New topic: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)
<http://forums.realsoftware.com/viewtopic.php?t=46554> Page 1 of 1 [ 9 posts ] Previous topic | Next topic Author Message alakazam Post subject: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:04 am Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:18 pm Posts: 301 Location: Alaska (and more!) I've made my living with RB for about a decade now but I'm butting up against a problem where it seems my best choice is to switch away from RB. I've *almost* decided to do that but I hate to for many reasons (the main one is productivity) so thought I'd explain my problem and see if anyone can come up with a better option. I wrote an IDE for Corona SDK that's been well received, but there has always been "weirdness" in the editor. I'm using Restrepo's Custom EditField which is rock-solid as far as the data goes, but there are some aesthetic problems that look bad and make people wonder if data integrity is an issue (parts of the screen get scrambled and requires scrolling to straighten things out, mainly). I've had two customers (that I know of) switch to a competitor in the past week because of the issues. Option 1 - Rewrite/edit the existing editor. That control is open source but writing an editor - or changing that existing one -- isn't something I have time for. Making a good, fast, solid source code editor with all the features people expect (syntax highlighting, code folding, autocomplete, etc.) isn't something you just jump in and do (at least not in my view). I think it would take me at least a few weeks of living in the code before I'd understand everything it's doing. I could be wrong, but I've only tweaked around the edges because it looks kind of like voodoo back in there. Option 2 - Use a different editor control. Yeah, that would be nice, but I don't think there are any available. I'm aware of FTC and if I were writing a word processor I'd grab that, but a code editor is more specialized. If there's an alternative out there it's very well hidden. Option 3 - Rewrite the entire IDE in something else that has more 3rd-party control options. This is the one I'm leaning toward, and while I'd take a tremendous time hit initially, I'd end up with something that has an editor that's been used successfully in multiple IDE-type projects. (Plus, more control options in general.) So, can anyone help me figure out Option 4 that's better than these others? I'd really appreciate it. Jay _________________ --------------------------------------- Game Dev Nation Tips and Tutorials for iOS Game Development! http://GameDevNation.com Top Markus Winter Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:20 am Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:00 pm Posts: 1238 Location: Heidelberg, Germany I thought the RS license stipulates that you are not allowed to write such an app? So you should switch to Corona to write your IDE. Top alakazam Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:26 am Joined: Tue Nov 15, 2005 8:18 pm Posts: 301 Location: Alaska (and more!) You can write an IDE in RS as long as you follow their rules -- which I do. I've talked to Geoff about my product and they are fine with it. Corona SDK is for iOS and Android devices, my product is desktop-based. Different tools for different jobs. Jay _________________ --------------------------------------- Game Dev Nation Tips and Tutorials for iOS Game Development! http://GameDevNation.com Top Markus Winter Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 2:36 am Joined: Sun Feb 19, 2006 4:00 pm Posts: 1238 Location: Heidelberg, Germany Try the FormattedText control? Bob Keeney has taken over development. Top timhare Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 3:57 am Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2006 3:21 pm Posts: 11982 Location: Portland, OR USA Is there really a third party code editor control that does what you need in whatever language you would switch to? I would never try to talk someone out of switching from RB to something more suitable, just for the sake of them not switching, but given your description, if you're willing to take a hit and spend a few months rewriting your IDE, why not spend a few weeks fixing the current control. Enlist the help of this forum for specific issues if needed. I may be naive, but I doubt that a solid code editor is impossible in RB. But then, I don't know your requirements or the condition of the current control. If there is a control that does everything you need out of the box, in a language you are already comfortable with, then the decision becomes a lot more difficult. This probably didn't help. But I wish you success, whichever path you may choose. Tim Top msssltd Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 5:11 am Joined: Fri Oct 28, 2005 7:05 am Posts: 514 Location: Emsworth, UK I'm with Tim on this one. Changing to a different development environment, with the learning curve it will bring, is likely to end up with you swapping a bunch of problems you know about for a bunch of different problems you don't know about. If you can find an alternative editor which does, or can be modified to do, more of what you want, that would seem the best choice. If not, turn your attention to the source code you have available. Unless there are some other benefits to be gained by a switch of development environment, personally I would not consider it. _________________ Yes it's me in the avatar Top Thom McGrath Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 5:48 am Site Admin Joined: Tue May 06, 2008 1:07 pm Posts: 1330 Location: Greater Hartford Area, CT Of course, my opinion will seem biased, but please don't think I'm just shilling for my employer. I believe in using the right tool for the job. That said, there is a golden rule of programming: Never rewrite your program from scratch. I've found this to be true myself. Any time it seems like a good idea, it results in a project that never gets finished. So I think "fixing" the issues with your app is a smarter approach, at least from a business perspective. _________________ Thom McGrath - @tekcor Web Framework Architect, Real Software, Inc. Top cm_rb Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 11:35 am Joined: Sat Dec 24, 2011 5:32 am Posts: 26 Location: Germany Long time ago, I encountered a huge problem with one of my apps (which I developed with Xcode) due to changes Apple made with its new OS. I was very frustrated and I even thought to stop updating the app. After doing some research in my spare time and some trial an error I found the solution to the problem (I think it took me a week). The solution required only 5 lines of code! So, maybe there is an relatively easy fix to your problem too. This forum is also very helpful and if you already found the problematic piece of code maybe you can ask the forum for some suggestions to improve it. Greetings, Christian Top pjzedalis Post subject: Re: Talk Me Out Of Switching Away From Real Studio (please)Posted: Mon Jan 14, 2013 4:08 pm Joined: Wed Jan 12, 2011 12:48 pm Posts: 37 Location: Fresno, CA The problem you are going to have is that making synax/code friendly editors is HARD. On top of that it's not generally a component you can just plugin without any reasonable amount of effort. A lot of IDE's rely on their editor being one of their selling points. I know I often use Visual Studio even if I'm not working with .NET because I love the editor. I agree that FTC can probably do many of the things you want. It's unencrypted after you purchase so it's convenient. In regards to talking you out of switching away from Real Studio... If you don't feel it's worth your time to contribute resources/knowledge to enhancing Real Studio to work better for you (or others) then you probably should switch. It sounds like you want a large library of ready made components that can just be dropped in with a little glue. Third party ecosystem in Real Studio is not very strong so perhaps you've reached your limitations with the product. That's okay. Nothing to be ashamed of. I am on the Real consultants list and get many clients from either that or direct referral. They all come to me because of my specialization in cross platform and using Real. Half the time I end up recommending something else to them based on their needs. None of my clients care as long as the job gets done and works well. So I ask why do you care if you use Real if it's not cutting it for you? More importantly why should we care if you use it? _________________ Thanks, Phillip Zedalis Managing Developer http://www.1701software.com 773-236-1701 Top Display posts from previous: All posts1 day7 days2 weeks1 month3 months6 months1 year Sort by AuthorPost timeSubject AscendingDescending Page 1 of 1 [ 9 posts ] -- Over 1500 classes with 29000 functions in one REALbasic plug-in collection. The Monkeybread Software Realbasic Plugin v9.3. http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/realbasic/plugins.shtml [email protected]
