Re: the gnustep wreckage. Part 2: ProjectCenter

[Serg Stoyan]

Hello Riccardo,

> Now I thought it is time to upgrade PRICE, my own app, to ProjectCenter 
> 0.4x since that is the future, the format changed and many improvements 
> were publicized by Serg (hey! I hope you read this mail).
> 
> Unfortunately after several hours of trying I came to the conclusion: 
> unusable. Really.
> 
> - upgrading the project makes quite a mess of the files, moves them on, 
> translates the plists, misses old README files and assumes new ones are 

1. PC doesn't translate plists. It GENERATE plists using information from
   PC.project.
2. Yes I've missed that bug with documentation file when converting from
   old style(0.3.x) projects. I'll fix it.

> somewhere whey they don't exist... I am already worried on how I will 
> have to commit CVS all this file and directory shuffling

I changed directory structure whith one thought in mind: all files that are
resources(that is, should go into .app wrapper) should go into Resources
subdir. I think this is more clear file locations. These files are:
Interfaces, Images, Documentation.

> - the interface itself is extremely buggy and unstable.
> - editing a file in the below pane works only the first time after 
> opening. Once you have switched to the build or run pane there is no way 
> back you can't get back to editing your files...

What do you mean by saying "can't get back"? PC crashes? Your window
manager can't switch focus between windows?

> - after a while I get a lot of exceptions and inconsistency 
> warnings about grid and placement of invalid objects. Probably this is a 
> consequence of triggering the above...

Can you reproduce this and send me these exceptions and warnings?

> - preferences are not saved. Modifying the main interface file 
> (xxx.gorm) in the project preference panel has no effect!  I need to 
> edit manually the project file in an editor and change the plist value

After editing project prefernces (via Project Inspector) it's saved
automatically (or ask you about it) when you start building project. Also
you can save it by pressing Alt+Shift+s.

> - changing the MAKE executable preference takes effect only after saving 
> and restarting PC. Not very handy.

Thanks. I'll fix it.

> Besides, why should be the location of the MAKE be a PROJECT preference 
> and not a global PC pref?
> I assume make stays at the same place on a computer while sharing a 
> project among two computers makes the useless necessity to every time to 
> modify the make location... absurd

Agreed. I'll fix it.

> - the new panel for the information in the info panel is strange. There 
> are two entries for the license and license description.. filling them 
> out makes them appear maybe in the wrong order in the panel?
> 
> xxxx
> GPL
> Released under...
> 
> maybe they just need to be swapped or the contents should be different 
> (but then the hint values should be different)

Info panel still left untouched since I started making big changes. Maybe
some day...

> and last but not least a big problem I could not find workarounds for. 
> HOW can I specify the NSTypes for an application? This is very important 
> or PRICE can't open a single file!!!

Currently I'm finishing support for document based application. I'll be new
panel for configuring NSTypes. I guess I'll make a release(0.4.1) with all
these changes and fixes.

> IN old times that was specified in the plist that was never touched 
> (even if auto-generated). I tried copying the old nstypes in the new 
> .plist PC generated, but PC first ignores them and at the next restart 
> it regenerates the .plist with NSType (); empty. I wonder if there is a 
> panel to insert them now? I didn't find it.

See above. And btw, the main principle of future PC is: any file that
generated by PC, HAVE TO be generated by PC whithout ANY intrusions from
developer's side. Every change you need to go into these files should be
done through PC interface. For now these files are: GNUmakefile.*,
Info-gnustep.plist, PC.project.

-- 
Serg Stoyan