Codetch Discussion

Yeah, it’s been a long while since the last release… but a new one is finaly here! I know I’m excited :). For the first time since the last one, these past two weeks I actually had a chance to really hunker down and work on the project. Summer time is definitely coding season, as it was last summer when I started developing Codetch for the first time! You can expect many more great things (hopefully!) out of Codetch this time around too, but I’ll say more on that later.

As for this release, the major addition would have to be Code Snippets! There aren’t many snippets included, but the good news is that it can use the same ones as Dreamweaver does. So, hypotheticaly, if you had Dreamweaver installed you could visit the Codetch preferences and change the default snippet directory to the one of the Dreamweaver installation and it should work fine. I am also working out plans of “Live Snippets”, where user contributed snippets could be loaded into Codetch from the site through RSS feeds and be readily available for insertion. That could sure bring some neat possibilities!

I also redid line numbering so the numbers aren’t actualy part of your code! It’s not perfect, as there seems to be a bug with onscroll events in Mozilla (sigh), but it’s definitely better and better looking. Added was the da-DK locale as well.

As always, post suggestions, comments, bugs, ect. below!

I have finally made the Codetch source code available for download or browsing through CVS on Mozdev. This should make it easier for those wanting to contribute and maybe help me fix bugs :D. The source code is the most recent, so it’s probably even less stable than than the releases, at the moment. Hopefully we can change that!

I shall have some more developer notes and a roadmap posted later on.

This release fixes some things I missed in the last one, like the weird default black background. Also added was the de-DE langauge set. Still many more bug fixes to do and features to add to Codetch in this next year. It was actualy around this time a year ago that I discovered XUL and made plans to create my own code editor, hehe. Well, here’s to 2006. Happy New Year!

This newest release tries to fix some problems I was having viewing Codetch in a tab. There were some issues with updating the toolbar buttons and menus, but I have a workaround in place. I also began support for the es-AR language (I don’t think it was a complete package). There should be more coming soon. Thank you translators! Other than that, I added a little arrow at the end of toolbars to toggle which buttons are displayed. The next critical feature to add is a project/site manager. After that, things like FTP can fit into place nicely. And thank you, all the testers out there!

This new testing version is now compatible with Firefox 1.5! I want to confirm it functions properly before listing it on Mozilla Update. I also need a Linux tester to verify if the installation problem is gone. Previously, the “codetch” directory was not being correctly copied to the Firefox profile directory. Oh, and it is also still backward compatible with Firefox 1.0+ just in case. Cheers!

Someone recently contacted me about creating a Spanish translation, and, well, as of now we lack any other languages besides English! Needless to say, translators for additional languages would be greatly appreciated! If you are interested in providing any help you can reply here or send an email to info@codetch.com. Thanks in advance.

As you may have noticed, there has been a lack of updates for Codetch recently. I bid you not to worry, I’m still entirely commited to the project. I just have undertaken many new activities since the summer, including my first semester in college and also development of some Ajax applications. I will try to make an update for it to work on Firefox 1.5 soon at least. There are still a bunch of features in mind to add but it’s sort of on hold until I can get back on track. Thank you all for the support though, the feedback is much appreciated.

-Zach

The latest version, Codetch 0.3.5 is out. You can also now check out some screenshots ›

Some of the new features:

Line and column number in status bar

Current line number and column position of the cursor will be displayed in the status bar.

Go to line feature

Enter a line number and it will be selected and scrolled to.

Find and replace

Find, find all, replace, and replace all with options to match case and use Regular Expressions, or to search in all opened documents, or just the selected text. The “search in” options only pertain to Find All and Replace All, at the moment.

Search result display panel

After performing a Find All or Raplace All, the matched results will be displayed in this panel. Double clicking on a result will highlite and scroll to the match in the code editor.

Smart code tabbing

When you hit RETURN, the new line will be on the same tab level as the previous line. You can also highlite multiple lines and hit TAB to increase every selected line’s indent at once.

Customizable templates and template directory

The template directory is now fully customizable. Create your own directories and template files and organize them as you like. The new file dialog also has a button to edit the selected template/default file for direct editing. There is also an option to save a file as a template, which will start the file picker directory in your template directory. You can find the template directory in your profile directory for Firefox/Thunderbird/Mozilla, or whatever you have Codetch installed on. It is in the codetch/configuration directory there.

Switch view mode with tabs

Switching the view mode is now easier with tabs corresponding to each view located beneath the editor.

Hide sidebar/insert/results panels

Make your work area cleaner by hiding panels you don’t need.

That’s all for this release. I’m working on code snippets and some other things for the next one.

Please report any issues you are having with the 0.3.4 release of Codetch here. If you already sent an email to me, go ahead and repost it here in case others are still having the same problem. Of course, I’ll try to stamp out any bugs I encounter myself, but many of them being reported I have not experienced. So try to be as detailed as possible so I or others can determine what could be causing the problem.

Note that I am developing Codetch on my laptop with Windows XP and Firefox 1.0.6 (it isn’t intended for Deer Park at the moment). Please state your operating system and Firefox version aswell to help us out. Thanks, and let the bug hunting begin (or continue, actually).

This will be the new source for information about Codetch and its development. The old source can be found here. I hope this site will make collaboration between users and developers smoother as we all attempt to improve Codetch as much as possible!

Edit: due to my host’s server burning down, the old blog has been lost ):