Method List for Current File

[daveqr]

It would be nice to have a floating function/method list for the current file.

[trids]

You can easily build your own solution for this, using TextPad's custom tools feature. See .. Cool Tools to use with TextPad - Grep

[Frank Fesevur]

I wrote a ctags add-on that is available for download from the 'Add-ons' - 'Utilities' page.

[csalsa]

I have been waiting years, since Textpad 3.x, for a method list to be added to the Textpad editor. Every few months I revisit the site to see if it has been added as a feature.

I work with software code developers using C++, C#, VB, Python etc and always the deciding factor against using Textpad is the lack of an integrated method list. You are loosing many potential new users to other text editor products.

I know that code can be added to scan and build a method list, however, all these approaches I have come across require the user to press some button to refresh the method list. The method list should be 'smartly' and automatically updated on code changes to the current window. Refreshing the method list manually is second-rate.

Note that people responding to a poll like this one will already be Textpad users will have chosen to use Textpad in spite of not having a method list. Those who want a method list will have decided to use another text editor and not be responding to this poll. Again these are the lost potential users of a great product.

Modern editors, like the editor in Visual Studio.NET, allows regions of code to be collapsed. And I am coming to expect this feature as a standard text editor method. Method lists have been on that list for years.

I like Textpad and I am taking the time to make this post to be heard. Until the method list is added to Textpad, I will continue to suffer to use Ultraedit.

[Tyriel]

Bookmarks work well for my needs, even with several thousand lines of code in a file. Still, if they're going to add features for collapseable code branches, this would be a good extension.

[devdanke]

This feature request (id=3933) is very similar to another one. The other feature request is titled "Support for Tag Files" and has ID=4157. Merging these two requests could give a more accurate idea of how important TextPad users think this feature is.

It would be great if TextPad let me to jump around a large file to different methods. CTAG support, or something like it, might be a flexible way to achieve this.

[Nial]

> It would be great if TextPad let me to jump around a large file to
> different methods. CTAG support, or something like it, might be a
> flexible way to achieve this.

If you look at my thread on using Grep which Trids has a link to
above you can easily do this.

One problem is that the list of whatever you're looking for is thrown
up into the command results window, so you've to jump back and
forwards between different active windows. I've an enhancement
request posted for a floating (modeless?) command results window
which would make this much easier.

I don't want to see this hard coded into Textpad unless you can customise
what's being searched for. I'm not a software engineer so hard coded
method declaration searches would be extra functionality I wouldn't
use.

Nial.

[Drxenos]

I don't want to see this hard coded into Textpad unless you can customise
what's being searched for. I'm not a software engineer so hard coded
method declaration searches would be extra functionality I wouldn't
use.

Nial.

That's why we are asking for something like ctags. Although its original purpose is to create links to type declarations, functions, method, etc., a ctags file can contain links to anything. You can to various methods in the file for locating the information, such as line numbers or regular expressions. The TextPad team are (obviously) good programmers, and NO good programmer would hardcode anything unnecessarily.

[csalsa]

Good to see some discussion here. Overall, I do not care of the implementation (using CTags or not) so long as I have the functionality.

What I want is a window that will give the list of the methods/functions in the current source window. When a new souce window becomes active the method/function list automatically updates if changes are detected in the souce code.

The key here is automatic. I do not want to press keys or run commands to update the window.

[csalsa]

You can see how CTAGs would be integrated into Textpad by checking out the editor Ultraedit. Open some C++ files and select from the Ultraedit menu 'View --> View/Lists --> Function List.

A help page on CTAGs on the Ultraedit website shows that this is the engine driving its method/function list feature (And CTAGs appears to be the way to go) CTAGS Help

You can see that Exuberant Ctags already supports 33 programming languages that are listed below.

Languages Supported by Exuberant Ctags:

1. Assembler
2. ASP
3. Awk
4. BETA
5. C
6. C++
7. C#
8. COBOL
9. Eiffel
10. Erlang
11. Fortran
12. HTML
13. Java
14. JavaScript
15. Lisp
16. Lua
17. Make
18. Pascal
19. Perl
20. PHP
21. PL/SQL
22. Python
23. REXX
24. Ruby
25. Scheme
26. Shell scripts (Bourne/Korn/Z)
27. S-Lang
28. SML (Standard ML)
29. Tcl
30. Vera
31. Verilog
32. Vim
33. YACC

PS. I prefer Textpad to Ultraedit but, for me, an automtated method/fuction list is a critical feature of a good edtor.

[rongoral]

I am completely in favor of this enhancement. Even as there are syntax files for different languages, there could be similar files for method/variable location. In fact, it would be very nice to be able to locate methods/variables for an entire project. Dare I even dream of some sort of auto-complete or at least prompting for arguments when invoking a method? I am currently debating the feasibility of continuing to use Textpad for this reason and a couple others. This is high on my list of needed things. A couple others are function collapsing, better integration with source backup/version control (like Visual Source Safe), and better project management. My perl writing has taken on proportions I never dreamed of when I started using Textpad. Now, however, I'm finding that I need more functionality than is available.

[kaimiddleton]

I think I don't fully understand the CTAGS discussion. My main confusion centers around this: are people wanting new functionality in TextPad to help use CTAGS or can people simply use the add-in that Frank Fesevur wrote? I looked at his page though I haven't downloaded and tried it.

[rongoral]

I've tried the CTAGS add-in and cannot get it to work properly for me. Maybe I just had a bad day. The descriptions I've heard of it seem to make the functionality sound kind of busy (click this, refresh that, switch documents, etc.). If I could have it all, I'd want an environment like Komodo (without the price tag). But, I'd settle for something like is found in SitePad or some of those other apps.

Can I justify this for everyone? Pro'ly not. But, Textpad has taken on the role of more than a simple text editor. And while the idea of being able to tack on outside apps to help with this one is appealing in the open-source kind of mind-set, I frankly don't have the time to try to either a) write my own, or b) figure out someone else's.

As I've said in another thread, I like Textpad. It's an awesome program and very versitile. But my needs for an editor are changing. I'm writing "scripts" with thousands of lines of code, creating objects, libraries, etc. and it is becoming more and more difficult to keep track of it all. Versioning, more structured project management, task tracking, source code protection, debugging, a method/variable list, folding methods and a few more items are on my list of things I want/need in an editor. And if Textpad could meet those needs, or even just most of them, that would be great. I'd pay 10 times more than the current license fees (no I'm not exaggerating). I'd use a larger application. And from what I've seen from these programmers, they'd do an incredible job with it.

However, from what I've read on this forum, it would appear that this enhancement, and several of the others I'd like to see, will probably not get worked in. Too bad. =(

[joel]

The key here is automatic. I do not want to press keys or run commands to update the window.

I'd prefer to see some framework so that add-ons like methods list or auto-complete could be added by users, but that's a big change. OTOH, if the developers try to implement the most asked-for features, they'll probably end up with somthing like that anyway.
Even on its own, though, this is a good idea.

--Joel

[PaoloM]

I am a software developer, so this kind of feature is very important in my work, but I agree with some previuos comment in thinking that maybe we are asking too much from a general text editor. In my humble opinion, turning TextPad into a generic Integrated Development Environment would be extremely difficult