Project mixing

[Ndi]

Hi.

The IDE is driving me nuts. By default, the Open dialog is set for "PAS", so when selecting files it opens a PAS file instead of a project. As a result, I keep opening .PAS files. Also, the recent list also seems to keep PAS files, so every time I select a recent file it goes to a PAS.

If I want to switch project, I just go File> Recent> first entry; it just seems intuitive. This allows easy swapping back and forth. Because the IDE keeps PAS files there, instead of jumping a project, it ADDS the last file to this project and, as a result, building a project and writing a chip ends up with the wrong image burned into it. This is annoying as heck.

Several times I had to go through all my projects, manually, and remove files that have been linked from other projects. The recent list should keep projects, or both projects and pascal files and, when opening a project, it should flush all other files - otherwise they get mangled up. Additionally, it makes it very hard to hop projects, like, for example, a sender and a receiver project. Right now, sender.pas and sender.mppav are linked together, as is recv.pas and recv.mppav. If, with sender.mppav open I click recent and pick "recv", then recv.pas is added to sender project. Which software is burned onto the chip is not immediately obvious.

Right now, I choose "Close all" every time, and have unchecked re-opening the last project as it is increasingly unwieldy, but it still gets me from time to time. If you open send.mppav, then choose "open" (Ctrl+O), the dialog still shows "D:\Admin\ProjectsA\Send\Send.mppav", so it looks exactly like it opens a project. So you navigate to ..\Recv\ and select "recv". Which is bad, because the filter is set to "pas", even though the fle is mppav, so you choose the only file in "recv" which is "recv.PAS". Which adds recv.pas to sender project and so on and so forth. File opens, you edit, burn, save and close, but the chip is written with sender binary. Saving it means that next time I open the project, it shows me recv.pas, but writes send.pas.

It should not assume that all open files belong to the current project. Better yet, it should have an open project and an open file menus in Open, like most editors. Delphi has it best:

File
Open ...
Open Project ...
Recent >
DPR
DPR
DPR
----------
PAS
PAS.

Opening projects in Delphi clear all open projects AND open files. When project is restored, all open WINDOWS are restored (save desktop), including files one opened for viewing. Adding files to a project is done via Add file menu/dialog.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have teeth marks to polish off my monitor. I've been writing one file into the chip, editing another.

--

Minor edit: Rephrased a little as it appears from my post that MP could not open projects (it can, via Project menu). What I am suggesting is centralized Open menu.

And for the compiler to not add files that were opened to current project - only files that are explicitly added via menu.

[filip]

Hi,

I have carefully read your post, and I believe that all of your issues can be solved using Project and File menu appropriately
If you wish to open projects, you should use Project Menu, rather than the File Menu which is used for opening files.

Centralized menu that you have proposed sounds interesting, but I doubt that the current mechanism that is implemented in the IDE will be changed.

Regards,
Filip.