FipsIDE (was: MC IDE problem)

[Richard Gaskin]

Chipp Walters wrote:

> Any idea on when we will see 'flip IDE' ?
> 
>> We are just patiently wait for fixes and for flip ID plug in :)

I just uploaded the alpha to:
<http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MC_IDE/files/Extras/>

It's a far cry from where it's headed, but at least the raw basics are 
in place, switching from Rev to MC within the same session.


Installation
------------

Just quit Rev, put it in your Rev Plugins folder, and start Rev again.



How to use it
-------------

1. Choose Development->Plugins->FlipsIDE

    1a. The first time you run it you'll want to click
        the "Setup..." button, where there's currently
        a button to point it to your copy of the MC IDE
        (that UI will in beta, but at least you can get
        started).

2. Choose MC IDE from the option control in its main window
    - that's it: it should purge all Rev elements from memory
    and then load the MC IDE.

3. You should be able to flip back into Rev by just choosing Revolution 
from the option control.



Known issues
------------

DISCLAIMER:  FlipsIDE IS KNOWN TO CAUSE A HARD CRASH IN THE ENGINE.  USE 
ONLY WITH BACKUP FILES, AND AT YOUR OWN RISK.

It still has an intermittent crash, but much less often with the very 
latest engine than with earlier onces (thanks to Kevin for his efforts 
to resolve this).

Recipe:  Flip back and forth between MC and Rev a lot, using the Message 
Box in each with a "put" command (e.g., "put the name of me").

The crash is caused by the engine keeping a hard internal reference to 
the stack used as the Message Box.  Flipping from one IDE to another 
changes the Message Box, so the engine does not know where to direct 
"put"s to.

This is 90% resolved in engine v2.6b8.  In earlier versions you could 
flip into MC pretty reliably, and often flip back into Rev with no 
issue.  But flipping into MC a second time would often cause the crash 
as soon as a "put" command is issued.

Currently I need to flip back and forth a lot to make the crash happen, 
something few users would do in actual practice.

Just the same, if you get a crash please let me know which IDE you were 
in when it happened, how many times you had flipped back and forth 
before the crash, and if on a Mac please include the crash log.


Future enhancements
-------------------

The final version will work from modules residing in a subfolder of the 
Plugins folder, probably to be called something cryptic like "FlipsIDE 
Modules".

Each modile will be simply a stack file with a stack script containing 
two handlers:  one for loading a specified IDE and one for purging it.

It will ship with at least two prefab modules, one for MC and one for 
running with no IDE at all.

It will be easy to write the load/purge handlers, so we could see 
modules for any third party set of tools that comprises a complete 
development environment.

 From the list of installed modules you'll be able to set one as a 
default, so that launching Rev with FlipsIDE installed will cause 
FlipsIDE to automatically flip into the specified IDE if desired.



I was hoping to resolve the crash issue before making it available, but 
if you folks want to test please feel free to lend a hand -- WORKING ON 
BACKUP FILES of course. :)

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