Hi there,

Although the following questions may seem fairly trivial, buying a new development environment is not just about spending money. As I have a fair sized project in Visual C++ .NET 2002 it will take time to get used to the new IDDE and it's not just about buying as much as it is about investing. I've made the decision to switch because I'm not prepared to pay £100 for a non optimizing compiler that I get absolutly no support on and that is obsolete within a year with no upgrade path so I have to spend another £100 to those money grabbing bar stewards!!!

Anyway, so far the Digital Mars compiler seems to fit the bill for ANSI standard compiler with continous upgrades and plenty of online support. I just have a few questions mainly regarding the IDDE.

1. What can be syntax highlighted? Can non fixed pitch fonts be used?
2. Are the Class Wizards customizable? Do they only work for MFC or can they be
configured to generate custom classes?
3. How can the views be customized?
4. Not essential but does the IDDE support any kind of autocomplete? Support for
autocomplete in VC++ is pointless because it doesn't handle nested namespaces
which I use quite a lot.
5. Are there any problems converting a project from VC++ to DMC++?
6. Does the IDDE have a tree view? VC++ has a pointless notion of virtual
folders which drives me mad. Why they don't just take the folder structure from
the file system I don't quite know. They seem to think everyone will use the
source files/header files/resources structure which is useless when your project
consists of several hundred classes/files (I use one class per file as with
Java).

I guess a screen shot of the IDDE would be nice. I've seen a few snippets in the docs but a full screen shot would give me a better idea. I'm planning on adding my own tools so if there is any support for this in the IDDE it would be useful to know. I've wrote a macro in VB for VC++ that generates a class from a template file which I use a lot so being able to do something similar would be an added bonus.

Sorry for the long post I guess for $30 I could just buy it but as I said it's an investment as once I've found the right product I want to stick with it.

Thanks,
Phil

Sorry I didn't mean questions about VC++. The questions are about DMC++ and rant is for VC++ incase I mislead anyone :)

Thanks.
Phil


"Phil Thompson" <Phil_member@pathlink.com> wrote in message news:b8avh9$5ho$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> Hi there,
>
> Although the following questions may seem fairly trivial, buying a new development environment is not just about spending money. As I have a fair
sized
> project in Visual C++ .NET 2002 it will take time to get used to the new
IDDE
> and it's not just about buying as much as it is about investing. I've made
the
> decision to switch because I'm not prepared to pay £100 for a non
optimizing
> compiler that I get absolutly no support on and that is obsolete within a
year
> with no upgrade path so I have to spend another £100 to those money
grabbing bar
> stewards!!!
>
> Anyway, so far the Digital Mars compiler seems to fit the bill for ANSI
standard
> compiler with continous upgrades and plenty of online support. I just have
a few
> questions mainly regarding the IDDE.
>
> 1. What can be syntax highlighted? Can non fixed pitch fonts be used? 2. Are the Class Wizards customizable? Do they only work for MFC or can
they be
> configured to generate custom classes?
> 3. How can the views be customized?
> 4. Not essential but does the IDDE support any kind of autocomplete?
Support for
> autocomplete in VC++ is pointless because it doesn't handle nested
namespaces
> which I use quite a lot.
> 5. Are there any problems converting a project from VC++ to DMC++?
> 6. Does the IDDE have a tree view? VC++ has a pointless notion of virtual
> folders which drives me mad. Why they don't just take the folder structure
from
> the file system I don't quite know. They seem to think everyone will use
the
> source files/header files/resources structure which is useless when your
project
> consists of several hundred classes/files (I use one class per file as
with
> Java).
>
> I guess a screen shot of the IDDE would be nice. I've seen a few snippets
in the
> docs but a full screen shot would give me a better idea. I'm planning on
adding
> my own tools so if there is any support for this in the IDDE it would be
useful
> to know. I've wrote a macro in VB for VC++ that generates a class from a template file which I use a lot so being able to do something similar
would be
> an added bonus.
>
> Sorry for the long post I guess for $30 I could just buy it but as I said
it's
> an investment as once I've found the right product I want to stick with
it.
>
> Thanks,
> Phil
>
>

Phil Thompson wrote:
> 1. What can be syntax highlighted? Can non fixed pitch fonts be used?

Highlight any keyword _YOU_ define. Standard provided are C C++ and MFC and PREPROCESSOR keywords. No you have to use fixed pitch fonts in the editor

> 2. Are the Class Wizards customizable? Do they only work for MFC or can they be configured to generate custom classes?

They work for MFC and your own custom classes and 3rd party class lib classes.

> 3. How can the views be customized?

What do you mean? Workspaces? Or the contents of the project window? Workspaces max 5, completely custom definable, for example my "editting workspace: has the projectwindow left, the output window at the bottom, the edittor windows all over the place.

> 4. Not essential but does the IDDE support any kind of autocomplete? Support for autocomplete in VC++ is pointless because it doesn't handle nested namespaces which I use quite a lot.

No not that i'm aware of.

> 5. Are there any problems converting a project from VC++ to DMC++?

Depends on your defenition of 'converting'

> 6. Does the IDDE have a tree view? VC++ has a pointless notion of virtual

No no virtual folders. You mau define project inside project inside projects etc. That will give a tree, clickig a leaf project shows all the source files in the left project-pane with the colums (user selectable) filename filename-extension filepath date time parsed exe/dll virtual. You could also swicth the view to show also the include files dependecies etc. And of course you can sort the view on any column!

> folders which drives me mad. Why they don't just take the folder structure from the file system I don't quite know. They seem to think everyone will use the source files/header files/resources structure which is useless when your project consists of several hundred classes/files (I use one class per file as with Java).
> 
> I guess a screen shot of the IDDE would be nice. I've seen a few snippets in the docs but a full screen shot would give me a better idea. I'm planning on adding my own tools so if there is any support for this in the IDDE it would be useful to know. I've wrote a macro in VB for VC++ that generates a class from a template file which I use a lot so being able to do something similar would be an added bonus.

A marco scrip intepreter is included in the idde.

> 
> Sorry for the long post I guess for $30 I could just buy it but as I said it's an investment as once I've found the right product I want to stick with it.

This product is defenitly worth your $30.

Attached a few screenshots.

Arjan

Thanks Arjan, I think that pretty much answers my questions.

Just need to do some testing with the compiler and then I'll be ordering the CD.

Thanks again,
Phil

"Arjan Knepper" <ask@me.to> wrote in message news:b8bem1$fj1$1@digitaldaemon.com...
> Phil Thompson wrote:
> > 1. What can be syntax highlighted? Can non fixed pitch fonts be used?
>
> Highlight any keyword _YOU_ define. Standard provided are C C++ and MFC and PREPROCESSOR keywords. No you have to use fixed pitch fonts in the editor
>
> > 2. Are the Class Wizards customizable? Do they only work for MFC or can
they be
> > configured to generate custom classes?
>
> They work for MFC and your own custom classes and 3rd party class lib classes.
>
> > 3. How can the views be customized?
>
> What do you mean? Workspaces? Or the contents of the project window? Workspaces max 5, completely custom definable, for example my "editting workspace: has the projectwindow left, the output window at the bottom, the edittor windows all over the place.
>
> > 4. Not essential but does the IDDE support any kind of autocomplete?
Support for
> > autocomplete in VC++ is pointless because it doesn't handle nested
namespaces
> > which I use quite a lot.
>
> No not that i'm aware of.
>
> > 5. Are there any problems converting a project from VC++ to DMC++?
>
> Depends on your defenition of 'converting'
>
> > 6. Does the IDDE have a tree view? VC++ has a pointless notion of
virtual
>
> No no virtual folders. You mau define project inside project inside projects etc. That will give a tree, clickig a leaf project shows all the source files in the left project-pane with the colums (user selectable) filename filename-extension filepath date time parsed exe/dll virtual. You could also swicth the view to show also the include files dependecies etc. And of course you can sort the view on any column!
>
> > folders which drives me mad. Why they don't just take the folder
structure from
> > the file system I don't quite know. They seem to think everyone will use
the
> > source files/header files/resources structure which is useless when your
project
> > consists of several hundred classes/files (I use one class per file as
with
> > Java).
> >
> > I guess a screen shot of the IDDE would be nice. I've seen a few
snippets in the
> > docs but a full screen shot would give me a better idea. I'm planning on
adding
> > my own tools so if there is any support for this in the IDDE it would be
useful
> > to know. I've wrote a macro in VB for VC++ that generates a class from a template file which I use a lot so being able to do something similar
would be
> > an added bonus.
>
> A marco scrip intepreter is included in the idde.
>
> >
> > Sorry for the long post I guess for $30 I could just buy it but as I
said it's
> > an investment as once I've found the right product I want to stick with
it.
>
> This product is defenitly worth your $30.
>
> Attached a few screenshots.
>
> Arjan
>


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