Codetch Discussion

The latest and greatest release of Codetch, compatible with Firefox 3, is now listed on Mozilla Addons (AMO). Grab it while it’s hot! For those who haven’t been using the pre-release versions, this should be a much more stable version than what was previously listed on AMO. If you have comments, issues, questions, checkout the Google Group.

In other news, I’ve started a Git repository for hackers out there who want to contribute patches easily. Git, like Mercurial, is a distributed source code manager, which beats the pants off of SVN or CVS. I should probably start a Mercurial repository, considering that’s what Mozilla is using for Mozilla 2, heh. Ask me if you’re interested.

Also, AMO has a cool new stat page, which I’ve made public. Over 14,000 daily Codetch users! Not bad.

Check out the downloads section for a new prerelease of Codetch. It’s probably the most stable version of Codetch yet. I’ve made split screen editing easier for Mac users by letting you Ctrl+Click to toggle different editing views (you can also right click on the editor button.)

Also, to better facilitate open discussions about Codetch, I’ve created a Google Group.

This release should fix the error that was occurring on OSX when Codetch launched. I’m surprised the error wasn’t occurring on all platforms, but nevertheless it should be resolved now. A stable version of Codetch should be available soon. When that is released I will go over some of the changes and features it brings, as well as the direction of Codetch development.

Download and check it out. Though it’s a nightly, it should be pretty stable.

The most requested feature for Codetch since it’s creation has been, yes, syntax highlighting. And I have wrestled with implementation schemes for years, but nothing ever turned out good enough. It has been clear to me for some time now that my old methods (plain old XUL and JavaScript) were not going to cut it, no matter how clever the code was worked. Enter Scintilla integration.

Sure, exceptional editing features such as code folding, syntax highlighting, auto completion, et al, may be possible with only JS and XUL widgetry, but it wouldn’t be nearly as efficient and probably not as featureful as an integration method. I had known Komodo IDE must have used something of this nature for some time, but what and how?

It wasn’t until I happened upon Codeeditor that the solution was made clear. Isn’t that one sexy XUL application? Seriously, go take a look at the video and come back. I emailed the author, Paul Rouget , about it and sadly it is not an open source project yet, but it is a brilliant demonstration of what Codetch is lacking (and to me, that school has made me complacent with my XUL studies). He pointed me toward OpenKomodo, an open source offspring of Komodo Edit that utilizes SciTE integration like his Codeeditor. Obviously, I have some homework to do…

That said, if anyone has some tips for wrapping plugins in XTF, let me know. Thanks in advance.

Yes, it’s been a year since the last blog post but fear not, Codetch is not dead. In fact, a nightly build was recently released for testing. It should be compatible with the Firefox 3 Alphas and is probably more stable than the current version of Codetch. There’s still an issue to iron out before it’s submitted to Mozilla Addons, though.

Look forward to more frequent posts here, also. Happy coding.

I’ve added a page to the wiki that shows our current agenda. We’re finally turning the corner on making Codetch a rather stud-ly application, I think. The major features coming up in versions 0.5.x are the Project Manager and perhaps some early alpha testing of (gasp) syntax highlighting. The only road block with syntax highlighting is having it update asynchronously so you won’t have lag when editing moderate to large files. It’s a doozie of a block, but I know how much everyone wants this feature!

Also, new version in the 0.4.x branch coming up shortly that adds some more integration into Firefox and handles different platform line formating.

The newest/most stable version of Codetch adds smooth Firefox 2 compatibility, as well as tab groups, welcome screen, context menus, view toggling and orientating, and file tree enhancements. More on these improvements later, as well as what went on under the hood. But for now, download away! (Edit: I just love Firefox 2’s new spell checking feature : )

Translations need to be updated! I have posted information for potential translators on the wiki, and have some others to contact.

The next version of Codetch will feature massive rewrites to some core scripts, effectively bumping the version up to 0.4. What I also plan to add is, well, let’s just go to the roadmap, shall we?

Version 0.4.*

• Core rewrites, maintenance
• Tab grouping - keep opened files organized, view them by set.
• Project/Site Manager
• Welcome screen
• Revamped Code format preference screen
• Design to Code view enhancements (maybe) - The default behavior of the Mozilla editor reformats the entire page and not just the elements altered. I’ll try to do a workaround for this, as well as other enhancements.

Version 0.5

• Codetch Doctype Manager - not as in DTDs, but types of documents and how Codetch should handle them.
• Extensible editor plugin system - right now, the only special editor is for HTML files. With this, additional language specific editors can be developed to handle files in special ways.
• Wiki Doctype - I haven’t really looked into this yet, but it would be great tool to edit and preview text as a wiki page.
• UPDATE: Syntax Highlighting - I have some of the basics for this worked out already! Needs some refinement and integration, but the base is functioning!

*Note that this roadmap is just something I am aiming for, and I may add/change/push/pull things around as development progresses.

As you may have noticed, no syntax highlighting yet. This is something I am constantly tinkering around with and hopefully one day I’ll find a solution that works. Once the basics are functioning, it will also have to be something that is exstensible and available for all languages.
UPDATE: Boy, have I been tinkering with this lately… so much actually that it is seemingly feasible now! Oh yeah. Version 0.5. Bet on it.

Another thing I am working on is an interpreter for XML Schemas so that converted DTDs can be used to develope dynamic element editing interfaces, and that the elements can be formed correctly.

This is all I can think of at the moment, but I’ll probably be changing this post periodically when more comes to mind.

In an effort to raise money to pay the hosting bill, I have opened up a store to sell Codetch merchandise! I even created some special designs for the T-shirts.

The DTD language bug should now be fixed (thanks MR Tech). Download the newest version of Codetch if this affected you.