Sorry, but I still haven´t got the time to write a documentation, so in the following I´ll give you a short introduction to some parts. Though I tried to make ASED very intuitive and easy to use, some remarks may help to better understand, how ASED works.
If you press the TEST button, ASED executes always the content of the current editor window (not the opened file!). This enables you to make changes and test it without the need of storing before or making backups. On the other hand, if you save the content of an editor window to a file, the current file will be copied to a *~ file before the content of the editor window is stored to that file. This enables you, to restore always the latest version of a file. By pressing the TEST-Button, ASED either starts a slave interpreter to execute the code or if you have activated the option "use eval server" in the TEST menu an eval-server will be started and your code will run within a separate wish instance. This is the preferred method for unstable code, cause ASED itself can´t crash this way. You can choose the wish, the server should run via the TEST Menu. In addition it always automatically loads Tk. It is possible to start several applications at the same time. The running application could be terminated via the STOP-Button, even if you see the "watch"-cursor. However, this may fail, if your application runs in some kind of an infinite loop and never returns to the eventloop of tcl. So if you run your code via the server, you could simply kill the hanging app by the operating system (ie. kill command) and ASED will still work. By pressing the STOP-Button the slave interpreter of the current editor window will be destroyed.
You can also edit and test extensions without the need to load the main application into an editor window by associating a startfile to that extension file or to define a default startfile via the test menu. If you have defined a startfile and press the TEST-Button, this startfile will be executed (instead of starting the content of the current editor window). Though in this case also the content of the editor window will be executed.
If you run your programs via the eval server, there will be an additional page in the Bottom Window, which will show you the output of your program. In addition you can enter any valid command at runtime, which then will be executed within your app. IE. typing "info vars" will show you all vars of your app (from a global scope). You can also set vars or overwrite procs from within that window, while your app is running. This might be quite helpful for debugging.
To start your program with additional args you can key in additional args in the right combobox within the toolbar.
Since there is typically no console available under windows, the output of "puts" commands is redirected to ASED´s console window. So this can be used for easy debugging via including "puts" commands in the code, like it is possible under UNIX. But this currently doesn´t work for slave interpreters.
To enable fast sourcecode navigation there are included:
Just try clicking the right mouse button in the editor or the code browser window and have a look at these menus.
Note: When clicking the "Auto indent selection" without having selected anything, this will autoindent the whole file. During Autoindention all tabs are replaced by 4 spaces.
To highlight a correspondent brace, parenthesis or bracket click just before that char and the correspondent one will be highlighted.
Choosing "Search in files.." in the Edit menu will open a dialog window where you can enter settings for searching complete directories for code. The founded lines are shown in a result window. A single click on an entry in the result window will open the file (if not already opened) and bring you immediately to that line in the code.
If an error occures through testing of a piece of code, sometimes the cursor remains as a "watch cursor". You can "reset" the cursor to the normal arrow via clicking on the STOP Button.
evalClient.tcl and evalServer.tcl can be run as a standalone application , thus providing a framework for a client server application. When you start evalClient.tcl, it will start the evalServer too. EvalClient.tcl provides a simple terminal, through which you can eval commands or even run tcl-applications. If you run an application, you should see it´s output in the terminal. The code is sent to the server, which executes every command sent by the terminal. By this mean you can key in any command while your application runs. After pressing RETURN it will be executed in the scope of your application. So you might want to examine variables (i.e. info vars), call a specific proc or set a specific variable in your application at runtime.
Ctrl-c: copy
Ctrl-x: cut
Ctrl-v: paste
Ctrl-y: delete current line
Ctrl-l: repeat last search (please note, that this doesn´t work with the Quick-Search combo in the toolbar, but if using the find dialog (via toolbar button)
Note: If the focus is on an entry field, you can simply hit the RETURN-key to activate the function (i.e. Quicksearch)
ASED Tcl/Tk - IDE is copyrighted by Andreas Sievers
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
Version 2.0.8 dated 02/27/01
Version 2.0.7.2 dated 12/07/00
Version 2.0.7 dated 12/05/00
Version 2.0.6 dated 06/19/00
Version 2.0.5 dated 06/13/00
Version 2.0.4 dated 04/20/00
Version 2.0 dated 03/27/00
Version 1.0 dated 01/16/00
It comes up with several improvements :
Version 0.9.4
I´d like to thank Alexey Kakunin for his Tcl Developer Studio, which was the initial Base for the Editor. Special thanks also to Carsten Zerbst for providing the basics of the Code Browser and his support during adopting this to ASED !
The latest version of Tcl/Tk is available via http://www.tcltk.com
Contact
Please report any bugs to andreas.sievers@t-online.de
Of course any hints, comments or suggestions are welcome as well.
Last Update 12/05/00