flaws/suggestions for ide (0.9.29)
lazarus / 6-IDE-CodeTools

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ivan17 · 2010-10-24 01:00

here are a few suggestions/complaints from me, off the top of my head.
i'll try to add more when i remember something.  my lazarus version is
0.9.29.27722 (at this moment).


blunder - comboboxes in object inspector
some comboboxes in object inspector have an elipsis button on the
right (color property for example). that makes them too narrow - i
need to widen the second column to read the color names.
recommendation 1 (win32 widgetset): listbox itself can have any width
unrelated to its text-box parent;    here's how:
ComboBox.Perform(CB_SETDROPPEDWIDTH, ComboBox.Width +
ElipsisButton.Width, 0 );recommendation 2 (simple and portable): lose
the elipsis button, add (custom) to the top of combobox. (paint it's
mini icon in several colors, not just black)

wish - toolbar customization
no explanation needed; at least throw in build button until i am able
to customize the toolbar myself.


old bug - main window maximize
main window seems to gain thirty or forty pixels vertically when
maximized (under windows xp). what's with that? better remove maximize
button completely (like under linux).


blunder - no menu after closing project
on project closed, the project wizard dialog is shown (i'm ok with
that) but menu (entire main window in fact) is disabled. i prefer
(preferred in delphi) to have no project open when i install
packages/components; also when setting ide options.


blunder - can't hide icon
lazarus now creates project1.ico in a project dir and all works fine.
but if i want to start the app from outside ide, i need to take a look
which one of two is exe and which one is ico. obvious idea - okay,
i'll hide the ico file (attribute in windows xp); that way it will
look differently in commander and i'll be starting the program without
reading file names. well, no can do. lazarus bitches with the message
"Unable to create file "something\project1.ico". the icon was NOT
given read-only attribute.


minor bug - hint suppression glitch
the {%H-} thingy is nice but i don't like to turn my code into mess so
i don't think i'll be using it much (i still prefer {$hints
off}procedure{$hints on} ). anyway, lets consider this example:
Code: [Select]procedure nothing(unused1: integer;  unused2: integer);
begin end;obviously - two hints; so, lets right-click the first in
message window and suppress it; so far so good; now the second one;
oops:
Code: [Select]procedure nothing({%H-}unused1: integ{%H-}er;  unused2:
integer);
begin end;x-coordinate of the second hint has changed when we
suppressed the first hint...


bug - hint suppression bug
okay let's try something else:
Code: [Select]procedure nothing(var a, b: integer);
begin

end;

procedure test;
var a, b :integer;
begin
  nothing(a, b);
end;
i get the following:
Code: [Select]unit1.pas(25,23) Hint: Parameter "a" not used
unit1.pas(33,15) Hint: Local variable "b" does not seem to be
initialized
unit1.pas(33,12) Hint: Local variable "a" does not seem to be
initialized
Project "project1" successfully builtit is weird that the hint for "b"
being unused is hidden (it is issued, but hidden). never mind that.
the thing is i can not suppress lower two hints.

it is quite often that arguments are out-only but declared as "var"
instead of "out", so this should be working.

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DirkS · 2010-10-24 07:27

Quotewish - toolbar customization
no explanation needed; at least throw in build button until i am able
to customize the toolbar myself.
In the meantime you could use the editor toolbar component...

Gr.
Dirk.

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eny · 2010-10-24 11:24

Blunder: A usually serious mistake typically caused by ignorance or
confusion.
(Source: The free dictionary).
It's a good thing I never programmed on the IDE or I might feel
offended...