Debug).
Alt-Tab is gone for switching between the window and the code editor.
after running an app from the IDE, the code editor doesn’t get the keyboard focus back.
and there are more keyboard/mouse-related issues.
For me an IDE, where you need to use the mouse to work within it, is not a well-thought product. I can spend hours of programming in XCode, and not once must my right hand leave the keyboard.
Lost count of the times in the past when it was Save, Save… oh wait… oh no!!! I accidentally deleted a whole chunk of vital code and saved over the original!!!
[quote=114805:@Eli Ott]I too still develop with RB and compile with Xojo. My main problems - besides the one you are describing - are:
the navigator is not manageable by keyboard strokes only (like the RB one). Suddenly the focus jumps to the editor, even if it doesn’t make sense (computed properties for example).
there is an option missing in the Preferences dialog, that in the navigator the focus should jump only on pressing Return/Enter, not when you arrive at an item.
searching for text has become more complicated (you can’t reach “Match Case” and “Whole Word” without using the mouse).
there is no keyboard shortcut for closing the bottom panel (Search, Errors, Debug).
Alt-Tab is gone for switching between the window and the code editor.
after running an app from the IDE, the code editor doesn’t get the keyboard focus back.
and there are more keyboard/mouse-related issues.
For me an IDE, where you need to use the mouse to work within it, is not a well-thought product. I can spend hours of programming in XCode, and not once must my right hand leave the keyboard.[/quote]
Searching in the Xojo IDE is easy. It is an improvement from RealStudio in my opinion. Large projects are more manageable.
[quote=114805:@Eli Ott]I too still develop with RB and compile with Xojo. My main problems - besides the one you are describing - are:
the navigator is not manageable by keyboard strokes only (like the RB one). Suddenly the focus jumps to the editor, even if it doesn’t make sense (computed properties for example).
[/quote]
I too need a way to fix this as it is the one of the biggest issues I have with Xojo as I am mostly a keyboard person.
