Maybe I'm missing something

SyntaxEditor for Windows Forms Forum

Posted 18 years ago by Elmo Watson
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Granted - I'm new to ASP.Net programming - and extremely new to Actipro - -
but I can't find any information on how to get the Intellisense/prompt/whatever to work in the sample provided.
Also - the insight - can't figure out that either

in the sample, you can choose one language through the menu item - what if you have the ASP.Net/VB.net page all in one (not using a .vb file) - can you choose HTML AND VB.Net at the same time?

Are there any samples that show ALL the features at one time?

One last thing - choosing HTML - I type an opening bracket and choose 'a' - pressing the spacebar doesn't give me other 'a' attribues (href, etc) - - how is this accomplished?

Please excuse my newbiness - but, given the amount of time allowed for the evaluation, I'd like to see all the features working before purchasing.


[Modified at 10/18/2005 11:22 AM]

Comments (8)

Posted 18 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA
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Hi Elmo,

No problem. Our HTML sample really includes ASP directives, SCRIPT tags, and CSS STYLE tag language support. So it shows how to chain languages together.

We mostly wired up demos of the intellisense features in the C# language sample. If you read through the code that appears when you run the sample app, the C# comments tell you what to type to demo each intellisense feature.

We do include a member list demo for HTML tags as well. You can apply the same sort of concept to attributes when in a tag.

All the code for the intellisense popups are in the editor_Trigger event handlers in MainForm. So that's the place to start to see how it works.


Actipro Software Support

Posted 18 years ago by Elmo Watson
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Thank you for replying, but it doesn't help much -
So - to get full intelliprompt, memberlist, quick info, info tip, etc - we must hand code all this ourselves? (editor_Trigger) - I don't get it - aren't there any properties to set, and point to an xml/ini or whatever kind of file for those languages, in order to get all the above features working?

the C# example tells you what to type to demo the features, but what I need to see is a tutorial on how to set each of these things up - kind of a nuts and bolts of how they work (not intricate details), and how to get them to work....

Also - your HTML sample - all I see is:
LoadXmlLanguageDefinition(Language.HTML) - then, Language is an enum - I can't easily see where the chaining takes place..
Posted 18 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA
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Yes you have to write code to populate the popups. You can store your list data in XML, INI file or however you want. Then just make a simple method to load the data, loop through it and add member list items. It should only take a few lines to do that sort of thing.

A good starting point is to go to editor_Trigger under the HTML part and look for this line:
case "TagListTrigger": {
The code between that and the related } is a simple example of how to build a list. In your case though you'd probably have the tag data stored in an XML file. Instead of hardcoding the data like we did, make a loop through your tag data and add a member list item for each iteration of the loop.

Make sure you read the documentation too. There are several pages on the IntelliPrompt features under General Features.

Also, in the documentation, look under "Language Definition Guide / Multiple Language Support". That gives an overview of how to chain multiple languages together. Then in the C# sample project, in the Languages folder, open the HTML one and you can see it in action.


Actipro Software Support

Posted 18 years ago by Boyd - Sr. Software Developer, Patterson Consulting, LLC
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Hi Elmo,

I wanted to comment on use of the SyntaxEditor control...

One thing worth noting is that the IntelliSense member lists are all populated by the programmer. This may sound like a daunting task at first, but it's not as bad as it sounds. The good news is that I have used SyntaxEditor for a very advanced editing environment, and it has lived up to all my expectations. I make extensive use of the various IntelliSense features (all populated by me), and they work great. The control is very advanced and provides a lot of room for customization.

The support at Actipro is also top-notch, so expect that any issues you encounter will be resolved. They also focus on keeping the control at the top of the game, so new features are frequently added to expand on the already extensive feature list.

There are several features for SyntaxEditor that I think are unique to the control (like CodeSnippet support). The only missing features I wish SyntaxEditor would have are the ability to perform column-based selections or work with "virtual space" at the end of a line. I've talked with Actipro about this, and I understand the reason it can't currently be done. They have said, however, that it's something they hope to address with the next major release.

In summary... SyntaxEditor is a great control! I don't regret my decision to purchase both the control and the annual subscription. Since it's a very advanced control, there is a small learning curve, but you'll love it once you get a handle on it.

14 days isn't a lot of time to eval (I remember being in those shoes myself), so I hope this helps with your decision process.
Posted 18 years ago by Elmo Watson
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That's the point - it's only 15 days, and I have very little time each day to do my testing -- also, it's for my own use (very small company - only me), so to spend this kind of money, after not being able to fully test, is not only daunting - it's frustrating. I know I can't do all I need, including the learning curve during that time.

then - once I buy - the amount of time it looks like I'll spend, not only learning it, but coding all this stuff - -
It would be so nice if they were to provide this data as an extra or something......
Posted 18 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA
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Hi Elmo,

All you have to do is write us and we'll be happy to extend the evaluation. We've done it for many customers in the past.


Actipro Software Support

Posted 18 years ago by billb - Software Craftsman, Yye Software
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Elmo,
I'm in the same place you are regarding Intelliprompt. You may want to read this thread to get your expectations correct on what Intelliprompt can and cannot do. In a nutshell, to get anywhere near the level of Visual Studio style intellisense, it looks like you'll have to write a good bit of parsing code. One person in the thread mentioned that it took him a year to get it all right.

I'd also like to add that so far, I've been impressed with the control and support as well. While I was a bit disappointed in what I'd have to do to get Intelliprompt working, I also understand that a) the control needs to stay flexible and generic and b) I believe that building members for my intelliprompt list is really outside of the scope of what this control should do.

However, I was surprised that no one else had really accomplished this and was willing to provide code samples.

I'll end by saying that buying this control is money well spent. I evaluated all of the competitors, and while Actipro costs a bit more, it is well worth the extra money.
Posted 18 years ago by Actipro Software Support - Cleveland, OH, USA
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Hi Bill,

Hopefully the changes we make for the 4.0 version (still a ways off) will help in this area and allow us to track code DOMs behind the scenes for loaded documents. That's really the only way to provide true intellisense, and as you've noticed, it's no easy thing to do as well as Microsoft does it. Our major goal for 4.0 is to allow language-specific plugins to be assigned to SyntaxEditor which provide all the capabilities of advanced parsing, like tracking code DOMs, providing intellisense, possibly faster lexical parsers, etc. Of course this means we still need to write code for each language that would need this advanced functionality but a goal of ours would be to start off one by one with the most common languages like C# or VB.NET.

We are always open to feedback, especially in this area. So any time you want, if you have detailed specs on how you'd like to be able to do advanced parsing, please post them here. Also at some point we may be posting for beta testers to help try out some of the parsing redesigns so check back regularly.

One last thing, I believe we're fairly priced for our control. We are more feature rich than our main competitor and theirs costs $500 for a license, much more than ours.


Actipro Software Support

The latest build of this product (v24.1.0) was released 1 month ago, which was after the last post in this thread.

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