Author Topic: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE  (Read 36205 times)

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Offline BlakPilar

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BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« on: December 15, 2011, 08:54:13 pm »
Current version: 1.2 Alpha (snapshot)


It's finally here! BexIDE is an open-source mini-IDE for Axe and (extended) TI-BASIC (by that I mean external libraries such as xLib, Celtic 3, etc). It was written in and requires .NET Framework 4.0. Anything else I would say here, besides the features overview, can be found in the README.

Features
Custom syntax highlighting
With the way I've set up BexIDE, you can choose which words you want to have highlighted, as well as the color and font weight! All you need to do is simply edit the settings XML file!

Custom tokens
Now, this may or may not be a little confusing. Basically, BexIDE comes with another XML file called tokens. In it are groups of all the tokens for TI-OS as of, I believe, OS 2.43 plus ASCII equivalents of the commands in Axe and third-party libraries such as Celtic 3 and xLib. If you open the XML file, you'll see what I mean; each token has a string value, a byte value, and a description. This is where the custom part comes in. You can change anything in this file, and your changes will be applied. For example, if you want to change "ln(" to "naturalLogarithm(" then go right ahead. Just change the value property. You can even create short-hand coding! As an example, if you wanted to make the text "_USELESS_" be equivalent to "3->A" on the calculator, all you would need to do is add a token element where the value is "_USELESS_", the byte value is "0x330441" (where 0x33 is 3's bytes, 0x04 is the store arrow, and 0x41 is A). It's that easy!

Token viewer
This isn't really an amazing feature, but if you don't want to open the tokens file, I've included a token viewer which groups all of the loaded tokens into a nice little tree-view where you can view their text, byte values, and description. You can also double-click on a token to have it added to a text-box, add its parameters, and then insert it into your code!

Sprite editor
I bet you wanted this, right? But yes, BexIDE has a sprite editor! You can easily design and insert sprites into your code! You can even change the width, height, and scale (scale is only for the editor; it makes it smaller or larger) of the sprite. As of this version, it simply prints the sprite as one line, but in future releases I will make it so that the designer splits the hex data for you.

Direct-to-8XP
No need to worry about fussing with text files and the 8XP programs- BexIDE saves directly to the 8XP! Don't worry though, Uncle BlakPilar isn't stupid. You can, if you wish, import and export your code to text files and, because of the editor I'm using, export your colored syntax to pretty HTML!

Comments
Like the token viewer, this isn't an awesome feature, but it's helpful. You can add end-of-line comments in BexIDE beginning with the customary double forward-slash (//), and they will be removed at build time.



But wait, there's more!
Remember: this is only in version alpha. Once, with all of your help, the bugs are removed and this version is working good, BexIDE has another card up its sleeve. I will be implementing a .NET portion to this IDE in which I will attempt to parse your BASIC code (possibly with modified syntax like Axe, I haven't decided yet though) into your choice of C# or VB.NET and compile it into a .NET app for the computer! So, in a sense, this will be the Axe of the calculator for the computer!



The meat and potatoes
Now, I think it's time I get to the heart of this post. I need you, yes you, Omnimaga community, to help me with this project! The more people I get to use this and find bugs the better this can become and the quicker I can get to making the .NET portion! I've attached both the source and just the binaries, for those of you who like to view sources and those of you who just like to use the programs. If you do peek at the source and find ways in which I can make this better, please let me know! I say it in the readme, but still. I want this project to be one of the best out there!



Downloads: binaries (executable), source
Screenshot:
« Last Edit: March 05, 2012, 08:24:29 pm by BlakPilar »

Offline epic7

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #1 on: December 15, 2011, 09:05:04 pm »
Thank you, Uncle BlakPilar!

Whats an IDE? Code editor?

Offline BlakPilar

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #2 on: December 15, 2011, 09:08:23 pm »
IDE stands for integrated development environment. But yes, basically it's a code editor lol.

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #3 on: December 15, 2011, 09:09:42 pm »
Sprite maker does more than 8x8?

Offline BlakPilar

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #4 on: December 15, 2011, 09:17:13 pm »
Yup! It's just it doesn't break down the sprite for you yet. I definitely plan on doing that for the next release, though.

Offline saintrunner

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #5 on: December 15, 2011, 09:36:35 pm »
sounds cool! and yes the sprite stuff is very much needed
My Sprites Thread   :Updated often :) for your viewing pleasure

GAMES:

Offline BlakPilar

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #6 on: December 15, 2011, 09:46:00 pm »
Thanks! I know the sprite thing would really help, I just wanted to get some usable version out there to start testing. I also still have to finish the documentation in the tokens file (which will take sort of a long time), and make it so when you open a program, something like "real(0," will be turned into the ASCII equivalent (which shouldn't take long). And that's just to make sure the alpha releases are complete lol.

Offline saintrunner

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #7 on: December 15, 2011, 09:46:52 pm »
well good luck then
My Sprites Thread   :Updated often :) for your viewing pleasure

GAMES:

Offline epic7

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #8 on: December 15, 2011, 09:55:47 pm »
Custom tokens?
Is there a guide or something for byte value stuff like 0x33?

And also I could change things like
Bitmap(
To
Bigsprite(
? :P


« Last Edit: December 15, 2011, 09:56:32 pm by epic7 »

Offline TIfanx1999

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #9 on: December 15, 2011, 09:58:58 pm »
Wow, this looks very nice! =) Good job!

Offline BlakPilar

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #10 on: December 15, 2011, 10:10:17 pm »
@epic: yes and yes (and two more yes's, I saw the other things in the email lol). To create a new token, you would need to search the other tokens to find their byte values. For example, in the "3->A" example, if you check, 3 is 0x33, the store arrow is 0x04, and A is 0x41. You would just combine them in order.

@Art_of_camelot: thanks! :)

Offline epic7

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #11 on: December 15, 2011, 10:13:11 pm »
I'll just download and experiment :P

Wait, what email?

Offline alberthrocks

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #12 on: December 15, 2011, 11:30:08 pm »
Very nice project you got here :D
Any plans to make this compatible for Linux? I can provide some building help (for Linux) if you need it. :)
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Offline BlakPilar

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #13 on: December 16, 2011, 06:50:32 am »
@epic, the email for replies to topics.

@alberthrocks, I personally don't use Linux, but I would love if someone could port this with Mono or something :)

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Re: BexIDE -- An Axe/(Extended) BASIC Mini-IDE
« Reply #14 on: December 16, 2011, 05:04:42 pm »
Oh :P
(I forgot where this topic was and what it was called so I searched "Uncle BlakPilar")
* epic7 downloads

Token descriptions coming eventually? :P
« Last Edit: December 16, 2011, 05:11:11 pm by epic7 »