AW: AW: [lazarus] object inspector and other things....

[Mattias Gaertner]

>Thanks for your input.  Would you like to offer idea's for this conceptual
web page?

The conceptual page should be a guide to lazarus development. People could see
what is going on, what comes next, and the developer team's idea how it can be
achieved. There will soon be some response via the mailing list, what is
missing, what can be achieved better and programmers who want to join.
The conceptual/tasks web page does not need to be complete or detailed.

To start the page, just describe some tasks.
Examples for the ide:  Code-Exploring, Short-Cuts, Object-Inspector, Plugins,
Editor-Options, ...
For the LCL: Internet-Components, Database-Components, ...

The format of the page depends on the topic, but for Code-Exploring you can
write stuff like:

Code-Exploring:
  Date: 29.09.2000
  Description:
     Major Topic. Lazarus will support the programmer with
     Find-Declaration, Class/Var-Browser, Automatic-Code-Completion, ... .
  Status:
     Planned. Programmers: none yet.
  Implementation Ideas:
     Needs declaration lists of open pascal units. Because parsing
     a complete unit is time consuming, the List will be
     generated/updated only if the user asks for such a function.
     For units not opened in the editor the corresponding ppu files
     will be parsed. Units in the editor will be parsed by
     functions in unitparser.pp without the need to recompile ppu
     files. This has the advantage of speed and Lazarus will have a
     declaration list even if there are some small bugs.
     The declaration list contains ...


And for Short-Cuts you can a write a simple table with entries like:

  Date: 29.09.2000
  Key:
     Shift-Ctrl-Cursor-up/down
  Short-Description:
     Minor Topic. Editor-Short-Cut. Function in ideeditor.pp.
     Switches between procedure code (line after "begin")
     and procedure definition.
  Status:
     Planned. Programmer: none yet. perhaps you.
  Implementation Idea:
     Needs declaration list. See Code-Exploring.


Now, all people can read your plans and can mail much more concrete and
specific help. Programmers have an idea where to start. They do not only see
the obvious (missing Object Inspector), but the little tasks too.

I hope this helps, because I really want a RAD for freepascal as soon as
possible. It is the missing link for open source.

Mattias Gaertner