TSW Blog

At least here in TSW HQ - stay tuned for more information!

So, I thought I would do a little WebCoder scripting. We need some more demo scripts, showing off the potential off the scripting system. I created a small webbrowser, inside of WebCoder, and I'm now sharing the result with you. It could use a bit of polishing, but it works, and it has the basic webbrowser functionality, in only 61 lines of commented and nicely structured code - I think that's pretty cool! :)

So, here it is. If you wish to try it out, be sure to copy/paste it exactly like it is - the Python language is whitespace sensitive :). I know that this script is not terribly useful, but hopefully it will give you an idea of how easy it is to create something cool. I hope you can extend on this and make something even cooler! :)

# We need stuff from the .NET class library - add the
# required assemblies and then import the classes we need
clr.AddReferenceByPartialName("System.Windows.Forms")
from System.Windows.Forms import WebBrowser, ToolStrip, ToolStripButton, ToolStripTextBox, Form, DockStyle

# Create our form (the dialog window)
browserForm = Form()
browserForm.Text = "Mini browser"
browserForm.Height = 400
browserForm.Width = 600

# Create an instance of the WebBrowser control and place it correctly
browser = WebBrowser()
browser.Dock = DockStyle.Fill
browserForm.Controls.Add(browser)

# Create an instance of a ToolStrip control (the .NET toolbar) and place it in the top
toolbar = ToolStrip()
toolbar.Dock = DockStyle.Top

# Events for the buttons we are about to create
def BackButtonClick(s, e):
	browser.GoBack()

def ForwardButtonClick(s, e):
	browser.GoForward()

def GoButtonClick(s, e):
	browser.Navigate(addressBox.Text)

# Create a couple of buttons on the toolbar
backButton = ToolStripButton()
backButton.Text = "Go back";
backButton.Click += BackButtonClick
toolbar.Items.Add(backButton)

forwardButton = ToolStripButton()
forwardButton.Text = "Go forward";
forwardButton.Click += ForwardButtonClick
toolbar.Items.Add(forwardButton)

# Create a text field for entering URL's
addressBox = ToolStripTextBox()
toolbar.Items.Add(addressBox)

# Create a Go button
goButton = ToolStripButton()
goButton.Text = "Go!"
goButton.Click += GoButtonClick
toolbar.Items.Add(goButton)

# Add the toolbar to the form
browserForm.Controls.Add(toolbar)

# Navigate to the TSW blog
browser.Navigate("http://www.tsware.net/blog/")

# Show the form
browserForm.ShowDialog()
# Dispose the form, freeing up it's resources
browserForm.Dispose()

I'm happy to announce a new minor release of TSW WebCoder 2007. This release comes with a fair amount of small fixes, tweaks and a couple of additions. Here is the list:

• Added a setting for controlling which type of linebreak used when saving files (Unix, Mac and Windows style)
• Tweaked the HTML IntelliSense to work better when writing within PHP strings
• The Alt key was not handled properly when used to access the main menu
• When creating new files from a project, the file would be empty - the project template OR the default template will now be used
• Removed visual appearance settings for bracket highlighting from the Editor settings tab. In WebCoder 2007, they should be set from the Syntax coloring tab
• A few very minor issues were corrected

The update has been released to replace previous versions, so if you are bothered by any of these minor bugs, just re-download from the WebCoder product page and install on top of the previous version. There should be no conflicts with datafiles from the final version of WebCoder.

Note to registered users of WebCoder: This is of course a free upgrade for you :). If you are running WebCoder 2007, version 7.00, you should be aware of the following: The location of the product key has been moved, so that WebCoder can now be registered by users not having access to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE part of the registry. Instead, it will be installed in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. This means that you have to re-register the application. Simply use the same key if you still have it, or get a new one from the serial key system, as described in the e-mail you received upon purchasing WebCoder. If you have any problems, be sure to contact us.

I'm happy to announce a new maintenance release of TSW WebPad.NET. Only one bug has been fixed, but besides that, TSW Update has been added. For more information on TSW Update, please see a previous post. The update has been released to replace previous versions, so if you are experiencing problems with the Ctrl+Number shortcut or if you would like to experience TSW Update, just re-download from the WebPad.NET product page and install on top of the previous version. There should be no conflicts with datafiles from the final version of WebPad.NET and this update.

When I start to create a new webdesign, I tend to use WebCoder a bit differently than when I'm just doing maintenance on an existing site. In the latter case, I don't use the internal preview a lot, but when I start a new design, the F12 key seems to be my best friend :). With WebCoder's support for both Mozilla and Internet Explorer as preview browsers, I seem to have everything I need without leaving WebCoder, but it's my dual monitor setup that really makes it easy to test out all the aspects of the new design. I use the customizable interface of WebCoder and drag out the preview Tool windows to my secondary monitor. Depending on what I'm doing, I will either tab the two windows to each other, to create a tab for each of the two browsers, or put them in a splitview position, either horizontally or vertically. This allows me to simply hit F12 in WebCoder and the changes will immediately be shown on my secondary monitor. As we all know, a good design requires a lot of tweaks and changes before it's ready, and being able to preview these changes instantly can be a huge help. In case you haven't already tried this in the design phase, you really should. Even if you don't have multiple monitors, there may be a way for you to position the windows that will give you a more optimal workflow. Try it!

I'm happy to announce a new update for WebCoder 2007. This is the second update, once again including a number of minor fixes, as requested by the users. It also includes TSW Update, as described in the previous blog post about the SiteSync update. Here is a list of changes in WebCoder 2007, version 7.02:

• PHP AutoProposal can now suggest variables within PHP strings
• Database tables with a dash (-) in their name could not be shown
• When there is no selected text, WebCoder will no longer allow empty lines to be cut or copied to the clipboard
• Editor setting added to allow for automatic conversion of tabs to spaces
• WebCoder would sometimes not remember the last used directory in the File explorer properly
• The Extended search & replace could be come unstable with certain search/replace combinations
• The Extended search & replace will now use the same encoding as selected by the user in the Settings dialog, when writing to files

The update has been released to replace previous versions, so if you are bothered by any of these minor bugs, just re-download from the WebCoder product page and install on top of the previous version. There should be no conflicts with datafiles from the final version of WebCoder.

Note to registered users of WebCoder: This is of course a free upgrade for you :). If you are running WebCoder 2007, version 7.00, you should be aware of the following: The location of the product key has been moved, so that WebCoder can now be registered by users not having access to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE part of the registry. Instead, it will be installed in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. This means that you have to re-register the application. Simply use the same key if you still have it, or get a new one from the serial key system, as described in the e-mail you received upon purchasing WebCoder. If you have any problems, be sure to contact us.

As mentioned, this release includes TSW Update. It's simply a small application which will launch the first time you start WebCoder, showing you the latest news from TSW. It will start as often as you'd like (or never again), depending on the interval you select - the default is every 3 days. This will keep you updated on everything new from TSW by showing you the latest entries from this blog, which is really the best way to make sure that you get the latest updates to the applications and try the newest beta versions. Besides that, tips & tricks will be posted here now and then. Of course, you may turn off TSW Update if you're not interested.

Just like with WebCoder 2007, TSW SiteSync has now been updated a bit, to resolve a couple of minor bugs and annoyances. Here is a list of the things fixed in this release:

• FTP client was sometimes failing to re-connect after timeouts
• A "One level up" button was added to the toolbar of the FTP client
• A couple of keyboard shortcuts were added to the mini editor: Ctrl+F to search, F3 to find the next result and Ctrl+F3 to find the previous
• The mini editor was failing to set the modified status of the file to false when manually saving, causing the user to be prompted to save no matter what
• A couple of keyboard shortcuts were added to the FTP client: Enter to edit file/enter folder, F2 to rename file/folder, Del to delete file/folder
• .ascx added to the list of extensions using the HTML highlighter in the mini editor
• Information about files are now being refreshed before showing the "Overwrite file?" dialog, to ensure correct information

The update has been released to replace version 1.00, so if you are bothered by any of these minor bugs, just re-download from the SiteSync product page and install on top of the previous version. There should be no conflicts with datafiles from the final version of SiteSync.

Note to registered users of SiteSync: This is of course a free upgrade for you :). The location of the product key has been moved, so that SiteSync can now be registered by users not having access to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE part of the registry. Instead, it will be installed in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. This means that you have to re-register the application. Simply use the same key if you still have it, or get a new one from the serial key system, as described in the e-mail you received upon purchasing SiteSync. If you have any problems, be sure to contact us.

Besides those fixes, SiteSync 1.01 comes with another addition, called TSW Update. It's simply a small application which will launch the first time you start SiteSync, showing you the latest news from TSW. It will start as often as you'd like (or never again), depending on the interval you select - the default is every 3 days. This will keep you updated on everything new from TSW by showing you the latest entries from this blog, which is really the best way to make sure that you get the latest updates to the applications and try the newest beta versions. Besides that, tips & tricks will be posted here now and then. Of course, you may turn off TSW Update if you're not interested.

I hope to add TSW Update to the other TSW applications soon, but until then, please let me know if you have any suggestions or comments on it :)

An update to WebCoder 2007, version 7.01, has been released. It fixes 3 pretty minor bugs:

• The caret would in certain situations jump over an empty line
• The Tab order of the FTP overwrite dialog was wrong
• Problems when trying to write the ASP start sequence (<%) and using HTML AutoProposal

It also adds a new setting, controlling whether or not WebCoder should monitor for external changes to your open files. If you are bothered by WebCoder's prompts to reload changed files, this can now be turned off.

The update has been released to replace version 7.00, so if you are bothered by any of these minor bugs, just re-download from the WebCoder product page and install on top of the previous version. There should be no conflicts with datafiles from the final version of WebCoder.

Note to registered users of WebCoder: This is of course a free upgrade for you :). The location of the product key has been moved, so that WebCoder can now be registered by users not having access to the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE part of the registry. Instead, it will be installed in HKEY_CURRENT_USER. This means that you have to re-register the application. Simply use the same key if you still have it, or get a new one from the serial key system, as described in the e-mail you received upon purchasing WebCoder. If you have any problems, be sure to contact us.

One of my favorite features of WebCoder is the way it can be extended by the end-user, that is, you! The most powerful way of extending WebCoder is writing scripts for it. You already be doing so, or perhaps you have just noticed the Scripting menu item in WebCoder. The support for scripts allows you to extend WebCoder in almost any way you want to, which makes it so damn powerful that it's hard to actually describe. That's why I want to show you, but how?

People tend to get impressed by different things, so I would like your input here. Put in simple terms, I would like for you to think of something cool to do with WebCoder scripting, and then either do it your self, or make a suggestion for me or anyone else to do it for you. Simply make a post in the development forum about your idea, and throw in some code if you can - if not, it's open for anyone to give it a try and make a post. I will be following the debate, and help as much as possible. If you come up with something really cool, it will be posted here on the blog in a series of helpful posts. Personally, I will document the process of any scripts I make on the TSWiki - I would love for you to do the same :)

As promised, I would like to give away 5 commercial WebCoder 2007 licences to 5 active betatesters. I've had a very hard time choosing only 5, because so many did such a good job, but in the end, I had to make a decision :). Here they are, in no specific order, mentioned with their forum name:

• Kegu
• amews_aj
• Mobleman
• Toad
• KingSky

People on the list, please contact me if we haven't already talked about this, and I will make sure that you get your free license :). A big thank you goes out to everyone who participated in the beta test!