Debugger usability feature request

Alexander Babaev wrote:

Now in Idea I have to switch between horisontal (bottom-pinned for example) debug tool window (when I read Console output. There are many long log lines) and vertical one (when I use Frame tab - there are many variables, I like when there is no need of scrolling).

Is it so difficult to create two different tool windows, one with console and other with Frame/Threads/Watches?

Another related request is to be able to undock the separate tabs, so I
can see both the console and the stack frame at my second monitor.

Window docking, and window management in general, is one of my biggest gripes about IDEA. I tend to have my windows floating and unpinned, so they appear if I ask for them or if they receive output, and then disappear when I switch to another window. But it's a poor man's excuse for proper window management. In this respect, IDEA's interface looks (and feels) very primitive compared to, oh, say, Eclipse :)

Well, even Visual C++ version 6 can do similar things. :)

No currently this is not possible, but there exists an issue requesting similar functionality.

--
Best regards,
Eugene Zhuravlev
Software Developer
JetBrains Inc.
http://www.jetbrains.com
"Develop with pleasure!"

"Alexander Babaev" <no_mail@jetbrains.com> wrote in message news:30892038.1120602924093.JavaMail.itn@is.intellij.net...

Now in Idea I have to switch between horisontal (bottom-pinned for example) debug tool window (when I read Console output. There
are many long log lines) and vertical one (when I use Frame tab - there are many variables, I like when there is no need of
scrolling).

>

Is it so difficult to create two different tool windows, one with console and other with Frame/Threads/Watches?

>

Or maybe I can get similar result another way?

Is there a possibility of getting this feature in 5.0?

I doubt it - 5.0 is now in feature-freeze mode

Alexander Babaev wrote:

Is there a possibility of getting this feature in 5.0?

And maybe it's possible to write a plugin that does same thing? Sorry for sucha a question but I didn't write plugins yet. If it's possible may be this one would be the first.

Are you serious? IDEA's window management is one BIG win over Eclipse, in my experience. The ability to pin on unpin windows, and to make them "slide" only when I need them, and all that without having to dabble with complicated "perspectives" is great

Maybe IDEA has hit the sweet spot for me, but I can't emphasize how much I love it's window disposition over Eclipse's.

Agreed: That's quite stupid in Eclipse.
Still, I have quite often wanted to see both "Frame" and "Watches" window simultaneously.
Maybe it's currently good, but it can still be improved.

Marcus Brito schrieb:

Are you serious? IDEA's window management is one BIG win over Eclipse, in my experience. The ability to pin on unpin windows, and to make them "slide" only when I need them, and all that without having to dabble with complicated "perspectives" is great

Maybe IDEA has hit the sweet spot for me, but I can't emphasize how much I love it's window disposition over Eclipse's.

Still, I have quite often wanted to see both "Frame" and "Watches"
window simultaneously.
Maybe it's currently good, but it can still be improved.

Like with JIDE, right?

Tom

Are you serious? IDEA's window management is one BIG win over Eclipse, in my experience.

Wow, there really is no accounting for taste :)

I loved IDEA's window management when I had a bigger monitor - 2 big pages of code, and a bunch of unpinned sliding windows. In my new job I have a crappy monitor that only does up to 1152x864 without making my eyes bleed, so now I'd like to continually have a panel at the left and one page of code at the right. But.....

1. Anything I want to view in the left panel, I have to painstakingly adjust all the windows so they're exactly the same width, or my code jumps around when I switch windows.

2. I can't dock more than one window in the left hand panel (todo below the project pane, for example).

3. I can't make the left panel take precedence over the bottom panel, so whenever the bottom panel is visible I lose that section of the left panel.

I can work around some of this using floating windows, but then either I have them unpinned (in which case I can't have more than one at a time), or pinned (in which case they float over my code, and when I'm searching I can't see where it's found stuff).

Unfortunately AFAIAK there's no corresponding open API for requested functionality yet, only general stuff - create a toolwindow,
add content to a ContentManager etc....

--
Best regards,
Eugene Zhuravlev
Software Developer
JetBrains Inc.
http://www.jetbrains.com
"Develop with pleasure!"

"Alexander Babaev" <no_mail@jetbrains.com> wrote in message news:6992375.1120647430664.JavaMail.itn@is.intellij.net...

And maybe it's possible to write a plugin that does same thing? Sorry for sucha a question but I didn't write plugins yet. If it's
possible may be this one would be the first.

actually the ability to put TWO panels in a section (either bottom, left or right) is the one I miss
the most, and exists in other IDEs (VS, eclipse, you-name-it).

Other than that - IMO the IDEA way is excellent.

Colin Fleming wrote:
>>Are you serious? IDEA's window management is one BIG win over Eclipse, in my experience.

Wow, there really is no accounting for taste :)

I loved IDEA's window management when I had a bigger monitor - 2 big pages of code, and a bunch of unpinned sliding windows. In my new job I have a crappy monitor that only does up to 1152x864 without making my eyes bleed, so now I'd like to continually have a panel at the left and one page of code at the right. But.....

1. Anything I want to view in the left panel, I have to painstakingly adjust all the windows so they're exactly the same width, or my code jumps around when I switch windows.

2. I can't dock more than one window in the left hand panel (todo below the project pane, for example).

3. I can't make the left panel take precedence over the bottom panel, so whenever the bottom panel is visible I lose that section of the left panel.

I can work around some of this using floating windows, but then either I have them unpinned (in which case I can't have more than one at a time), or pinned (in which case they float over my code, and when I'm searching I can't see where it's found stuff).

I loved IDEA's window management when I had a bigger
monitor - 2 big pages of code, and a bunch of
unpinned sliding windows. In my new job I have a
crappy monitor that only does up to 1152x864 without
making my eyes bleed, so now I'd like to continually
have a panel at the left and one page of code at the
right. But.....

Weird, I have exactly the opposite feeling. I love IDEA's window management because I have a crappy 15" 'belly' monitor that can't do anything more than 1024x768 at work (just check the number of 'XXX dialog is too large for 1024x768' under my name). In this setup, all tool windows will be unpinned, and set to auto-hide. They will slide in when needed, and go away later. The editor will be the only thing occupying the whole window most of the time. This is priceless for those of us with inches challenged monitors.

At home, however, I have a nice 19" flat monitor that can do up to 1600x1200 without a problem. In this setup, IDEA's window management lost it's shine. The main reason I love it -- the sliding, auto-hiding tool windows -- aren't such a big deal when you have a big monitor... then all the problems you mentioned show up.

JIDE allows both, Eclipse-like arranging of windows AND autohiding. I have
no clue, why it is not used in IDEA.

Tom

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