FG Studio 2008

[Foen]

Just a quick post to announce that I'm working (part time) on a community project, sponsored by Digital Adventures, to create a development environment for Fantasy Grounds based on Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 (VS2008).

This project has a number of elements:

A plug-in to support Lua scripting as a native language in VS, which can be installed by anyone who already has the VS2008 environment;
A stand-alone version, with Lua and (hopefully) XML support, for folks who don't already have VS2008; and
Potentially some additional components for creating/managing FG ruleset and extension projects.

The last bit is the least developed.

All of the above will be freely available, restricted only by Microsoft for redistributing their VS2008 environment. However, we won't be publishing the source code (which remains the property of me and Digital Adventures).

Please note that this is intended for developers, and is not a WYSIWYG editor for FG rulesets (unlike DrDeth's RuleForge project).

The Lua language plug-in is well advanced and currently supports the following facilities:

Syntax-colouring for Lua;
Automatic brace matching, showing (), {} and [] pairs; and
Some indenting (auto-indent on pressing ENTER, and support for the Edit->Advanced->Format functions).


It does not yet support (but we're working on):

Auto-indent on PASTE;
Outlining (collapsible regions); and
Proper support for UNDO (which is only partially supported at the moment).


And we don't intend to support:

A Lua interpreter to debug the scripts.


I've attached a few screen shots, and will post the install files on the DA website and possibly the FG Wiki as they become ready.

Cheers

Foen

[Oberoten]

One word on this : EPIC

[Culdraug]

This sounds interesting. Do you have a list someone could sign up for? I use VS 2008 for most of my work. This could be helpful to learn Lua.

[Foen]

There is no need to sign up - I have hijacked Obe's FG Wiki to include a page on the FG Studio project (https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/FG_Studio).

The installer for adding Lua to Visual Studio can be downloaded from that page.

Foen

[Valarian]

Will this work with the free version of Visual Studio?
Does it validate the FG syntax and Lua calls (as set out in the reference docs)?
If so, does it do type ahead for syntax (show methods available when you enter a dot)?

[Foen]

I don't know if this will work with the Express versions of VS, I'd guess not but please let me know if it does. It does not validate the FG object model, not least because Lua isn't strongly typed, but I am planning to include Lua library support (math.floor, string.lower etc) for a future release.

Foen

[Oberoten]

I can sadly report it doesn't work with the express version.

- Obe

[Foen]

I didn't think it would. Sounds like I need to hurry up and release the full FG Studio app then.

Foen

[Valarian]

Not really, I'm using JEdit (www.jedit.org) as a text editor. It's a free tool and does all the necessary highlighting etc. The only thing missing is the validation and code aids / lookups.

In hindsight, a plugin for one of the free IDE tools (such as Eclipse) may have been a better bet. The full Visual Studio suite is expensive and is going to limit your market.

[Foen]

In hindsight, a plugin for one of the free IDE tools (such as Eclipse) may have been a better bet. The full Visual Studio suite is expensive and is going to limit your market.

Yes and no - working with VS means we can at least release _something_ to the community as I use VS all the time and don't have to start from scratch developing for a new platform. Also the intention is to release a FREE editor, using the VS redistributable shell (it will load the Lua language editor and should have XML and other standard VS stuff bundled).

On the other hand, if there are folks who are quite happy using Eclipse etc, then this won't be a compelling reason to change.

I'm not looking to convince anyone - we're just sharing some stuff is all :)

Stuart

[Foen]

Okies, hopefully getting there.

I've built a stand-alone app to host Lua scripting and XML, using the VS shell, and hope to test it a bit this weekend. If all goes well I'll post the first cut of the FG Studio environment by the end of Sunday.

Teaser splash screen attached :D

Foen

[MeepoSose]

This would be useful. I already use VS2008 foe editing scripts so I can benefit from the Find All feature but it would be nice to have syntax highlighting as well.

[Viriatha]

Wait a second... does this mean those of us who are clueless at using LUA and XML could make modules easily? Or is it just a tool ot make it easier to code in those formats?

[Oberoten]

From how I understand it this will make it easier to code, there is not (yet) a graphical IDE design part? (( PLEASE tell me I am wrong? ))

[Foen]

Malheuresement, you are quite right: it is a code editor not a design tool. You'd need to look at DrDeth's RuleForge for the latter.

Foen

[Foen]

Ok, first test seems to work:

Installed the development environment on a Vista Business (x64) PC
Launched the IDE and opened an XML file and a Lua script
The IDE correctly coloured the two files, so the language services are working
Closed the IDE and double-clicked on a .lua file, successfully launching the IDE and opening the lua file

That is just about enough working parts for this to be released as an early alpha (v0.1). I'll post the setup (MSI file, zipped) on the FG Wiki, and would be delighted to hear from anyone who tries it out.

Cheers

Foen

[Foen]

I've posted the installer on the FG Wiki here (https://oberoten.dyndns.org/fgwiki/index.php/FG_Studio).

Foen

[MeepoSose]

The install failed for me somewhere near the end of the installation. I'm installing on a Windows Ultimate 64-bit OS with VS2008 Standard already installed. Here are the details from the event log for MsiInstaller:



Log Name: Application
Source: MsiInstaller
Date: 1/31/2009 2:26:28 PM
Event ID: 11722
Task Category: None
Level: Error
Keywords: Classic
User: Quad\Doug
Computer: Quad
Description:
Product: Fantasy Grounds Studio -- Error 1722. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. Action _53B98566_6E62_4186_8DE9_D8E1E6E50834, location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Digital Adventures\Fantasy Grounds Studio\FGIDE.exe, command: /setup
Event Xml:
<Event xmlns="https://schemas.microsoft.com/win/2004/08/events/event">
<System>
<Provider Name="MsiInstaller" />
<EventID Qualifiers="0">11722</EventID>
<Level>2</Level>
<Task>0</Task>
<Keywords>0x80000000000000</Keywords>
<TimeCreated SystemTime="2009-01-31T20:26:28.000Z" />
<EventRecordID>5335</EventRecordID>
<Channel>Application</Channel>
<Computer>Quad</Computer>
<Security UserID="S-1-5-21-627367470-572427668-3605413073-1000" />
</System>
<EventData>
<Data>Product: Fantasy Grounds Studio -- Error 1722. There is a problem with this Windows Installer package. A program run as part of the setup did not finish as expected. Contact your support personnel or package vendor. Action _53B98566_6E62_4186_8DE9_D8E1E6E50834, location: C:\Program Files (x86)\Digital Adventures\Fantasy Grounds Studio\FGIDE.exe, command: /setup </Data>
<Data>(NULL)</Data>
<Data>(NULL)</Data>
<Data>(NULL)</Data>
<Data>(NULL)</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Data>
</Data>
<Binary>7B37463432343235312D383335332D343230362D393346342D 4335343937304444354543437D</Binary>
</EventData>
</Event>

[MeepoSose]

Also, I have UAC turned off if that matters.

[Foen]

Ohh err.

I have UAC turned off too, but didn't get a problem.

Do you have Windows Installer logging enabled (https://support.microsoft.com/kb/223300)? If so, please would you post the log?

Cheers

Stuart

[Foen]

Sorry for the delay - I've been having a heck of a time trying to understand and implement project types. Yuck!

[Zeus]

Foen/Doug - Is this project still alive and in development?

It would be incredibly useful to have the tool extended.

[Foen]

The project is shelved for now, as I don't have the time to devote to it. Sorry :(

Foen

[ddavison]

It is in the back of our mind but not on the short term list of things for us to look into. I imagine me will pick a few important issues to focus on, get those completed and then look at the list of tasks again and pick another batch to focus on. If the community feels very strongly about a feature then it will probably get bumped up in priority, but ultimately it will be based on what we feel we can knock out successfully. I doubt that we will ever really prioritize the entire list from beginning to end.

[Zeus]

Fair do's. I understand what it's like.

I pretty much use multiple instances of Notepad++ with a few plugins at the moment and whilst it would be nice to have a Lua/XML IDE, I can work quite productively using the current approach.

Thanks for the update.