U++ forum: Welcome to the forum

Wed, 10 February 2010 18:38

alendar
Messages: 47
Registered: January 2010
Location: Idaho, USA

Member

Just wanted to mention how awesome U++ is before I get used to it and forget.

I've been able to develop the most C++ code in a short time than I ever have before. The closest thing was VC++ 6.0, but I had not GUI components in that app.

I've been able to easily capture my keyboard media buttons with a RegisterSystemHotKey function. Plus abends don't leave the key registered; they default back to their default behavior. The callbacks are easy, overriding windows is very easy. I can easily capture keystrokes. I mix static code and class instances easily. I've been able to use mutexes easily to control the complexity as my app grows. I've never been able to get to the "Stop debugging" command. The memory leak warning has been very helpful in preventing issues. I've added a menu and a toolbar easily, with toolbuttons that either toggle or act as buttons. The NullText function on edit fields is awesome! It's silly, but a wonderfully simply way to add a touch of class. The natural springiness of objects in the layout designer saves soo much headaches. Having controls size smoothly expand is very nice. I got the XML writer/reader to work fairly quickly. The ctl+shift+arrow is a great little feature to reorder my files. I used to hate VC for not letting me order the way I saw files. It helps me manage complexity. And ctl+alt+arrow is great for managing my IML file. Being able to arrange all the little icons helps me manage the growing complexity.

I'm getting comfortable with the image editor; it has just enough features to let me get some functional toolbutton images out the door. Using right-click to capture the transparent, then left-click to erase, is nice. I can move them around. I flipped my Media Next image right into a Media Prev image. Context menu - piece of cake! I clipboarded the file names with a quick command.

The WString came in handy and worked easily to deal with UTF file names without a hitch.

The ArrayCtrl: Definitely a good tool. I know from dealing with other systems how hard it is to write a complex tool without over doing it and bogging it down. So far its worked great. I pull 67,000 file names in in about 700 ms in debug build, and that's without using GuiLock and a thread, which is my next challenge. The Accel(CharFilterDefaultToUpperAscii) default key to hop through an array list is excellent! I was trying to write it in the key handler when I found that. Sort() works, which is ok for now. I really need to generate the list based on indexes and thread it to show the visible section and background the rest of the rows. I'll get there. I have a general idea. It's easier to just reload the array with a sorted list than to sort the contents. Tips are easy to add and change. The Array nicely pops up the full name when its cut off, which is very professional looking, plus with the little arrow on the right. AllSorting() is a great option to quickly get sorting implemented. I can't even think of what else I'll want it to do, until I put a ratings column in with a image. And there's an example for hiding columns, very cool. Don't need it yet, but will. GetHomeDirectory() is a great time saver to make my app multi-user with custom configs. I LOVE that the array control captures mouse clicks without requiring the app to have focus first. I recall VB had a horrid time, requiring the app gain focus before mouse info could be captured. This gives my app a significant improvement over tools like iTunes. Now if I can get it to capture the mousewheel without focus Smile

One of the core features that hooked me in was FindFile(). The implementation is the best I've found. I dropped Qt like a wet paper bag when its file directory functions took forever to load. I know a raw NTFS read is a tad faster, maybe I'll implement that someday. I like LOG and RLOG, nice and simple. What else, oh, CoWork may crank up my core use for loading the file list if FileFind.Next() is multithreaded. We'll see. Performance is king!

So many things: Easily grabbing the preprocessor output (Can VC do that in the GUI?). That little thin scroller in the IDE - I'm definitely going to steal that. The Topic function is great and I'm slowly documenting my code via the little blue box. Quickly highlighting and commenting out code. The No want focus is nice for my about box, so that edit (selectable) text does not grab focus annoyingly. Making modeless windows is too easy. The Alt-left/right is very useful once I got used to it. Alt+J is a crucial helper. Ctrl+T for the layout is good to directly edit the layout.

Lets see what other trouble I can get into!

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