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Hi folks,

I've been using TextPad every working day for the last 7-8 years. It's fantastic. However, I've recently had to start using an IDE for some PHP coding (sniff), because the DBG debugger doesn't have an interface and needs supported IDE.

However, it would seem that it's not too tricky to support it and add new COM classes which tie in with new IDEs.

That got me thinking. We all know that TextPad should remain as generic as possible. How about creating a new menu in TextPad with the Run, Debug, Step Into, Step Over, Step Out, Stop Debugging, Add Watch, Add Breakpoint, Clear Watches, Clear Breakpoints, Profile etc. and a new Clip Library type window which listed the current variables, watches, output etc. Then these would call add on wrappers which in turn could work with DBG, JDBG and other desired debuggers.

The facility would be built in to TextPad, but the API would have to be written seperately. Helios would kick us off with a couple of useful ones (DBG for PHP please ;¬)) and then others could be added as needed. TextPad as a lightweight multi-language IDE ;¬)

Is this unfeasable/missing the point?

That would really make my day. I don't like having to load a big clumsy IDE just for a few helpful features. Right now, I have a few macros (using a third-party program) combined with TextPad's tools feature to make things a little easier, but it could be better.

Then if we just had complex code and syntax formatting features as found in editors like Relo, SciTE, and SharpDevelop, and maybe some auto-completion and visual debugging ala MSVS....

Heh, of course these things are all better said than done, but I think they are certainly worth keeping in mind for the future.

yeh that would be nice if u do this..

I found out a way to turn TextPad into an IDE; there are enough hooks in TextPad to workaround, to cover all the debugger essentials. These hooks were not meant to turn TextPad into a real IDE, however they are suitable and successfully work in turning TextPad into a real IDE with single-step/breakpoint/variable watch/error highlight feature.

See this:
http://textpad.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5682