InformEd - an Inform IDE for the Pocket PC
AlanBell68
As a recent discoverer of Inform, I have found that I am enjoying
learning to use the language in small snatches of spare time in between
my normal day-to-day activities using my Pocket PC.
I have had Ian Keen's Pocket Frotz, installed on my Pocket PC for a
while now, along with Symbolic Tools' Pocket Console, Microsoft's
CMD and an ARM version of Inform.
I have been using Pocket Word for editing my source files and flipping
back and forth between that and the command prompt, where I have a few
batch files to compile things and generally manage things for me.
Anyways...The main reason that I am writing is that, to try and make my
life a little easier, I have began developing a Pocket PC based IDE for
Inform. At the moment it is still very basic, but I thought perhaps
other Pocket PC'ers/Informers may be interested.
As it stands, it requires Pocket Frotz, to test/play your creations and
Pocket Console, CMD and Inform for compilation. It also calls the HTML
version of DM4 from the Inform Language Help.
The features are as follows.
Source code editor with the following features:
Undo, Cut, Copy, Paste Find, Find Next, Find Line
Compiler/Editor Integration.
Skips through the source code and highlights each line with an error,
displaying a description of it in a separate error window beneath the
source code, using First Error & Next Error menu commands.
Integration of the Inform Compiler and Pocket Frotz with the Editor.
Once compiled, if you have no errors, you can jump straight into
testing/playing the compilation.
New Project Wizard: Uses a fill-in form to generate a compilable
template from which to create your new work.
The Point and click menu driven interface can be used to open your
source, compile and play (using the above required components) in a few
mouse clicks and helps you be more productive.
I plan to continue developing this for my own use, and include some of
the following features...
Object Wizard
Will employ a GUI to allow the source for an object to be built from
the ground up, or derived from a base class. Class definitions and
object definitions will be stored as reusable components in a
repository and could be used across projects.
As I said, it is in its early stages at the moment, but I would just
like to get a feel for any interest there may be for this tool. It will
be made freely available to anyone who wants it, and I will try to take
on board any ideas.
If anyone is interested in this project, as a co-developer or a user,
they may contact me at AlnR...@hotmail.com. Just put InformEd in the
subject of the email. Just bear in mind it's still in its infancy and
far from "Visual Studio", but as it stands does speed things up a
bit!
Thanks for your time.
Alan Bell
efor...@yahoo.fr
AlanBell68 a écrit :
> Dear All,
>
> As a recent discoverer of Inform, I have found that I am enjoying
> learning to use the language in small snatches of spare time in between
> my normal day-to-day activities using my Pocket PC.
>
> I have had Ian Keen's Pocket Frotz, installed on my Pocket PC for a
> while now, along with Symbolic Tools' Pocket Console, Microsoft's
> CMD and an ARM version of Inform.
>
It's an interesting idea, even though I don't think I could do much on
such a tiny device.
I'd have been curious to have a look, but it seems the pocketPc I'm
using (ipaq 4700) doesn't like pocketfrotz
AlanBell68
PC? If so, and providing that you can pass the name of the file to open
at the command line, I could probably make the Interpreter selectable.
Let me know if you are still curious.
Regards
Alan
Darren A. Peace
>It's an interesting idea, even though I don't think I could do much on
>such a tiny device.
>I'd have been curious to have a look, but it seems the pocketPc I'm
>using (ipaq 4700) doesn't like pocketfrotz
I had exactly the same issue with PocketFrotz 0.3b, which seems to be
the easiest release to find.
However, 0.4b, to be found at
http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/frotz/pocketfrotz_04b.zip
works splendidly on my VGA WM5 Jasjar. Beautiful in landscape with the
built-in keyboard (with the caveat of non-optimised bottom bar icons),
and I regard landscape display as pretty much essential for such
delights as the Christminster map.
I like the look of Frostz
http://digilander.libero.it/jpdefault/frostz_index.html
which is in development, but doesn't cope as well with landscape mode.
It'll play Arthur with the graphics, should the urge to do so ever
seize you.
What I'd *really* like, of course, is an I7 parser that works on the
Pocket PC. It'd need a runtime and compiler, rather than the
embarrassment of riches in the Windows IDE, but even the theory of
such things is well beyond my capabilities.
Darren
Hungerford, UK
efor...@yahoo.fr
> However, 0.4b, to be found at
>
> http://www.ifarchive.org/if-archive/infocom/interpreters/frotz/pocketfrotz_04b.zip
>
I don't remember which one I used, I'll try again with this one when
I'll have the pocketpc again.
>Is there a particular interpreter that you do use/works on your Pocket PC?
It's frostz. I'll try the other pockerfrotz version first anyway. Is
your software downloadable somewhere on internet ? Otherwise you can
still send it to my email adress and I'll give a look to it.
AlanBell68
It will probably be a couple of weeks before I have time to work on the
site, as my stepdaughter is graduating this coming weekend.
It is available for Pocket PC2002/ARM via email for anyone else who is
interested.