[wxPython-users] Pallavi 0.5: Text editor utilizing wxPython

[Christopher Barker]

Peter Damoc wrote:
> It uses AUINotebook, you can just drag a page to the right and have 2 
> files side by side in the same window.

Which is nice -- and may meet my minimum requirements, but it's really 
not as flexible as multiple Frames. Two issues:

1) Multiple monitors
2) Other apps -- I most often am working with some other app than the 
editor -- often, but no always the app I'm writing. IN this case, I like 
to have the freedom to arrange my editing windows and other apps as I 
please.

I really like how Xemacs and the OS-X TextWrangler handle this: you can 
have any number of Frames, and each frame can have any number of buffers 
-- if you use only one Frame, then there's no added complication for the 
user.

Can wxAUI handle having a Panel that gets it's own top-level Frame, 
rather than being confined to the main Frame?

Alberto Griggio wrote:
> I don't want to start an endless discussion, but... since "being small" is
> not in your requirements list, what's wrong with Emacs+Pymacs?

"being small" is indeed not a requirement of mine. But having a modern, 
UI standards compliant UI is. I've been using Xemacs for a long time. 
I've never liked it much, but I've always LOVED that it has (good) modes 
for everything I do.

jmf wrote:
> Do you know the common point between PyPE, Ulipad, DrPython?
> 
> They all do not work on my Win box (Swiss French keyboard),

OK, but do you need to write an entirely new editor to fix that? I'm 
guessing it's STC and/or unicode related -- I can't imagine the entire 
framework of all these editors are flawed to the point where it couldn't 
be fixed.

I have my reasons that none of the above fit my needs -- but none of 
them need a complete re-write (well, I want multiple frames, which may 
get tricky) to provide what I want. I don't have time to write a text 
editor, but If I was going to, I'd start with one of the above.

Dusty Phillips wrote:
> The shortest answer is that It started out as a pet project.
> Then it became useful.

Fair enough -- we all do what's fun for us -- did the world need 
FloatCanvas? Could I have used wxOGL instead? I don't think so, but 
honestly, I didn't research it enough to know for sure.

> In general, Pallavi has a much smaller core than most editors.

As I said, I do like the design philosophy.

> I use it for HTML, Javascript, CSS, and Python editing, although there
> aren't many plugins to support most features of those yet.

So is it indeed stable enough for everyday use? Nice to know.

>> I'll give Pallavi a try on OS-X when I get a chance.
> 
> That would be great. I anticipate errors since no testing has been
> done on that platform yet and wxPython itself is not quite as mature
> on it.

It's a lot better than it was, but it's still different. Have you 
checked out this page?:

http://wiki.wxpython.org/Optimizing_for_Mac_OS_X

It's a good start to making your app MAc-friendly.

>> One question -- can you open files in different Frames

> the only option right now is to have two
> instances running, with no communication between them.

Just not the same....

> with major modes that
> don't necessarily have to be STC instances. 

Which sounds like it fits well with Pallavi's modular approach -- I do 
hope you two will join forces, or at least share ideas.

> From pain of experience, I'd recommend thinking about multiple
> top-level windows and multiple views now, if that support is of any
> interest to you somewhere down the road. 

Yes, yes, please do!

There is the trade off between duplicating effort and leaving room for 
new, great ideas -- so hopefully this will result in better editors for 
all in the future.

Still, just imagine how feature-full and bug free an editor we could 
have if the SPE, Ulipad, PyPE, DrPython, Boa, Peppy, and Pallavi teams 
were all working on the same thing!

-Chris


-- 
Christopher Barker, Ph.D.
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