Support for C#? INtellisense and templates don't work

[Alan]

Hello,

I have just installed Zeus and am evaluating it for use with C#. I can't get either the auto-completion templates or the intellisense to work.

I looked in the Templates menu when a .cs file was open, and there was only one entry (Date/Time). Nothing there for C# at all.

Also, I followed the instructions in the second post in the "Intellisensing for the C# an Mono Languages" topic in the Tips and Tricks forum to try and get intellisense working. I downloaded the zip file and copied the contents into the zTags directory. I then opened Zeus, went to the C# document type and added all of the files to the right-hand list box. I clicked OK and tried it, but nothing happened when I typed the full stop. I have fiddlined with it, restarted Zeus, etc, but nothing helped.

The Zeus web site says that "Zeus comes pre-configured for the C# language", and specifically mentions intellisense. Any idea why it doesn't work?

Thanks for any help. I like the look of Zeus, especially the folding aspect, but I need to be convinced that all the feeatures of my current editor will work before I switch. This includes auto-completion as a priority.

[jussij]

Hi Alan,

The Zeus web site says that "Zeus comes pre-configured for the C# language", and specifically mentions intellisense. Any idea why it doesn't work?

As you might have noticed Zeus comes with configurations for quite a few programming languages as shown by list of items displayed using the Options, Document Types menu.

But this list is in fact misleading since not only will Zeus handle any of these languages, the Document Type configuration model used by Zeus means almost any language is supported

I looked in the Templates menu when a .cs file was open, and there was only one entry (Date/Time). Nothing there for C# at all.

So what sort of templates would you like to have

Adding templates to the C# document type is very easy: http://www.zeusedit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40

I clicked OK and tried it, but nothing happened when I typed the full stop.

Where you editing a C# file when you hit the full stop

Can you do this test for me:

• Open a C# document
• Repeat the test inside this document.
• If the test fails use the Options, Properties to bring up the document type.
• Go to the zTags section as make sure all the CS_* tag files listed.
• If they are not, add all the CS_* files to the list.
• Apply any changes made.
• Repeat the full stop test again.
• If that fails place the cursor on the word String and use the Tags, Find Current Word menu. Does this find the String item in the tags database. If nothing was found then there is a problem since there is no tags information for the String item.

I like the look of Zeus, especially the folding aspect, but I need to be convinced that all the features of my current editor will work before I switch. This includes auto-completion as a priority.

Zeus is complex and highly configurable so it does take some time to get a feel for how the configuration model works. But it is for this reason that Zeus is shareware. The shareware version runs fully functional for 45 days so it gives you plenty of time to fully evaluate the software. Naturally, at any time you find Zeus is not working to your satisfaction, then naturally there is no point in registering the software.

Cheers Jussi

[jussij]

There is one reason the intellisening might not be working and that is the xtags.dll might not be loading correctly

For more details about this problem and a fix refer to this topic:

http://www.zeusedit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=212

Cheers Jussi

[Guest]

Hi Alan,

The Zeus web site says that "Zeus comes pre-configured for the C# language", and specifically mentions intellisense. Any idea why it doesn't work?

As you might have noticed Zeus comes with configurations for quite a few programming languages as shown by list of items displayed using the Options, Document Types menu.

But this list is in fact misleading since not only will Zeus handle any of these languages, the Document Type configuration model used by Zeus means almost any language is supported

Yup, but the fact that Zeus can be configured to handle any doc type is not the same as saying it "comes pre-configured". That implies that the syntax highlighting is set up already, templates for common function already exist, intellisense is already set up, etc. As far as I can see, none of this is true, you have to do it yourself. Sure, it's not so hard (except for the problem I encountered), but it certainly doesn't "comes pre-configured" for C#.

I looked in the Templates menu when a .cs file was open, and there was only one entry (Date/Time). Nothing there for C# at all.

So what sort of templates would you like to have

The obvious stuff for C#, like you have for C++, you know for common functions, etc.

Adding templates to the C# document type is very easy: http://www.zeusedit.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=40

I saw that and it does look easy, but adding them all myself is a pain. I assumed from your web site that a whole bunch would already be there.

Can you do this test for me:

• Open a C# document

(stuff snipped)... it turned out to be the DLL mentioned in the second post. Given that you created that version of the DLL over a year ago, I'm surprised the distributable for Zeus still has the old version. Still, all working now.

I like the look of Zeus, especially the folding aspect, but I need to be convinced that all the features of my current editor will work before I switch. This includes auto-completion as a priority.

Zeus is complex and highly configurable so it does take some time to get a feel for how the configuration model works. But it is for this reason that Zeus is shareware. The shareware version runs fully functional for 45 days so it gives you plenty of time to fully evaluate the software. Naturally, at any time you find Zeus is not working to your satisfaction, then naturally there is no point in registering the software.

Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm very impressed already, I just want to configure it to the state where I can be productive.

I have been looking for a folding editor for years. I was very excited to find Zeus, not only folding, but with loads of real-world features as well. I'm sure it will do all I want, I just have to work out how!!

Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll be back with loads more questions before I'm done!!

Alan

[Guest]

... Given that you created that version of the DLL over a year ago, I'm surprised the distributable for Zeus still has the old version. Still, all working now.

In the interests of honesty, I should point out that I was mistaken here. I saw the date you joined the forum and misread it as the date of the post!! I see that the date you posted the info about the version of the DLL was in fact just yesterday, so I guess it's reasonable that the version I downloaded yesterday didn't include it!!

My apologies for the undue negative comment

Alan

[jussij]

but it certainly doesn't "comes pre-configured" for C#.

You are definitely not the first to raise this concern and I am sure you will not be the last

But I personally think Zeus is pre-configured for c# since it does come with a document type (the heart of all configuration in Zeus), syntax highlighting, folding and file open filters configured.

The C/C++ document type does have extra template configurations, only because Zeus is used in the every day development of Zeus and C/C++ is is the language used for this development.

Even so, the Zeus for C/C++ that comes out of the installer is missing many things when compared to this actual Zeus for C/C++ development. For example things like a tags database for Win32, tags databases for half a dozen home grown libraries, Quick Help configurations for Win32 etc etc are all not included in the standard install.

And the reason for this is simple. Adding just one or two of these generic features would grow the installation some 1 or 2 megs in size. Now multiply this by the number of languages currently configured and you end up with a installer approaching 40 megs in size.

So we can debate the definition of "pre-configured" until the cows come home, but in reality the no Zeus configuration is ever going to be 100% complete for any language

The obvious stuff for C#, like you have for C++, you know for common functions, etc.

The template expansions in c/c++ are things like whi for while, foi for i loop etc. With such strange names there is very little that is obvious about them and I am sure many people don't even know they exist

As a side note, the reason these templates have funny names to reduce the chance of them being triggered by accident.

I saw that and it does look easy, but adding them all myself is a pain. I assumed from your web site
that a whole bunch would already be there.

Since everything in Zeus is configured in pretty much the same way, I guess you could say configuring Zeus is a painful exercise

Thanks for the help, I'm sure I'll be back with loads more questions before I'm done!!

Feel free to post as many questions as you like. Don't get me wrong, I do realise the Zeus configuration is far from simple and even far from complete, but this is one of the reason for the existance of this forum.

it turned out to be the DLL mentioned in the second post..
............
In the interests of honesty, I should point out that I was mistaken here. My apologies for the undue negative comment

No need to apologies. I understand the frustration of having software that does not always work as expected.

In this regard Zeus is just like all other software in that it too has bugs

Cheers Jussi

PS: Just for anyone that might be interested, the reason the xtags.dll was failing on some machines but not other was due to a the missing MSVCP71.DLL C/C++ STL runtime.

The strange thing is Zeus does not use STL and this dependency only appeared after upgrading the c++ compiler. The strangest thing of all was the xtags.dll was the only Zeus component that had this dependency

Eventually a compiler switch was found to link the STL statically and naturally this removed the dependency on the dll.

[Guest]

Thanks for the reply. Just as a comment, my current text editor has a section on the web site where users are encouraged to contribute their own files for various languages. The editor itself comes with templates, auto-completion and syntax highlighting for only a few languages, but the web site has files for hundreds more.

This is a brilliant way to offer support for masses of languages without bloating the instal files. You could do the same for Zeus and save yourself the hassle of having to create the files as well!! Let people send them in.

Ta ra
alan

[jussij]

Unfortuantely the Zeus configurations are currently held in binary file format (ie the files held in the zConfig directory) and this makes them very difficult to share

But there are plans is to replace this binary format with a human friendly text format (maybe XML) and when this happens it will be much easier to setup a web site containing users submissions

Jussi

[Guest]

Unfortuantely the Zeus configurations are currently held in binary file format (ie the files held in the zConfig directory) and this makes them very difficult to share

But there are plans is to replace this binary format with a human friendly text format (maybe XML) and when this happens it will be much easier to setup a web site containing users submissions

Why not share the binary files? When someone sets up their own config, they effectively create a new binary file. It would be easy to allow them to upload this to your server, so it can be shared with others.

I can see how text-based config files would be much easier to use, but there's no reason why people can't share binary ones right now. It would be a great bonus to people starting to use your editor. They can just download the ones they need from the site.