I still see two issues, like others have confirmed:
The fact that the history is behaving like Safari and not like Xcode. That’s a design flaw. In Safari, the way history works makes sense that way because the various tabs are usually INDEPENDENT, i.e. they’re views into separate web sites.
OTOH, in a project browser like Xcode, the tabs are all just different views of the SAME content.
Therefore, Xojo’s forward/back history should work like it does in Xcode. I’ve pointed that out before, but the insistence that making it behave like it’s doing in Safari is making it hard for me to take Xojo’s developers serious. Sorry.
There is also the problem that often the Back button stops working. I hardly ever use the Xojo IDE, but when I do just for a few minutes, it almost always quickly comes to the point where the Back button stops working. I can’t believe that’s so hard to reproduce.
Even more, I can’t understand why this isn’t working. The algorithm for such is so simple: Have an array for the history, and whenever the navigator selects a new item, put that on top of the array. And when I press the Back button, pop one item off the array and go there - UNLESS that item doesn’t exist any more - then repeat the process until you find one that exists or the array is empty. How hard can that be to get right??? Really.
I create a new desktop project
I open “App”, then open Constants.
I select App.
I add a method with cmd-alt-M
I add another method with cmd-alt-M
I click on Untitled, then on Untitled1.
Then try the Back and Forward buttons. That works.
I click Back a few times more.
Now, suddenly, the Forward button is disabled -> BUG #1
Try again:
Click on Untitled, then on Untitled1.
Then click on the three Constants (kEditClear etc.)
Try the Back button: Nothing! -> BUG #2
Really, how hard were these to reproduce that makes this not getting fixed in two years? I just played around for a minute without even having any trouble reproducing these! It makes me wonder if Xojo really takes these complaints serious at all.
Deleting any controls, methods, properties etc. also messes up the Back/Forward buttons. I am trying not to use them at all, as they aren’t reliable during the actual work on a project, just a source of frustration.
I have to agree, I got out of the habit of using them in Xojo a long time ago because they just didn’t work in any reasonable manner. They’re just no longer part of my workflow.
However they could be useful if working.
And I suspect many people are doing the same
So we have a feature which doesn’t work as intended and for sure not how most user want.
It’s only part of the design…
Let us not forget the issue where, if you are painfully OCD, and have a folder with the name of “Windows” (containing all your project windows), the Back button will not work correctly. Ever.
Maybe it would just be easier to get Microsoft to change the name of their multi layer windowing environment to something less general. DESQview?
I’ve given up and just use Command-Shift-L to get anywhere.
If we can’t even get something as simple as a keystroke to hide the find/errors/notifications pane (<https://xojo.com/issue/28875>) …then I don’t think all of the negative feedback on the UX in the navigator will ever be listened to.
How tough would it be to have a navigator mode that mimicked RS:
When a project is opened, the leftmost tab would be the “navigator” that acts like the current Xojo navigator showing all project items
Navigating to any object (window, module, class, etc) that doesn’t already have an open tab will open a new tab and AUTOMATICALLY lock it to that object
When a tab is opened, it automatically expands all methods/properties/etc for the item so we don’t have to click the little triangles every single time…
Option for tabs to have ICONs based on the item’s type again so they become useful at a glance
Seriously there’s so much mouse-clicking and jumping around and having multiple tabs open to the same object… it’s a mess that could be fixed as an OPTION for everyone here who feels the current UX isn’t as productive as it was in RS.
Xojo acknowledged today during the XDC keynote that the Xojo IDE has some problems. These are being addressed. No word on when it would be done as it can’t be done incrementally.
I wish they would put back in bookmarks, and put in some sort of breadcrumbs so that you don’t have to click the back button 6 times to get back to the event that started the call sequence. That Toolbar is the most ridiculous “non-use” of space I can think of.
how about the vast space under a constant whose value you can’t see unless you invoke the inspector
There’s an entire white page of nothing - but I have to open a new window to see what default value an integer has.
True, but I meant in what I see all of the time. Most of the time I am not looking to get the value of a constant. But 100% of the time I am looking at the empty toolbar.
I haven’t had many problems with the Tab locking. Once I put one on the left that showed the project as a whole AND moved FileTypes to the top, then locked it down, pretty much behaves like the RS project tab for me. Every once in a while I get a duplicate tab. But for the most part I click on a item that is locked down in a tab, the focus goes to it. I click on an item that is not locked in a tab I get a new tab with it in it.
Press Cmd-Opt-P to add a new Property (named Untitled)
Select the Untitled property in the Navigator
Select Properties in the Navigator
Select Window1 in the Navigator
Now try to use the Back button. It goes back, but the Forward button never gets enabled. And from now on, the whole history seems to be damaged try to add some controls to Window1 and Back/Forward between them.
It seems that to break the Back/Forward history completely it is enough to select any “headline” in the Navigator, that is, “Methods”, “Properties”, etc., you know, this one:
[quote=183561:@Jeff Tullin]how about the vast space under a constant whose value you can’t see unless you invoke the inspector
There’s an entire white page of nothing - but I have to open a new window to see what default value an integer has.[/quote]
Open Preferences and click “Show default value in navigator” and maybe also “Show Types”
