IDE which ones great!

As im still learning blitz3d i was looking at ides which one does the best job and which ones have problems?

sorry i know questions like this can start rants.

Pete

I just stick to the normal blitz IDE. No real reason to switch unless.


*Except some functionality like Icons.

and multiple undo and and and ;)

i use IndeED.

The best, IMO is the Protean IDE, which has been released for free recently.
http://www.proteanide.co.uk/index.php?pid=downloads

It just makes programming so much easier with pop-up command help (and even for your own functions too), code completion, bookmarks, multiple undo, cold folding, EXE icon replacement, project management, multiple syntax highlighting themes (I have never really liked Blitz's default syntax highlighting), etc., etc. What's nice about it is that all those features are not in your way, like some IDE's, but always seem to be there just when you need them. My favorite features are:

Code completion (or whatever it's called), which shows you a list of options as you type. For example, if you type "tank\sp" in my project, it will automatically display "tank\speed" on a pop-up list.

Function help: When you type a function, a little help box pops up below your cursor (not obstructing your typing), with a short description of the command, and which argument you are currently typing.

I know that many of it's features you may never even need, but it's always nice to have them when you need them.



If you try Protean IDE, I think you'll change your mind. :)

Hm, now that it's free, I think I'll give it a try. The default IDE has been fine for me, so I didn't see any reason to purchase another. But if it's free now...

I love Visual Blitz. Function folding and auto-completion are must haves for me now.

I recently tried out Protean, which looks to be very good, but I am so used to Visual Blitz I went right back to it. I'd definately recommend you check that out though.

hu, free? i'll give it a try. screenshots are looking good ;)

ProteanIDE is very good, and the new free update has fixed at least one annoyance which was opening the Search function didn't move the text focus to the Search pane. It supports excellent font and colour schemes too.

Visaul Blitz for me, too. Very fast and straightforward.

thanks for your input! im going to try ProteanIDE and indeED, the only reason i want to change is to make my code a be clearer to understand because im new ish to programing and get a bit lost when i leave a bit of code to do some modeling and then come back to it. plus undo is handy when im trying something it doesnt work and i need to get my old setting back.

Pete

Downloaded Protean but came across a problem when the install Wizard needed me to locate Blitz.cc, it stated there was no need to navigate to the bin directory. Staying at the Blitz3d parent directory stopped protean from finding Blitz.cc.

I have a bought copy of Blitz3D, do I perhaps need Blitz Classic to use Protean ? Thanks in advance for any advice.

nope,...just make sure that you set the path for blitz3d and NOT for blitzbasic.

you can change the setting by going to tools/preferences and then go to compiler setup. From there just make sure you set up only the ones you have.

Thanks for the advice. I have navigated through the options in Protean and selected blitz3D as the compiler of choice. Upon selecting the path for edited########

You seem to run an old version of Blitz3D. Since 1.72? there should be also a blitzcc.exe. Update it and you will be able to use 3rd party editors.

I updated Blitz and Protean worked. I highly recommend Protean, thanks Michael.

I downloaded protean, and I love it now. Is there any way to get the help to be better for the commands? Protean seems lacking in that respect and I find myself opening blitz to see the command help.

I just set the browser tab's home page to Blitz3D's docs instead of protean's. That way I can look up the full command info if Protean's isn't enough.

To do this, click Tools->Preferences. Then click Environment, and then click Browser. Then you can set the home page from the panel on the right. I think you'll have to re-start Protean IDE before the changes take effect, but I'm not sure.

If you need to access command docs in Protean, press F2 at the command you need help with.
If you press F2 on a emty line, you get the startpage of the docs.

Thanks John and Tiger, I now have the help.

Protean is the best!

Is there an IDE there which has the option to identify variables that haven't been used previously in the code (for example display them in a different color)?
That would help for the errors when for example you type "sped#" instead of "speed#" and spend 20 minutes trying to find why your code doesn't work.
That's on of blitz' main problems.

Thats where debugging steps in where you will then see a variable speed and sped and know that something went wrong :-)

I am having problems installing and using the Protean IDE. When I try to compile my program, it says,


So, I go into the compiler prefrences, click compiler setup, click Blitz3D, and type C:\Program Files\Blitz3D in the Path box. It then gives me this error.


Please help me to solve this!

Ok, I got it working,
The problem that I was having was that I misread my installation package and thought that it said version 1.94 when it realy said version 1.64. So, there was no blitzcc.exe file in my blitz3d folder. Anyway, I ran the latest update and everything seems to be working out ok!

Just a quick note, if anyone's thinking of buying Brain Editor Pro, don't!

I did and it's rubbish compared to Protean.