could it be possible to envision having a configurable layout editor?
The wish is to be able to add new user defined controls with their own configuration without needing to recompile ide per package base. Then it would be easy creating a control database.
Using a script language or metamodel definition file (Esc if it can, or XML, or Lua) to generically configure the editor with describing control parameters, preview and code generation would be a big improvement.
I know this is maybe a major redesign of the layout editor, but it shall after reduce quite a lot its maintenance.
Sure, that is what Esc was in fact designed for (I guess I mentioned that in reply to your email and in this forum Lua thread as well).
See CtrlLib/CtrlLib.usc file or reference/UscCtrl example. .usc files are exactly what you propose.
BTW, it would be nice if somebody could spare a bit of time to add more widget class definitions