Does the source editor use vertical tabs? lazarus / 9-Editor ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vfclists · 2014-08-19 21:29 When a lot of files are open in the IDE scrolling files sideways into view is slow and tedious and having the widget for scrolling on the right side only doesn't help? Can the editor tabs be placed at the side so that more of them can be visible? Having a filter box would also be nice. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Basile B. · 2014-08-19 23:21 Alternatively there are some shortcuts to switch from an editor to another: Menu: Tools -> Options -> Editor -> Keys assignments -> sources tab commands. Items: "got to next editor" or "go to previous editor" ---------------------------------------------------------------------- taazz · 2014-08-19 23:56 Quote from: vfclists on August 19, 2014, 11:29:43 pm When a lot of files are open in the IDE scrolling files sideways into view is slow and tedious and having the widget for scrolling on the right side only doesn't help? How many files do you consider as a lot of files? I have no problems scrolling the tabs for 30 files open on the editor. Quote from: vfclists on August 19, 2014, 11:29:43 pmCan the editor tabs be placed at the side so that more of them can be visible? I guess you could extend the editor toolbar extension to set the tab position to left or right but since the caption is rotated as well I doubt that there will be more tabs showing. Then again I probably missed your point on that. Quote from: vfclists on August 19, 2014, 11:29:43 pm Having a filter box would also be nice. filter box? what is it going to help with? by the way try right clicking on a tab and selecting "other tabs" sub menus on the popup menu you can find it on the windows menu too. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Graeme · 2014-08-20 01:32 Quote from: vfclists on August 19, 2014, 11:29:43 pmCan the editor tabs be placed at the side so that more of them can be visible? Yes, go to "Tools -> IDE Options -> Editor -> General -> Misc". There is a combobox titled "Source notebook tabs position". I have mine set to Right. NOTE: I'm not sure if it is still the case, but under Windows with tabs on the Right or Left of the editor, the text is vertical, not horizontal like under Linux. A Windows PageControl limitation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vfclists · 2014-08-20 10:00 Quote from: Graeme Geldenhuys on August 20, 2014, 03:32:59 amQuote from: vfclists on August 19, 2014, 11:29:43 pmCan the editor tabs be placed at the side so that more of them can be visible? Yes, go to "Tools -> IDE Options -> Editor -> General -> Misc". There is a combobox titled "Source notebook tabs position". I have mine set to Right. NOTE: I'm not sure if it is still the case, but under Windows with tabs on the Right or Left of the editor, the text is vertical, not horizontal like under Linux. A Windows PageControl limitation. Your picture displays what I am looking for and I have found that option, only in my setup which is Ubuntu Linux with KDE the tabs and the text are rotated vertically as well, resulting in fewer tabs. I wonder if that is a Linux or Qt limitation? What version of Lazarus version and which GUI are using? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Leledumbo · 2014-08-20 10:22 Quote from: vfclists on August 20, 2014, 12:00:40 pmYour picture displays what I am looking for and I have found that option, only in my setup which is Ubuntu Linux with KDE the tabs and the text are rotated vertically as well, resulting in fewer tabs. I wonder if that is a Linux or Qt limitation? I think that's how it's implemented rather than a limitation. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Graeme · 2014-08-20 10:25 Quote from: vfclists on August 20, 2014, 12:00:40 pmWhat version of Lazarus version and which GUI are using? Then Qt must have the same stupid "tabs on left or right must use rotated text" limitation as Windows. My Lazarus IDE is compiled for GTK2. This functionality has been available since just before the v1.0 release of Lazarus. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vfclists · 2014-08-20 10:32 Quote from: taazz on August 20, 2014, 01:56:05 am Quote from: vfclists on August 19, 2014, 11:29:43 pm Having a filter box would also be nice. filter box? what is it going to help with? by the way try right clicking on a tab and selecting "other tabs" sub menus on the popup menu you can find it on the windows menu too. A filter box will allow you to filter on a partial match of the file name and you can quickly jump to it by clicking it. The filter box on the Project inspector does that, and so does the Object Inspector but it would be better for the editor as well. The ideal would be filter boxes for the objects in your project and the library objects, and the ability to cluster you most recently used files in the source editor so you can quickly switch to them. The right click on the tab header which gives the recent tabs and other tabs is useful, but it is way too far down in the menu. It would be a lot better if it was at the top and automatically expanded. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Graeme · 2014-08-20 10:33 Quote from: Leledumbo on August 20, 2014, 12:22:03 pmI think that's how it's implemented rather than a limitation. I call it a limitation simply because reading vertical text is very unnatural and difficult. If anything, Windows and Qt should have had an option to still display horizontal text no matter the tab location. GTK2, fpGUI and MSEgui can do that. I guess to fix this, Lazarus will then have to create a custom PageControl type widget for use in the IDE - after all, they already have a few custom widgets specifically designed for the IDE. I remember a year or two ago I installed a Lazarus IDE add-on that showed the open files in a listbox type window.  It allowed dragging files up or down to reorder them, did some filtering etc. Maybe that could be a suitable work-around for the LCL-QT and Windows users. Unfortunately I can't remember the name of that add-on, but I'm sure with some Google searching or a post in the mailing list you should be able to find it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Graeme · 2014-08-20 10:49 Hi, I searched my hard drive and found the Lazarus Add-on I was referring too. It was called IDEOpenedFileList and was included in the Lazarus BugTracker. http://bugs.freepascal.org/view.php?id=13930 I don't know if v3 attachment still compiles and installs in the latest Lazarus IDE (it was code from 2009), but I am sure it should be pretty easy to get the code up to date. It was a very useful add-on at the time. Oh, and the drag-n-drop reordering worked much better than the current implementation in the Lazarus IDE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- taazz · 2014-08-20 11:01 Quote from: Graeme Geldenhuys on August 20, 2014, 12:33:21 pmI call it a limitation simply because reading vertical text is very unnatural and difficult. Having horizontal text defeats the purpose of having left and right tabs which is to conserve screen estate. It is, in my book, a worthless feature, which can easily be emulated using a listbox or even better, a combo box. In any case the IDE already supports the feature inside its menus although it becomes too slow, for no visual reason in my opinion, on long list of tabs. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Leledumbo · 2014-08-20 11:09 Quote from: Graeme Geldenhuys on August 20, 2014, 12:33:21 pmI call it a limitation simply because reading vertical text is very unnatural and difficult. If anything, Windows and Qt should have had an option to still display horizontal text no matter the tab location. GTK2, fpGUI and MSEgui can do that. I guess to fix this, Lazarus will then have to create a custom PageControl type widget for use in the IDE - after all, they already have a few custom widgets specifically designed for the IDE. I guess they implemented it based on user survey or something similar. Nevertheless, a custom page control won't hurt, as long as it's an option. Personally, I like reading the text vertically when the tabs is either on left or right. Not natural? Maybe I am not ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vfclists · 2014-08-20 11:16 Quote from: Graeme Geldenhuys on August 20, 2014, 12:25:21 pmQuote from: vfclists on August 20, 2014, 12:00:40 pmWhat version of Lazarus version and which GUI are using? Then Qt must have the same stupid "tabs on left or right must use rotated text" limitation as Windows. My Lazarus IDE is compiled for GTK2. This functionality has been available since just before the v1.0 release of Lazarus. The limitation is the Lazarus Qt builds, and must be a limitation of the widget set in Lazarus. The GTK builds display fine. I may have to switch to that and compile for QT as I need MDI windows. The IDEOpenedFileList addon looks interesting. It might tempt me have a go at creating IDE addons. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Graeme · 2014-08-20 15:43 Quote from: taazz on August 20, 2014, 01:01:36 pmHaving horizontal text defeats the purpose of having left and right tabs which is to conserve screen estate. It is pretty damn hard to find 4:3 or 6:9 ratio screens these days. They all tend to be wide screen, thus horizontal screen space is plenty, so why not use it. Plus, you can fit way more tabs vertically stacked (left or right of editor), and all be readable, than you can in the default top or bottom positions. Lets just agree that it's a difference in preference then. ;-) ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Graeme · 2014-08-20 15:47 Quote from: vfclists on August 20, 2014, 01:16:27 pmI may have to switch to that and compile for QT as I need MDI windows. The Lazarus IDE can be compiled in any widgetset, and it doesn't dictate what widgetset you need to use in your applications. eg: The IDE can be compiled for LCL-GTK2, and you can write applications using LCL-QT without problems. Creating Lazarus IDE add-on really isn't hard, so give it a go. Get the benefit of open source development tools. I have lots of personal customizations that I apply after each update. I had vertical stacked tabs on the right of the editor looooong before Lazarus IDE officially supported it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- vfclists · 2014-08-23 07:17 Quote from: vfclists on August 19, 2014, 11:29:43 pm When a lot of files are open in the IDE scrolling files sideways into view is slow and tedious and having the widget for scrolling on the right side only doesn't help? Can the editor tabs be placed at the side so that more of them can be visible? Having a filter box would also be nice. For the mean time I have settled on using the filter box in the Project Inspector to quickly locate and jump to the files I need. It doesn't help with non-project files, but is good enough for the time being.