At 01:55 PM 7/9/99 +0000, you wrote:
>I've recently had an experience with the JDE project file that I would like
>to relate because Paul might want to reconsider the project file
>implementation.
>
>First the configuration:
>Windows NT 4.0 sp3,
>Emacs 20.3.1
>JDE 2.1.6beta4
>
>I've had some project files around since I started using JDE back when it
>was a version 1 and I've always had problems with them when the JDE
>versions changed. Yesterday's problem dealt with using the new
>jde-wiz-find-and-import function which is bound to ^C^V^Z, at least
>according to the release notes it is. I couldn't understand why sometimes
>it would work and sometimes it wouldn't. Instead of getting
>jde-wiz-find-and-import I was getting the older function jde-wiz-import.
>
>After a bit of digging through the sources I finally checked the JDE
>Project customize settings and found that there was a setting for the
>bindings. I had customized many things but never the bindings. However,
>some project files had the key bindings from older versions of the JDE.
>When I reset the project file to the standard settings the ^C^V^Z key got
>the correct value of jde-wiz-find-and-import.
>
>I believe that the project file should not store all the standard settings
>plus the customized settings. It should only store the customized values.
>This would make upgrading to newer versions of JDE easier. Or there should
>be a JDE version number in the project file that would cause JDE to update
>old project files or notify you that the old project files need updating.
>I've also had problems with project files when the format of the option was
>changed. This caused strange EMACS Lisp errors.
>
Hi Erik,
Several releases ago I put in code to do exactly what you describe but it
does seem to work. I've been meaning to revisit this issue but have been
consumed by other more pressing things. Anyway, please be assured that I
agree completely with your suggestion and it will be addressed eventually
by myself or anyone else who wants to take a crack at this issue.
BTW, Sunsite Denmark has graciously agreed to host a cvs repository for the
JDE source code to as a way to promote collaborative development of the
JDE. As I've never used cvs, I wanted to do familiarize myself with it
before proceeding with creation of the repository. I hope to get the
repository set up within the next month. I'd be interested in hearing from
anyone who has experience with cvs, especially within an Emacs and/or
remote repository (ftp access).
>At this time I would like to thank Paul and all the others who are making
>the EMACS JDE such a pleasure to work with. Using it reenforces my belief
>that the other IDE's are leading programers down a dangerous path. Those
>IDE's make people believe that it is easy to build a program but they will
>find that those programs are very hard to maintain. I believe that the
>traditional development environment of EMACS allows you to see the
>structure of the program more clearly and thus you will think more about
>the structure and produce a better program. It is time to get off the
>soapbox.
>
I share your sentiments and would add that for me Emacs' incredible
malleability is its biggest attraction. I can adapt Emacs to my needs and
preferences rather than the other way around. Another attraction is the
wonderful community of developers that has grown up around Emacs on whom
one can always rely for an answer on just about any question.
- Paul
