Hello, Thank you for your efforts. I use geany all the time to do quick editing on debian/mate server environment. I didn't realize there was a WINDOZE version, so I am giving it a try. I have been using EditPlus for about 15 years and switched to NotePad++ about 5 years ago.
I am attaching a screenshot of my current work environment. I have 80 or so tabs open. NotePad++ seems to do worse managing them now (v 8.0) than before (v 7.0)... Before, I could have 3 instances of NotePad++ open with 50 or so tabs in each instance [e.g, PHP, JAVASCRIPT, HTML/CSS or R/C++/Rnotebooks in different panes]. This allows me to use the power of ALT-TAB and open instances of different file types.
My current project is in R. And I believe over the next year or so, if you are willing, I can help solve some of the integration issues with R to make GEANY a better IDE to the terminal RGUI. You should be able to send CODE to the terminal or "SOURCE" a file. Or Source a file with a custom function (which I am currently writing) to allow for multiline comments using /* ... */ or <!-- ... //--> inside the R file. Have a feature to ALLOW "MACRO X" to be called when the file is saved. That is, I hit "save" and it sends the CODE over, or more efficiently calls SOURCE or CUSTOM_SOURCE function.
RStudio is not a serious alternative for REAL DEVELOPMENT. They change my TABS settings every time I enter the IDE. The don't allow me to detach my workspace and customize it across multiple monitors. I understand those features are not in the scope of geany's design. I can take care of them. For my project to be successful, I need geany to be an AMAZING editor on ALL platforms, including WINDOWS and it needs to be able to send code effectively to RTERM on all platforms. It also needs to have an API to allow me to send files to geany to OPEN (likely already possible with CMD but I have tested it yet) or TEXT for geany to PIPE into a new "touched" file. Certainly geany is already a GOOD IDE, but I am suggesting some ENHANCEMENTS on the Windows Platform. I don't know if these features are available in MacOS or Debian, but here are my initial comments.
- Symbols should be able to attach to the left or right hand side, or float ABOVE the main IDE area. The should be sortable (A-Z) and subsearchable. You currently have Symbols/Documents, may want to consider Projects. I like mine fixed to the RIGHT side, since I am right handed and use the mouse on that side. The space STEALS "real estate" from the multiline tabs (which you can see in NOTEPAD++): SETTING->PREFERENCES->GENERAL->TAB BAR - The search (find and replace) POPUP should allow a transparency feature. The options in GEANY are OK, but I am showing the options from NOTEPAD++ - Add search results across (SESSION search) in the footer (the footer should be STYLED as the MAIN area). The search results are organized by file and in the HISTORY footer they show one line of code (that I can select/copy/paste) that when I double click, it opens the correct tab and goes to the correct line. Currently you call it MESSAGES, but it should be its own thing like STATUS/COMPILER and I should be able to copy/paste/select. I am certain you have seen how NOTEPAD++ does this (a search history expanded with a memory for each) - Multi-line [TABULAR] support (Please see screenshot). The tabs should be able to drag and drop. I should be able to sort the collection by A-Z. If I drag a tab outside the WORKSPACE it should open a new instance of GEANY. - TAB highlighting (FILE UNSAVED) and BOOKMARKING (I am currently working on this one). Makes it easier to spot a file in the VISUAL SEARCH SPACE. [This is not fully developed in NOTEPAD++] - The File Open dialog should remember several RECENT locations, and have a file RECENT history. There should be a location bar (not just a browse) so I can copy/paste a file location. There needs to be basic navigation features (up arrow back, and so one). Maybe a common paths set of bookmarks where one can ADD/REMOVE paths.
So again, I am new to the GEANY environment for serious IDE, but it is very promising. I can help on INTEGRATION for R which will give it some more exposure. I will make efforts to try and understand the STYLING/SYNTAXING and other core features (currently none of my functions are displaying in SYMBOLS so I need to dig into the CTAG for R).
Thanks again for a wonderful tool. It has great potential for being the core TEXT EDITOR / IDE for the modern R system I am in the process of developing.
I'm not sure what the point of an image of Notepad++ is. Its unlikely that any Geany devs use Notebook++ as it is a windows only application and Geany is mostly developed on Linux and is only available on Windows and Macos because GTK is portable(ish). So referring to Notebook++ is no use, you need to actually describe what you want Geany to do. Also note Geany is not notebook++ and is not necessarily going to match it feature for feature.
To address your list points (you seem to have missed existing features):
- The sidebar can be positioned left or right, positioning above the GUI doesn't make sense since it has vertical lists in it, very little would be available. Symbols are sortable by right click menu. - All GUI elements other than the editing widget are styled by the GTK theme, which can be customised by adding to geany.css, so you should be able to set transparency if its supported by GTK. - I assume you mean `Find in files`, the tab is called "messages" because its the results of any external command, and find in files runs `grep` and the tab contents are the results it reports. The tab is not an editing widget, so it can't be styled as such. - tabs are drawn by the GTK toolkit which does not support multiple tab lines AFAICT, if you have so many files open better to use the documents tab in the sidebar to navigate. GTK does not support dragging tabs outside the application AFAICT. - the tabs for modified unsaved buffers change the text colour, the current tab is highlighted by GTK and how visible it is should be able to be set by GTK CSS (I admit some GTK themes don't make it terribly visible) - The file open dialog is a standard GTK open file chooser which does not support user typing of paths AFAICT, but it does support bookmarks.
AFAIK none of the Geany devs are R users, so contributions for R are welcome but they must fit with the other 60 languages Geany supports. For R specific functionality such as an R specific shell you may do better adding a plugin.
Note that [uctags](https://github.com/universal-ctags/ctags) is a separate project and everything in the Geany `ctags` directory comes from there. Apart from a couple of historical files we do not maintain it. So please propose changes upstream, then provide a PR for Geany to integrate what has changed.
Similarly styling is provided by the [Lexilla](https://github.com/geany/geany/tree/master/scintilla/lexilla) project that is part of the [Scintilla](https://www.scintilla.org/) project that provides the editing widget Geany uses. Again changes should be proposed upstream before integration into Geany.
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