Announcing mCode
by Lars Boldt · in Torque Game Engine · 01/10/2005 (4:55 pm) · 20 replies
Hi everyone!
Application: mCode
Type: Code editor
Release: Early february
Platform: Windows only
Price: Free
mCode, is the new Code editor i've been working on since December. mCode is one of many applications to come in a series called mPack which all will focus on game development.
As i'm sure some of you know, this is the result of splitting and enhancing the previous Torque Explorer.
Features and enhancements: (compared with the Torque Explorer code editor)
- MDI Application (Gives you text windows which you can tile and cascade)
- Customizable menu. Align it left, right, hide it, size it, go icon mode for more work space...
- Better implementation of skin support.
- Language support. Customize absolutely every part of the language involved. Adding new languages is a simple matter of notepad editing. Anyone can do it!
- Supports all the same code editor features that Torque Explorer had, with all the bugs fixed!
- Scripts & Custom Actions. Possibly the coolest part. Using the built-in script system, written from scratch, you can make your own buttons on the toolbar.
With the script system the user is able to make mCode perform specific actions like delete all .dso files and run exe files...
Stay tuned for more!
Lars
Application: mCode
Type: Code editor
Release: Early february
Platform: Windows only
Price: Free
mCode, is the new Code editor i've been working on since December. mCode is one of many applications to come in a series called mPack which all will focus on game development.
As i'm sure some of you know, this is the result of splitting and enhancing the previous Torque Explorer.
Features and enhancements: (compared with the Torque Explorer code editor)
- MDI Application (Gives you text windows which you can tile and cascade)
- Customizable menu. Align it left, right, hide it, size it, go icon mode for more work space...
- Better implementation of skin support.
- Language support. Customize absolutely every part of the language involved. Adding new languages is a simple matter of notepad editing. Anyone can do it!
- Supports all the same code editor features that Torque Explorer had, with all the bugs fixed!
- Scripts & Custom Actions. Possibly the coolest part. Using the built-in script system, written from scratch, you can make your own buttons on the toolbar.
With the script system the user is able to make mCode perform specific actions like delete all .dso files and run exe files...
Stay tuned for more!
Lars
About the author
#2
01/10/2005 (9:46 pm)
As somewhat of a feature request, I would like to see tabbed windows. It looks like you know how to do this from Torque Explorer, but I'm not a big fan of coding tools that don't have tabbable windows for editing code. I like to be able to open a few files and switch between them quickly while having the most space possible.
#3
After spending about 12 hours straight getting things done mCode is starting to shape up nicely. One thing Torque Explorer lacked was Color Profiles. This time I made sure you could save a set of colors easily and switch between them fast.
I know there's alot of different color schemes around, and people like different things.
Therefore, I'm checking if any of you out there want to get an early copy and help come up with nice color profiles. Anyone can select a set of colors, but not everyone are able to pick colors that actually go well with everything.
This is a time consuming task and that's why I want some help. I would like to have 10-15 different Color profiles when I release it.
Mail me at lars at magikastudios dot com if you want to help out!
Cheers!
01/11/2005 (12:00 am)
Little update plus a plea for help :)After spending about 12 hours straight getting things done mCode is starting to shape up nicely. One thing Torque Explorer lacked was Color Profiles. This time I made sure you could save a set of colors easily and switch between them fast.
I know there's alot of different color schemes around, and people like different things.
Therefore, I'm checking if any of you out there want to get an early copy and help come up with nice color profiles. Anyone can select a set of colors, but not everyone are able to pick colors that actually go well with everything.
This is a time consuming task and that's why I want some help. I would like to have 10-15 different Color profiles when I release it.
Mail me at lars at magikastudios dot com if you want to help out!
Cheers!
#4
01/11/2005 (9:43 pm)
Id love to help out, Lars! Im a graphic designer by trade, so this is right up my ally. :) 
#5
01/13/2005 (7:34 am)
Can't wait Lars ! I welcome to help with color schemes, no garantees mine will be as good as wanted, but I can try and find a scheme that seems easy to code to.
#6
Feedback, color profiles and other suggestions will be nice.
I just need to get one issue fixed and i'll post the links to a copy of the editor. Hopefully within 24-48 hours.
Lars
01/13/2005 (7:47 am)
I will put up download links here to some early versions so you guys can play around with it.Feedback, color profiles and other suggestions will be nice.
I just need to get one issue fixed and i'll post the links to a copy of the editor. Hopefully within 24-48 hours.
Lars
#8
neatos! i think i might be better off with this than TribalIDE...
01/13/2005 (6:19 pm)
*is now watching this topic*neatos! i think i might be better off with this than TribalIDE...
#9
Another thing I wanted to *try* to implement was an intelligent code parser that sums up the important bits. How successful I am/was will show when you guys start using it I guess :-)
The problems I faced is coping with different coding styles, one like spaces here and there, some like to start on the same line with { and others jump one down etc...
You can edit a text file that has a wordlist that tells the parser what to look for.
It looks like this:
function,Functions,()
package,Packages,
This tells the parser to look for the word function in the text file, adds a category named Functions and puts () after each word after the word function.
This makes it easy for everyone to add their own inventions. Let's say you extended the script language with something called waffle then you could easily edit the file like this:
function,Functions,()
package,Packages,
waffle,Waffles,{}
It's hard to tell how useful things are at any given stage, but my focus is, unimportant or not, make it customizable. As much as possible atleast.
Until next time!
01/14/2005 (7:39 am)
Sorry for the huge size here.Another thing I wanted to *try* to implement was an intelligent code parser that sums up the important bits. How successful I am/was will show when you guys start using it I guess :-)
The problems I faced is coping with different coding styles, one like spaces here and there, some like to start on the same line with { and others jump one down etc...
You can edit a text file that has a wordlist that tells the parser what to look for.
It looks like this:
function,Functions,()
package,Packages,
This tells the parser to look for the word function in the text file, adds a category named Functions and puts () after each word after the word function.
This makes it easy for everyone to add their own inventions. Let's say you extended the script language with something called waffle then you could easily edit the file like this:
function,Functions,()
package,Packages,
waffle,Waffles,{}
It's hard to tell how useful things are at any given stage, but my focus is, unimportant or not, make it customizable. As much as possible atleast.
Until next time!
#10
01/14/2005 (7:45 am)
I could see how that could be usefull... say you want to see everytime a function is called, a variable is referenced, etc, so you'd have a big list of it all, rather than searching through each one singularly...
#11
01/18/2005 (3:11 pm)
I am liking the look of this new versin Lars. Excellent Work. looking forward to more and to be able to test drive it :D
#12
I decided I wanted to get abit more done on it first as well as iron out as many as bugs I know about.
I'm on schedule though, so I'm positive I will have a version 1.0 ready for early february as stated above.
01/19/2005 (2:50 am)
MCode isn't finished yet and there's no download links as of yet.I decided I wanted to get abit more done on it first as well as iron out as many as bugs I know about.
I'm on schedule though, so I'm positive I will have a version 1.0 ready for early february as stated above.
#14
01/20/2005 (2:26 pm)
Cool-looking Lars, looks like good work so far. We sure would love to see a script editor built on Torque's GUI / in-engine too. :)
#15
I look forward to seeing this, if it is nice enough, I may drop my all-in-one editor project, :P
01/30/2005 (1:11 pm)
This uses Microsoft .NET right? It has the distinct look and feel of it.I look forward to seeing this, if it is nice enough, I may drop my all-in-one editor project, :P
#16
02/19/2005 (8:39 am)
Hey Lars, nice job so far. Any news on the progress of mCode yet?
#17
Josh: I thought someone did attempt to do just that, although stopped when they realized the amount of work needed to be done with the GUI controls?
Robert: No, this is written in Delphi 2005 Win32 VCL.
Roland: Soon :-)
I hope to be able to update this thread with some more info in the near future when things calm down abit.
Lars
02/21/2005 (5:42 am)
Sorry about late responses. Been working with some tough deadlines lately so I haven't had time to update this thread.Josh: I thought someone did attempt to do just that, although stopped when they realized the amount of work needed to be done with the GUI controls?
Robert: No, this is written in Delphi 2005 Win32 VCL.
Roland: Soon :-)
I hope to be able to update this thread with some more info in the near future when things calm down abit.
Lars
#18
02/21/2005 (9:19 am)
Wow this looks really cool, I like the whole code library thing where it looks like you can just click a snippet and it will paste it in for you. Can't wait to see this, I'm definately watching this thread now.
#19
03/30/2005 (5:32 pm)
Any updates on this?
Torque Owner nibbuls
Great job!