Plug ins in MC 2.6b1

[Richard Gaskin]

Robert Brenstein wrote:

> I finally got to checking out the 2.6b1. A few issues:
> 
> The warning about mismatch of engine and mctools should show up before 
> plugins are handled and possibly offer an option to quit right away.

The version-check is handled in the Home stack, using a property in 
mctools.mc.  That property has been correctly updated to read "2.6".

What issues are you seeing (other than the new plugins additions, of 
course)?

To the best of my knowledge there is no specialized syntax in the IDE 
requiring languages features specific to any version after v2.5, so 
should we modify the Home stack?


> When I get an error opening plugins, the execution stops and I see the 
> menu of Richard's plugins, none being operational of course.

What does the error say?

> Richard, you need to empty the menu for distribution. 

The menu is built when the IDE initializes.  If we fix the error this 
issue goes away.

Given the number of people using this without issue I am anxious to 
learn what differs between your system and theirs.

Your recipe with additional info (sys version, mc version, what the 
error message says) will be very helpful.

This may involve the potentially sticky world of issues surround custom 
Rev properties and messages which are not part of the engine.  Let's 
hope not, but I've already found some Rev-borne plugins that don't work 
well outside of Rev and we may hear more of that if the MC IDE gets used 
by more people.

There are many issues there, and just as many possible solutions.  For 
the sake of maintaining the community's mandate of simplicity, I'd 
prefer to not to begin the process of addressing that until it becomes a 
significant issue.  It may be easier to simply work with plugin 
developers individually to show them how to make universal plugins that 
operate anywhere and in many cases leaner.


 > Further, the script handling plugins should first build the menu
 > before trying to open or start using any plugins.

What is the benefit of changing that order of operations?

I'd had it that way once but the extra repeat loop seemed superfluous to 
me at the time. Not hard to go back to it if we can determine a benefit, 
but I suspect once we pin down the issue you're having this will take 
care of itself.


 > And the opening/activating should trap errors allowing it to skip
 > the buggy ones and finish the cycle, then report problems. As it
 > is, I get an error from ide but have no clue which
> plugin causes it.

The IDE cannot be responsible for the effects of all possible plugins.

Does it work correctly with no plugins?

Without more info the best solution may be the ol' Mac Classic 
Extensions swap:  move plugins back into the folder one at a time until 
the error is reproduced.

Better than Mac, you don't need to restart:  you can move plugins into 
the folder and just change the listing option (by stack name or title) 
to trigger the initialization handler.


> Actually, after a little playing, it seems that I get error reported for 
> the following line for ANY plugin:
> 
>  if the cRevLoadInfo["load"] of stack tStackFile = "startup" then open 
> stack tStackFile
> 
> I am not sure what the error really is because of the other known 
> problem with error reporting, but it seems the error is "can't find stack".

To get sufficient info to fix this try the sequence outlined above 
(moving plugins into the folder one at a time).

When you find the offending plugin please email it to me.  Thanks.

> I'd suggest to distribute the read-me file in SimpleText rather than 
> Tex-Edit format. An old version of Tex-Edit I happened to have burried 
> somewhere on my disk uses some hand-writing type font in small size, 
> making the text almost ilegable.

Ah, yes, good catch.  With OS X's schizo relationship with creator codes 
I'd overlooked that. Yes, I agree -- done for the next build.

> And I think that the instructions should explicitely state which version 
> of Rev a given MC IDE needs.

Agreed, but if memory serves you have to go more than two years back to 
find an engine that'll give you trouble.

I just noted that in the Read ME for the next release, which I'll post 
after we pin down this issue you're experiencing.

Thanks for the report!

-- 
  Richard Gaskin
  Fourth World Media Corporation
  ___________________________________________________________
  Ambassador at FourthWorld.com       http://www.FourthWorld.com