Prev/Next Blog
by date

Torsion Update

Name:	Tom Spilman
Date Posted:	May 31, 2006
Rating:	5.0 out of 5
Public:	YES
Comments:	YES
RSS Feed:	or Subscribe with .
Profile Page:	View profile page for Tom Spilman

Blog post

New Torsion out today. As some of you may have noticed this one was up to the wire with the previous release expiring about 5 minutes ago (for those of you in CST).

This release mostly focused on the left side of the window... the project tree. As part of that the following got done:

You can now toggle the project tree filter to display ignored mod paths.
Fixed text coloring during project tree drag and drop.
When you 'explore' a file or folder from the project tree you no longer get the folders explorer bar.
Project tree view now supports multiple item selection with open, delete, move, and copy operations.
Updated directory watcher so you can always delete a folder in the project tree.
Added Explorer context menu in project tree context menu.
Fixed bug where you could not delete from the project tree when no script was open.
Fixed bug where you could delete the project root.
Added 'New File' into project tree context menu.
'New Folder' in project tree context menu now works.
We now use the native icons for all files in the project tree view.
You can now adjust the files and folders which are always excluded from the project tree view in the Preferences.

There are a lot more changes including more configurability (in particular for script and DSO extensions) and VC++ style menus. You can read the rest of the change log, but i'm gonna highlight a few of my favorite improvements:

Native Icons

Nothing really glamorous, but it's one that i've been wanted to see for a while. Torsion now queries the OS for the normal icons used for files when it populates the project tree. This has been a pet peeve of mine in VC++ since 2.0... don't assume i want to use the IDE to edit a non-source file, don't change the look of my non-source icons. The more i integrate the project tree with the native functionality of the OS the more useful it seems to become. I hope to extend this native feel to the Mac and Linux ports if it makes sense.

Explorer Menu

This came out really nice. It was inspired by the Explorer menu in the excellent tool BeyondCompare. This basically opens just about any shell extension based tool within Torsion.

And as you can see in the screen shot... it gives you some basic access to shell integrated version control systems. It's not ideal by any means, but it's better than waiting till i had time to implement a custom integration with SVN. Now to the big feature.

Edit and Continue

This was something i wasn't planning on adding at this time, but i had a need for it in a contract job and implemented a quick hack over a few hours. I've since spent a week on it and it's pretty damn good... better than VC++ in alot of cases, but of course it can fail badly in odd situations. For those of you not in the know, Edit and Continue is something Microsoft introduced with VC++ 6 that allowed you limited editing of C++ code while your app was running. This would allow you to make some small changes to the code without requiring a stop/compile/restart of the debug session.

For TorqueScript this is a easier than doing it for VC++, but it had it's own challenges. The first naive implementation just used exec() and the 'nocalls' parameter. The problem was that the 'nocalls' param was bugged in TGE 1.4 and would crash on some script files. Also it didn't quite behave as it should... global assignments outside of functions were executed and if you removed a function from the file it would not be removed from memory. A custom solution was needed and i added two new commands to the TelnetDebugger to make it work.

Which brings us to the bad news... i haven't updated the TelnetDebugger resource with the changes just yet. So although your teased with the "Set Next Statement" and the script reload prompt dialog, you'll get an evil Bing! from Torsion as the TelnetDebugger denied you your request.

I'll try to get the update for this out very soon. :)

Stability and What's Next

A quick note. I've noticed people commenting on Torsion stability here an there. In general is pretty good, but there have been a few pesky crash bugs out there. The automated crash reports have helped, but the biggest problem is that Torsion is still in an alpha state. I regularly rework large portions of the code when inserting new core features which leads to things being more unstable than i'd like. I try hard to keep this from effecting people because i wanted to get a real IDE out to people back when TorqueScript debugging was a joke. I'm in the final stretch towards beta, so cut me a little slack please. At that point it's all stability, polish, and some crap work (docs and marketing). I won't ship something that is bug ridden. Promise! :)

I have a heavy load of contract work going on, but i'm still pushing hard towards the final. The next release will promise to complete one feature people ask alot about... Find and Replace. I almost never use it myself and it's something difficult to implement well, so it's been back burner'd for a long time now. I can't put it off any longer. I will have full Find and Replace in the next release... count on it.

You can get Torsion at the usual location:

Download Torsion
v1.0.607 Alpha

Please send bug reports and feature requests over here.

- Tom

Recent Blog Posts

List:	03/03/07 - Sickhead is hiring! 05/31/06 - Torsion Update 04/03/06 - Torsion Update & TelnetDebugger Fix 03/21/06 - Torsion Updated! 02/28/06 - Precipitation for TSE 07/18/05 - Plan for Tom Spilman 05/26/05 - Plan for Tom Spilman 05/21/05 - Plan for Tom Spilman

Submit your own resources!

Pat Wilson (May 31, 2006 at 08:41 GMT)

Woo!
Cool, Tom!

Phil Carlisle (May 31, 2006 at 09:04 GMT)

I cant stress enough how freakin useful this tool is. I mean, its so useful if you arent using it, you might as well be drilling on your own skull. Yes its *that* useful.

Nice one Tom, I was expecting the old one to expire yesterday :)

Stefan Lundmark (May 31, 2006 at 09:05 GMT)

Nice!

Ramen-sama (May 31, 2006 at 09:49 GMT)

Been awhile since i used this one. I'll try again and see if the issues i had previously are gone.
Edited on May 31, 2006 10:02 GMT

Mousey (May 31, 2006 at 09:50 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Thanks Tom, your continued work is definitely appreciated here.

Tom Spilman (May 31, 2006 at 09:56 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Thanks for the encouragement guys!

@Phil - Your quote will be on the sales page! =)

@Ramen - Please let me know what issues you had/have. I do try to resolve whatever comes up.

Ramen-sama (May 31, 2006 at 10:02 GMT)

Wow it definately seems to work alot better now.

How can i remove files from my project? It seems to just load all the files in a directory.
i only see a delete option :/

Oh my WOW, it does precompiling on my scripts... that's like spell check for my horrible syntax grammar!!!!
Edited on May 31, 2006 10:07 GMT

Tom Spilman (May 31, 2006 at 10:11 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Ramen - I assume remove everything but script files? Although that's not how it was designed to work, i could maybe add a feature which hides all files that are not script types and folders that do not contain scripts.

Do make note of the "Ignored Mod Paths" option in the project preferences... it allows you to remove those extra mod paths you don't normally work in from the tree and from the code completion engine.

And the pre-compiler does indeed rock. =)

Ramen-sama (May 31, 2006 at 10:16 GMT)

Well i keep various revisions backups of my scripts in the same folder, and having it load them up isn't what i want. I'll just throw them into a "backup" folder and call it good.

Also.... I dunno, some people might see it as some sorta "feature", but you can't copy and paste between files. Each open file seems to have it's own clipboard :/

I'd imagine it'd be impossible to oraganize and move functions from file to file.

::Edit:: ok that's weird, that behavior doesn't seem to be happening now....... odd
Edited on May 31, 2006 10:18 GMT

Tom Spilman (May 31, 2006 at 10:21 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Ramen - You can cut and paste between script files... maybe that Ctrl+V is wearing out. ;)

Anthony Rosenbaum (May 31, 2006 at 11:39 GMT)

Indeed a great IDE, thanks for all the work, I know it has benifited our developement

Gary Preston (May 31, 2006 at 11:44 GMT)

Tom: Is it possible to allow torsion to open text files regardless of the CS extension? For example with TGB the levels are saved as .t2d yet it would still be useful to open them. Perhaps a preference setting allowing you to define allowed types?

Also when reloading Torsion, it would be nice ot have the last config restored, eg if I add a DEBUG and RELEASE config, it will keep defaulting to debug.

The only other thing I can think of at the moment which is a bit of a pain is that typing a question mark doesn't appear to be allowed. I've had to copy/paste from other apps :(

Keep up the good work, Torsion rocks :)
Edited on May 31, 2006 11:44 GMT

Ron Yacketta (May 31, 2006 at 11:52 GMT)

@Phil,

I'll continue to drill on my own skull seeing that I use Linux and this wickedly kick arse tool is not available to us lesser individuals (just yet!)

-Ron

Alan H (May 31, 2006 at 12:14 GMT)

And remember kids, Linux spelled backwards is Xunil!

Can't wait to try this new version.

Tom Spilman (May 31, 2006 at 13:21 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Gary - Your still running the old version.... go install the new release. It allows you to define what extensions it treats as TorqueScript (i'll add TGB extensions as defaults once TGB is final). And my dumb question mark bug is fixed too. =)

Good call on restoring the selected config... i'll get that in.

Neo Binedell (May 31, 2006 at 16:11 GMT)

Find and replace... hmm... at the moment I have to copy, skip to notepad, find replace, copy again, paste back in torsion ;p

And I second phil, torsion is a must have and quickly on its way (if not already there) as the defacto
torque editor.

~neo

Randy Condon (May 31, 2006 at 16:29 GMT)

Thank you for getting the num-keys working again. That was driving me nuts. Oh, and thanks for the tool in general, it is exceptional.

Neo Binedell (May 31, 2006 at 16:42 GMT)

Ok, getting a bit confused now, do the current head versions of TGE/TGB/TSE contain the latest telnet debugger update or is there a newer one that I have to merge?

~neo

Jeff Gran (May 31, 2006 at 16:50 GMT)

Wow, yeah this is pretty cool, Tom. All this stuff I never knew I needed! :)

Clint S. Brewer (May 31, 2006 at 17:19 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

really awesome Tom. Nice to be able to debug script this way.

Nick Wilson (May 31, 2006 at 17:47 GMT)

Woot. I always like checking out new versions of Torsion. Find and Replace would be killer.

Tom Spilman (May 31, 2006 at 17:47 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Neo - The current versions of TSE, TGE, and TGB have the TelnetDebugger resource integrated. The only thing you need is to add this bugfix which as proven to be solid.

Neo Binedell (May 31, 2006 at 18:03 GMT)

Ah thanks tom, that should do the trick...

~neo

Paul /*Wedge*/ DElia (May 31, 2006 at 18:13 GMT)

I remember trying Torsion once way back when and... well... it sucked. I ended up trying it again when I needed something that could install easy on school computers, and now I'm using it myself. Aside from some occasional stability issues and quirky bugs, it's been fantastic so far for my needs.

Any idea what it's going to cost when it's done Tom?

Tom Spilman (May 31, 2006 at 18:46 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Paul - I'm not sure what the cost will be, but i do want to keep it very affordable.

Robert Blanchet Jr. (Jun 01, 2006 at 04:16 GMT)

Tom,

I just wanted to say thanks for this program. I use it daily here at GG on a <insert secret project> which spans dozens of files and well over 50,000 lines of script.

It has become an invaluable tool which has saved me literally hours of headache working with and debugging
such a large project.

Mincetro (Jun 01, 2006 at 10:49 GMT)

When you start charging for it, I'll buy it in a snap!
It's the most useful tool released since Constructor... wasn't
Edited on Jun 01, 2006 10:49 GMT

Tom Spilman (Jun 01, 2006 at 19:34 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Robert - Thanks! It was great to hear GG is using Torsion. Let me know if there is anything i can add to make working with such a large code base easier for you.

@Mincetro - Thanks.... but give the Constructor guys a break. :) They're working hard on getting that thing released.

Alex Rice (Jun 02, 2006 at 03:37 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Wow Tom- Been a while since I looked at Torsion. It's looking really good. The new project panel is nice. I can now run Subversion/TortoiseSVN commands right from within Torsion. Awesome :-)

Tom Spilman (Jun 02, 2006 at 05:37 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Alex - Thanks! We got a bit more to do and the year and a half long process of developing Torsion 1.0 will be over.... then work on 2.0 can begins... damn. =)

Ramen-sama (Jun 04, 2006 at 02:37 GMT)

@Tom

Ok i've been using Torision exclusively for a few days now and have some more comments :)

Where's the search and Replace that most editors have? usually Ctrl+H

Also. on searching, it'd be super if you could press up and down to cycle between previous searches like Visual Studios and other editors.

Tom Spilman (Jun 04, 2006 at 19:36 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Ramen - Ah you didn't read the plan...

Quote:
The next release will promise to complete one feature people ask alot about... Find and Replace.

As far as the up/down arrows i assume you mean in the find dialog. Yea i need to fix that as what you see now is the windows default find dialog. I need to design a custom one that includes a drop down list.
Edited on Jun 04, 2006 19:36 GMT

Ramen-sama (Jun 04, 2006 at 19:41 GMT)

Sorry :) i thought i did read the plan.

I also got another suggestion.

clicking the [...] button doesn't do anything.

Tom Spilman (Jun 05, 2006 at 20:16 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Ramen - Duh... thanks... i'll get that fix.

Alberto Ganesh Barbati (Jun 06, 2006 at 13:44 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Hi Tom, I have been using Torsion for a while and really it's a great product. Thanks a lot. About stability issues, I had very rare crashes with version 549, but this new version is *very* unstable. Am I the only one who is experiencing that? It crashes randomly without any reason, while just editing the code. It happens at least once every 10/20 minutes of use. Hope this will get fixed soon. Although I'm eager to use the new nice features, I would prefer using the previous version, which was more stable, but, alas, it expired.

Tom Spilman (Jun 06, 2006 at 18:07 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Alberto - There is a really stupid bug in wxWindows which i found and fixed that is causing these code completion crashes. I'll have a bug fix build out by tomorrow that includes this and a few other critical fixes to stabilize what is out there before i move on to the next set of features.

... and no... Search and Replace isn't done yet. ;)

Alberto Ganesh Barbati (Jun 06, 2006 at 20:53 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Tom - That's so good to hear. Thanks! I can't wait to have this fix. BTW: did I mention how lovely it is that you can access the explorer context menu from inside Torsion? Being a fond user of TortoiseSVN that basically integrates most of my SCM workflow right inside the IDE! That's simply amazing! It even makes me forget about search & replace! :D

Tom Spilman (Jun 07, 2006 at 09:04 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

FYI.

I got a bugfix release out this morning that addresses some showstoppers people were having as well as a few minor ones.

Quote:

- 1.0.614 Alpha - June 7th, 2006 -

* We now store and restore the selection highlight colors.
* Removed old hardcode which would always replace the Terminal font with Courier New.
* We now store and restore the last selected config when we open a project.
* Save As is working again for scripts and can now be used to save project as well.
* We now display and error message when debug hook code cannot be injected.
* Fixed bug in debug injection which failed to detect errors related to read only files.
* Enter key now works in project tree view to open single or multiple items.
* Fixed major wxWindows bug that was causing crashes during code completion.
* The 'No' button is now the default in the "There were script errors. Continue?" message box.
* Removed conflicting Alt+C accelerator in Find in Files dialog.

The wxWindows bug fix is the biggie... this will solve the stability issues some users were experiencing.

Enjoy!
Edited on Jun 07, 2006 09:08 GMT

Neo Binedell (Jun 07, 2006 at 09:41 GMT)

Hah, just in time... Torsion has been crashing every 2 minutes but I found that just leaving the first exception message box there would allow me to continue as if no bug was present ;p

Great stuff and I think I'll nominate Torsion as the number 1 must have tool.

I love the fact that its so similar to Visual Studio. I usually have VS open on one monitor, torsion on another, and run TGB on the third.

The debugging just plain kicks ass and I'm sure it will silence all those whipcrackers about wanting to
do everything in C++.

Kudos tom.

~neo

Alberto Ganesh Barbati (Jun 07, 2006 at 14:28 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Great job Tom! And thanks for the last two changes also, it was me who reported them ;)

Pisal Setthawong (Jul 17, 2006 at 12:52 GMT)

On a short note, the current alpha version is already expired. When is the next Torsion build coming out? If so I'm interesting in pre-ordering the app. Any discount for that :P

Alberto Ganesh Barbati (Jul 17, 2006 at 13:13 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Ugh. That sucks. Fortunately, I am currently stuck in optimizing C++ code, so I don't need Torsion right now, but it would have been a great impediment for me if it had happened in a more script-oriented production phase. Please Tom, release a new alpha or propose some kind of "early adopters" program... working with the fear that one of your tools might expire one day or another is not a nice feeling.

Tom Spilman (Jul 17, 2006 at 18:12 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

I put out a new version late last night, but i didn't update the version number on the download page or put out a plan (was really busy with stuff). Anyway... the new release is out. I hope to put up a plan about it in the next day or so.

Alberto Ganesh Barbati (Jul 17, 2006 at 23:47 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

Got it! Thanks Tom. Keep up with the good job. Anyway, please think about that Early Adopter thing. Torsion is so good that I'm starting to wonder why you still consider it alpha. I've seen (and, sadly, used) professional production tools that were much less stable and with lot more serious bugs. I'm not joking!

Tom Spilman (Jul 18, 2006 at 00:11 GMT) Resource Rating: 5

@Alberto - I still consider it alpha because it is not yet feature complete. I have a few things left on the list:

Add configurable user tools menu.
Replace in Files.
Finish simple print support.
Add special locals view to watch window.
Finalize the code browser features.
Finalize code completion features.

... and then i feel ok calling it a beta and focusing solely on bug fixes, docs, and marketing materials. ;)
Edited on Jul 18, 2006 00:12 GMT

You must be a member and be logged in to either append comments or rate this resource.