What IDE/editor/File Management tools do you use when writing a Corona application?

I use Komodo Edit. Its free and available for Windows, Mac and Linux.

i use Notepad++ for WinXP

on both PC and MAC i use jEdit (it's FREE!) - don't think i needed to add a plugin for lua syntax coloring.

recently on mac have played around in xcode using this method for lua syntax highlighting http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bCyROeILbo8&feature=channel_video_title and i really like it

edit: i bought and have played around with CPM (http://coronaprojectmanager.com/) - it looks like it is a great tool, but i was set in my ways for file structures and really haven't (but should) spend the time to learn it

EDIT: I think I need to eat my words. I very much complained about CPM but should have done so in the feature requests and expressed my issues with Jay directly. After having this discussion and another one on feature requests he's worked hard to get things going. I STRONGLY suggest that if you use CPM you should voice your requests, bugs, etc to him. He can only do as good of a job as possible if we keep him in the loop. Thanks Jay. (I'm going to leave what I said to keep the story straight but know I officially eat my words...)

We use Corona Project Manager. Seemed like the way to go and it does have a ton of useful features.. but it honestly seems build by a single guy in his basement. Now I'm not bashing that since most of us are or were single developers. Just realize that it'll crash a fair amount, act weird, and is not professional grade software.. The code complete works (is kind of weird at times) but it does work and saves us time. The Asset management is ok, we really don't use it much (turn stuff on and off etc) because our artists drop in a version and update it on a shared folder so we don't have to "test" multiple versions. In fact I'm really not even sure why that is such a featured item.. maybe someone else uses it a lot..

So if you want a solid IDE developed for Corona then CPM is a good option. Looking back, I think if we had more time we'd have gone with a free option. When we started our current project we had to get up and running fast. Corona was the obvious choice and we just bought a couple copies of the CPM since it was all we knew. At $75.00 a head it was expensive for iffy software that the developer is spending time developing other apps/games and "coming back" to improve corona in the future..

Thats my rant.. good luck on finding what works for you! Besides the IDE just know Corona is pretty awesome any way you look at it!

-David

@drnelson was that a typo about using Corona SDK?

I'm using a custom build of vim on iTerm with a bunch of plugins. Let's me hop back and forth on the command line and server. And git for code and asset versioning.

Nope, I use it. I still use it. I'm not a satisfied customer, BUT you have to realize I have a team all working with a production pipeline. Changing that tool changes how we work, so after we release we'll probably shop around again for a different IDE. And while most of what I said is negative, I don't think it's an unusable product. It has it's +'s and it functions. If it was $20-$30 I don't think I'd be as negative. But $75 for a buggy IDE that isn't highly supported seems like a waste (4 copies = $300)...

Had to laugh, another person just said on the feature requests they'd love to see a feature that brought it down to the $29.00 price range...

I just know if I was developing a tool for Corona I'd be trying to create the best tool out there that matches the functionality of popular IDE's and would work to make it bug free. I wouldn't leave my customers to go develop other apps/games while I was trying to support a product. But then again I'd be developing buggy software.. and maybe I still am right now and don't know it... :)

Just know what you're getting into.

-d

Are you saying Corona SDK is an IDE...?

@ arncota he is talking about Corona Project Manager.

On topic - I personally use Fraise and Corona Project Manager. I personally highly recommend both.

@drnelson OK I think you put Corona SDK but really meant Corona CPM.

Sorry about that.. even read it twice after I saw this message... I've edited it to fix it.

I'm using Textmate (http://macromates.com/) with Corona Textmate Bundle (http://www.ludicroussoftware.com/corona-textmate-bundle/index.html) and I'm really satisfied with that combo.

[Edited for brevity and to remove the whine.]

1. CPM *is* done by one guy in a basement. For real. My office right now is in a basement apartment. I alone do all development, tech support, marketing, etc.

2. I've never "left my customers" to go develop something else -- I've worked on multiple things at once because I have a family to support. CPM does NOT make enough money to live on at this point. Even at $75 a copy.

I just finished working on an iPad game and while that was happening I fixed a big bug in CPM because it was killing my productivity. If all I did was work on CPM I would have never realized that bug was such a pig -- it seemed like more of an annoyance until I kept running into it.

I *do* appreciate your feedback, especially how CPM doesn't really fit your workflow -- I'd like to fix that if it's possible.

CPM isn't perfect, but it's about a billion times better than it was six months ago and since I use it myself, you should know that it will continue to get better and better.

Jay

I really like Coda, so that's what I use. Mac only. I've made a plugin for it so it'll give syntax highlighting and autocomplete for Corona (you can find it here if you search the forums).

xcode is by far the best IDE if you are on a mac.

it's free.
There is syntax highlighting and the xcode projects lets you organize your .lua files into groups (folders) meaning you will have a nice overview even though the .lua files have to be in the root folder in your corona project.

On top of that you have the xcode organizer that lets you easily transfer the apps to your ios devices and read console output from the device.

and with these xcode scripts you can control your corona simulator with shortcuts from xcode:
http://developer.anscamobile.com/forum/2011/03/17/xcode-scripting-corona

I honestly can't see why anyone would use any other IDE than xcode ( if they are using a mac )

"I honestly can't see why anyone would use any other IDE than xcode ( if they are using a mac )" -ojnab

Relevant link: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/649000/why-emacs-vim-textmate-isnt-xcode-good-enough

Thanks for putting the scripts together. Will definitely give them a try, as I already use the xcode organizer for transferring apps.

But I guess here's why I haven't tried anything else cause I can already dev super fast with my setup and it works on all the different codebases I have to work with from Flash, server side programming, and Corona dev.

With vim I get one of the most powerful editors out there, I get syntax highlighting, with Command-T I get fast navigation between files. Not to mention you'll probably be spending the majority of your time editing and debugging code so a good editor is the most important thing IMO.

I only launch the Corona terminal once and Corona already picks up changes and refreshes, and I can get output from the device via sockets which with a little more work I can get logging from anywhere. Getting output from the device has been rarely used. Maybe my apps haven't exercised enough of the API.

I'm working off the command line so I can access git commands easily from diff, to pushing and pulling from my repo.

But despite all that, I am interested in improving my dev process. Do you have any pointers for getting started with xcode?

Also does anyone have a good tutorial on using the Instruments app? I was trying to detect memory leaks with it, and while I was able to get some useful info out of it. I'm finding my own profiler is basically giving me the same data without the slowdown. http://developer.anscamobile.com/forum/2011/02/28/fspmemory-profiler-swfprofiler-ported-corona

I personally don't like Xcode at all. I think the GUI is a real mess, and hard to work with.

First of all, I didn't mean to offend although looking back I think I used stronger words than I intended.. So first of all I appologize. My intent was not to insult/offend.

1. This is a good thing. When I started my company I was 1 guy in a basement with just a computer, TV (no cable) and barely able to meet rent.. then things got better.

2. My point here was that you are developing more than one thing. If you use CPM updates and features may take a long time to show up due to this fact. The reason why is irrelevant. It's a shame that you don't make the cash on this tool alone.

"I *do* appreciate your feedback, especially how CPM doesn't really fit your workflow -- I'd like to fix that if it's possible."

I think this probably will be fixed long term. You answer my issues with the template files and I'm sure source control has been requested. I think long term if it's more customizable then it will fit in the work flow. However, I'll talk to my other programmers and make sure we post on the feature request forum.

Jay, I know you'll make this better. And eventually it will be a product that may compete with any and all other options out there. I just thought people should know that it's not prime time software, it's more like a $75 beta. I think you would sell a lot more volume if you dropped the price, but maybe you have already played with more price points.

Sorry about the I'd make this my sole thing comment. I said that because typically I commit to a project 100% until it's done but you are right. I have a company that's pumped out a bunch of projects every year and enables me to do something like that. And in the end, if it wasn't paying the bills, I'd probably move on.

Keep up the good work, it's not perfect but it's good. We may disagree about price, but it does what it should do with a few bugs here and there.

And last thought to anyone considering CPM, we have 4 people using it and we're about to finish up a huge project doing so and I DO believe 100% that the QUICKEST and EASIEST way to get up and running is to get Corona SDK and CPM. You do one setup step that's incredibly easy and you are ready to go build, run, and publish your apps.

Before we bought CPM I used TextWrangler for mac.
Although CPM is not perfect (I see a lot of glitches and lags, especially when commenting code blocks in and out), it is realy helpful in terms of organizing and publishing your projects.

Asset management is also helpful. Switching assets on and off, also having different versions of the same asset at the same time can be confusing. But now I use it a lot, it really comes handy when I want to update stuff.

So my main (and only) concern is the suboptimal performance. But I hope that will change in future versions.

-finefin

Hi guys.

Does anyone know if there's any Corona plugin/bundle with Sublime Text 2?

http://www.sublimetext.com

Textmate with Corona bundle is a great combo but I'm in love with the aesthetics of ST2.

Thanks for the edit on your post, David, I appreciate that.

And in the spirit of full disclosure, I want to modify something I said earlier. I said I switched back and forth from CPM to game dev because CPM wasn't bringing in enough moolah to live on.

While that may be true, I realized today my answer wasn't really accurate, because even if CPM was a money-machine, I'd still switch back and forth from it to game dev...

...because that's why I got Corona SDK in the first place, to make games! :) CPM only came about because I wanted an IDE to use for my own development. I didn't "enter the market" because I thought it was lucrative (but I keep dreaming), I got in because I was making the tool *I* wanted to help me speed up my own game development -- and thought maybe others would find it valuable, too.

To get back to the focus of the thread, if I wasn't using CPM I'd probably be using a combination of TextMate and Gumbo, or maybe Xcode. I've tried Eclipse and it just feels really clunky and I don't think there are a lot of other options out there. (The developer in me thinks that's sad, the marketer in me giggles and taps away on the calculator.)

Jay