Has anyone written a modern editor for Classic ASP? - ide

I have projects I have to do in Classic ASP. It would almost be enjoyable if I could get some of the same features that visual studio has, such as intellisense for objects (I know you get some from Visual Studio if you have everything in the same file, but there are quirks with that, as well), or the dropdowns showing functions like Visual Studio. It would be especially nice if it would recognize include files and use those as well. It seems to me that enough people are still using it that someone must have written something...

It seems to me that enough people are still using it that someone must
have written something
You'd think that, but I've been looking for the same thing for a number of years, and even started trying to add the language to Netbeans, but nothing I have found yet matches what you can do in DreamWeaver.
It's a rubbish program that crashes a lot and is far too expensive, but it's about the only option I have found that is any good beyond Visual Studio (2008 or less).

Related

Synchronizing Visual Studio Code and Visual Studio 2019 preferences/settings

I was wondering whether there is an easy way to synchronize your preferences/settings across VS Code and VS 2019?
You can go to Tools -> Options -> Environement -> Keyboard
Syncing Settings Across VS Code & VS 2022
I think I have a pretty good idea of what you're asking for, and I would say that they don't have what you are thinking to have. Like, if you wonder that since they are both funded by Microsoft dollars, that there maybe some sort of interoperability, but there's not. Many people have have been hoping for some time to see Visual Studio work in harmony with V.S. Code, but I don't think that will ever happen like many people are hoping it will. The reason is, they are fundamentally — at the very core of what they are — very different beasts. While, as I pointed out, they are both developed by Microsoft dollars, and they are both "Development Environments", they are not both "Integrated Environments", and there in lies the difference that makes them worlds apart.
Visual Studio (the IDE) is considered to be an IDE — integrated is the keyword here — because it integrates into the projects that are built using Visual Studio as the Development Environment. Visual Studio Code does not integrate into projects, instead it allows you to structure the project, provide the compiler, debugger, and things like a build system, RTE, REPL, libraries, modules, plugins, the Languages themselves, etc... You are the master of your own environment with V.S. Code, and where developers have much more control over their projects using a non-integrated dev-env, especially one that's non-proprietary, they also have to put in much more work, to produce many of the same programs that Visual Studio can practically generate for you.
So the point here is, that you can't really swap configurations between the two, not for the majority of configured stuff, however; that's not to say that some settings cannot not be swapped. Any configuration that can have the same values applied to it, whether the configuration is in VS Code, or Visual Studio 2022, would not be unique to Visual Studio, and VS Code, and has nothing to do with the fact that they are both backed by Microsoft. In fact, if you have a group of settings, and those settings exist in both environments, and are able to accept all the same values (they can't accept any different values in any env) then that configuration will port to environments far beyond Visual Studio Code & Visual Studio 2022, and will probably be configurable in over 90% of the Development Environments out there. And this is something that software engineers, programmers & web-developers/designers take advantage of already, and it's referred to by its filename...
Dot-Editor-Config or .editorconfig
"Above is the Dot-Editor-Config Project's Logo."
EditorConfig, is a good gig, but it won't configure entire environments. Like most tools, the more you use it, the better you will get at making use of it. It seems to me that it is more useful across IDE's, as IDEs, as I explained above, work similarly (obviously), so they have more settings in common. Editor config basically creates a medium for setting semantics. Since settings found in different Development Environments are often called something different in each environment, what the .editorconfig file does, is it gives a single name for each of the variation of the setting that ports across environments, and gives a single place to configure the setting, allowing you to take one file from IDE to IDE. Like I said though, there is only so much it will configure, and it works better between IDE's than between IDE and Editor, at least IMHO.
Check Editor Config out, and see what you think.
I used to use it mainly to configure formatting across C++ projects, but CLang's CLang-Format Tool has become such a good tool that I did away with it.
This link will take you to the Dot-Editor-Config GitHub Repository, where you can find the .editorconfig extensions for...
VS Code
Visual Studio
JetBrains
Emacs
Vim
...and probably many more.
I did some research, or lack-of I should say, after authoring this. I couldn't find any other options out there. There really isn't a lot in the way to help in porting configurations, except for .editorconfig, and really .editorconfig won't do much between an IDE & Editor than configure formatting styles. You can get that same functionality with Prettier, CLang, ESLint, and many other tools. Editor-config doesn't just configure its-self though, like a formatter does, so I am sure you can find some extras it targets, but It's not so much that I use it. A lot of people do, though.
Dot Editor Config GitHub Repo
Watching this thought as well. I've been working in VSCode for a few years off and on as needed. But the full VS IDE (2022 currently) is both more complicated and more capable, so I'm running both.
Then realized that many of the extensions may (should?) be cross-usable, but still digging through that to determine what 'reality' looks like.
Sensible question though.

Differences between migrating from vb6 to vb2005, vb2008, vb2010

I own a copy of vb2005 professional.
I need to migrate a vb6 project to vb.net
Is there any difference in terms of effort to migrating to these
editions of vb.net
thanks
I think it's slightly easier to target the later versions. I believe the PowerPack 3.0 was added for Visual Studio 2005: it included extra support for emulating the VB6 Printer object and shape controls.
Anyone who's read my other answers about VB6 migration should stop reading now because I've said this before... but I think it's relevant, so I'll say it again anyway.
Check out the Microsoft UK advice with a screencast explaining the 5 basic options for .Net migration. Decide which is best. People may advise you to just rewrite from scratch in .Net. Be cautious about this - you say your codebase is big, which is a danger sign for rewriting. Microsoft UK say
Performing a complete rewrite to .NET is far more costly and difficult to do well [than converting] ... we would only recommend this approach for a small number of situations.
I'm rewriting a lot of VB6 currently and what I've found so far is that the previous developers had to use a lot of third party and custom modules to implement what they need when a lot of it has been included in the base class library for .Net since then.
From what I've seen there's no easy way to migrate from one to another. A lot of effort goes into these migrations. The best thing to consider is whether you want to try to go line by line or examine the code, document core functionality, evaluate how well the software has worked over it's lifetime and then engineer a new design.
That's what I've ended up doing because a line for line rewrite is nearly impossible and a large pain. Compiling libraries and modules into COM to bring the functionality into .Net applications is a lot of effort and kind of a "McGyver" approach. That's why I just documented everything well, understood the process, then wrote as .Net software.
Specifically, what functionality are you trying to maintain? Have you written in .Net before?
In my experience the "migrate" is really a rewrite so it doesn't make any difference what version of Visual Studio you use. I'd use the latest.

Visual Studio Conversion Wizard: Why put it in if it is broken? Whats the point?

I have tried converting many projects from vb.net 2005 to vb.net 2008, and not a single one has ever made it. Why do you think they even bothered to include this tool if it is very clearly broken? I mean, it can convert some code okay, but I can never load Design view properly, and it'll almost never compile without error.
Whats the point in putting in a broken tool? I thought Microsoft products were always backwards-compatible? Do they have any requirements before running the wizard?
Generally projects won't compile because the compiler/language/environment has changed, not because there's anything wrong with the project files.
I typically use vspc to convert project files, but I'm usually converting them from vs2008 to vs2003, which Visual Studio cannot do.
I've never had any trouble with the conversion wizard, but I mostly use C#.
What specific errors do you get?
Also, do you mean from VB6? If so, here's the answer:
VB6 and VB .Net (any version) are quite different. The VB Upgrade Wizard will try to convert what it can, and show you exactly what still needs work.
If the conversion tool is actually broken (I've had mixed success using it in the past, with the success rate being inversely proportional to the overall complexity of the project), then one reason to include it anyway is to convince developers to start new projects using the latest version of Visual Studio, and not to start them with an older version and hope that the upgrade process will be seamless.
I'm not saying this is why Microsoft would include a broken conversion wizard, but you never know. If you'd like me to delete this answer, Mr. Ballmer, just let me know.

Telerik RadControls + JetBrains Resharper = VERY SLOW, Can anyone help?

Anyone know of a way to speed up the Visual Studio IDE when you have Telerik RadControls (either windows or web) and JetBrains ReSharper installed? If I disable ReSharper it runs rocking fast, but I love ReSharper a bit too much to drop it. I know it would perform better without the RadControls. Anyone know a way to speed it up?
I switched from DevExpress CodeRush/Refactor! to Resharper (not by choice) and found the IDE became almost unusable. I managed to persuade my boss to let me switch back (on my own personal licence) and now it's like walking back into the sunshine after months in a cold, damp cave.
I guess what I'm trying to say is that maybe you should consider switching to CodeRush and Refactor!
for me this is the same.
I'm Working with a Dell XPS 4gb Ram Quad Core Extreme Stripped disks...
And I also had that problem with telerik controls (mainly aspx - winform not so much).
Anyhow - I had to do a project using a different suite of web controls - and it was as bad as with telerik - or even worse...
What I found (maybe it helps a bit):
a.) Switching to design view slows down the things a lot
--so after doing this I restart VS
b.) Small Solutions (Projects) help also (like mika wrote) --if possible split your solution to several projects (some class libs instead of one big thing)
c.) Use as litte VS addins as possible --I used some nice tools - but at the moment most of them are turned of, because I made the expirience that the things are better the less addins I use.
d.) Run special "resharping sessions" -- what I mean is: turn resharper off, do you normal coding - and from time to time turn it on and "resharp" your code.
This problem (as well as some others) is well knwon (I guess) and I would say that neither resharper (although this tool seems to be somewhat special) nor telerik are gulty.
It is VS which makes the problems - and I did a lot of searches about solutions - but finally I found nothing which really helps.
Notice: I work on a pretty large project at the moment - and the use of respharper is almost impossible. I turned it off - instead I have a lot of nice snippets and macros which help me to do some of the common things.
Conclusion: if telerik + reshaper is to slow for you I guess you have to decide which helps you more :)
I use the telerik controls (ASPX, WPF and Silverlight) in almost every project I make. These tools fasten the things so much - I simply "need them to survive"
This is not much help, but at least the issue is not on your machine only...
Try to work with small solutions. In my machine this means solutions with less than 100k lines of code. Background compilation makes IDE sluggish with large solutions. VB has background compilation on by default, and even without add-ins it gets slower as the solution size grows.
I haven't been able to use ReSharper or CodeRush/Refactor! with VB & RadControls with over 100k line solutions, things just slow down too much. I'm using a Core 2 Duo, 2.4GHz, 4GB machine.
See also: Visual Studio performance and add-ins
Taken from Telerik`s forums:
We are incompatible with JetBrains Resharper indeed. We are competing for the same Visual Studio resources which could potentially create a ton of trouble if you run both of the add-ins together. I doubt that anybody managed to run them together but if you know somebody that did that I'd be really interested in all the details.
So you have to disable Resharper to check out on JustCode. You could always re-enable it later, however, as long as one of them is disabled they coexist happily.
Kind regards,
Tsviatko
the Telerik team
And I am pretty sure you will be way better using only JustCode

An alternative IDE for Sybase Powerbuilder

Does anyone know of an alternative IDE for Sybase Powerbuilder? It feels pretty clunky, after working with VS2008 and Eclipse.
If not, has anyone successfully worked with this language outside the IDE? I'm not against using a simple text editor, but I find edit-import-regenerate-test-export-edit is clunkier than simply using the Powerbuilder editor.
To date, the only tools I have had any success with are:
PowerGen, for builds (with NUnit and CruiseControl.NET)
ConTEXT, which has syntax highlighting for Powerbuilder
PBL Peeper, which has some interesting features not present in the IDE
EDIT: I added a bounty to draw some wider attention to the question. It would be a very nice thing to have, if it exists.
EDIT: Well that was disappointing. The bounty apparently did not cause even 1 new person to look at the question.
None that I'm aware of, although you could probably use a source control tool, edit in your source control repository, and Get Latest Version from the PB IDE to shorten your text editor cycle. Be warned that there are hacks required to edit anything over 128 ASCII. (My guess is that this is to allow everything Unicode to be source controlled in the most restrictive source control tools.)
As Paul said, PB12 is coming with based on the Visual Studio shell, and will include things like collapsible code blocks, Intellisense, etc.... However, for PB12, this will only be used for WPF targets and a few .NET-type targets (like assemblies), last I heard. Win32 targets will continue to use the "classic" IDE.
Good luck,
Terry.
P.S. Thanks for the PBL Peeper compliment.
The PowerBuilder IDE is clunky, but I don't think developing completely outside the PowerBuilder IDE is a good idea. I think there are just too many dependencies right now.
However, the IDE for PowerBuilder 12 will be built using Microsoft's Visual Studio Isolated Shell so it ought to be much better when that is released. Also, I believe they'll be doing away with the PBL format which ought to make source control much easier to work with.
Certainly something to watch.
What I do is right-click the object and edit source. Then I copy the text and paste it into Notepad++ to edit. I copy and paste back to PowerBuilder, then I can save and see any errors. I've got a fairly decent User Defined Language for PowerScript if anyone's interested.
Added:
Please be aware that I've seen the PB Source editor corrupt DataWindows. They were all large DataWindows. To be safe always export DataWindows to edit.
One tool that will most probably make your PB experience way better is Visual Expert, which provides a good source browser. Such a tool should have been integrated into the PB IDE a long time ago, IMHO. Only problem is that it's not free, as opposed to the other tools you mention.
Regarding using external source editors, you can probably take advantage of OrcaScript, which is a scripting language that lets you perform actions such as export and import of PB objects from outside of the IDE. It will require some effort, but you can setup a basic dev env using batch files with ORCA scripts and some additional external tools. However, this setup will lack any visual editing capabilities, which means no (feasible) GUI or DW work. If you're mostly into NVOs, it could work. But then if that's the case, why use PB in the first place?...
I too have heard PB12's use of VS will be limited to some .NET stuff, which will probably benefit only a very small portion of the PB programmers community. I'm afraid the rest of us are stuck with the awful IDE for years to come.
Other than exporting the source and editing it I don't know of another IDE for PB. One problem you may have is that the exported source contains a lot of syntax that is not documented in the manuals. The PB IDE generates this code but there is no support for creating it by hand. I think you are stuck with the PB IDE
In my modest five Years of experiences starting with Powerbuilder 5/6, now using PB 10, I tempt to :
build my own browser from the classdefinition object based on Powerbuilder
tried to use autohotkey in order to open datawindows comfortable (we have several thousands in the project and i am two-finger-driven)
truly investigated in the idea using an external editor/IDE suppoted by an autohotkey script which is undermined by sybase allowing only mouse-click-usage of PB
using Visual Expert which is neither a truly integration in the IDE, nor is really worth in analyzing datwindow/powerscript interaction
ending by build hopes on PB12 Visual Studio, which lacks - depending on compatibility issues - ...
... i came to the conclusion that there will be no chance in improving Powerbuilder to an state-of-the-art language
In my philosophy - I obtained during those years - I distinguish between two types of OOP-oriented languages:
the one that award using object-orientation like C#, Python, Ruby (C++) etc. and very much the Java-Eclipse/Netbeans-Universe does
the other one that punish using object-orientation like Powerbuilder and the old Visual Basic, for example (which is causative the OOP-Idea comes afterwards and is "plugged in").
Especially the demand that all object should always be compiled (regenerated) and that you could't work with ancestors and descandants concurrently makes it painful to use real OOP.
...In memory of the good old Unix(Solaris)/C++ days...
I was researching a replacement solution that would be similar to PowerBuilder and I came across two that caught my eye.
The first was 'React Studio' https://reactstudio.com/ which I found via Alternativeto.net .
And the second was from an ad at the top of some Google searches but it was similar enough and looked good enough at first glance for me to want to take a closer look at it, and it's called 'Servoy' https://servoy.com/ .
Still researching but I currently have React Studio at the top of our list.
The TextPad editor has a syntax definition file for PowerBuilder 6.x contributed by anr#aon.at that I downloaded for free and customized several years ago. It works fine for later versions (including 8), doing keyword color highlighting on PowerScript srx files. Editing large source files in PB could get it to crash so it's usually safer, faster and more convenient to export to srx file, edit outside the IDE then re-import.