Review of Zeus Edit

[wraith808]

Added section on Daily Use Experience

[Jussi Jumppanen]

On a hunch, I do the same thing- add to SCC, cancel... and the information appears.  Not the most intuitive, but it works.

I have to admit the Zeus SCC is a bit confusing and it can probably do with some improvements.

There is no option for automatic check out on edit, but as that has been requested a few times I guess it might need such an option. Something for a future version.

To add some clarity this is how it should work here is a quick overview.

Initial SCC Setup
Zeus will work with any SCC version control so the first thing that needs to be done is for that to be setup.

That is done at the editor level using the Options, Editor Options menu, Source Control panel where you select and enable the source control.

Binding a Workspace to SCC
To use the source control the projects inside the workspace need to be bound to the source control.

The binding details are stored in the Workspace, Source Control, Options menu.

There you will find the Project Name, Aux Path and Local Path, an option to enable source control and a Run Setup Utility button.

Since you imported a Visual Studio solution that already contained version control bindings, that process should have already filled in these details.

When there are no binding details it is best use the Run Setup Utility as that will let you browse the source control looking for a suitable project.

Looking at the source control error message you posted I can see the AUX Path is empty which is why the connection the to source control failed.

However, those binding details should have been available as they should have come in when the project was imported?

It looks like this may well be some sort of incorrect state bug and by this I mean, because the project was newly imported it was not quite in the correct state.

By doing your work around that fixed up the issue buy fixing up the state of the project, but I suspect if you had closed and reopened the project that too would have probably worked?

I add a file to the project in the workspace, and it's not added to the project in Visual Studio

Yes, Zeus will never touch any Visual Studio files.

However, if you had added the project inside Visual Studio, there is an option to update the Workspace inside of Zeus and the workspace is automatically updated the next time it is opened.

It probably should also do that check for update whenever it is re-activated. Another something for a future version.

I ran into a problem with ctags when there were icons included in the project.

I'll look into this.

As you suggest, it looks like xtags/ctags might have run into trouble processing the icon file.

That message box dates a long time to when the user had to manually configure the PATH and as that is no longer required I suspect the dialog can be removed.

it wasn't perfect.

Zeus is certainly not perfect and there are always things that can be done to make it better.

The next version will no longer have that xtags message, so that in itself will be a small but nice improvement

[wraith808]

it wasn't perfect.

Zeus is certainly not perfect and there are always things that can be done to make it better.

-Jussi Jumppanen (September 13, 2013, 08:07 PM)

I wanted to take this time to note that having an active developer that listens to the user-base actually outweighs anything that I've found, and development is definitely more productive using your product.

[wraith808]

Added conclusions, comparison, and final rating.

[Jussi Jumppanen]

the ability to beautify code (though I'm sure I could integrate a third party tool to do that.

Yes, it is possible to beautify code inside Zeus via a macro and a third party tool.

An example of how to do this can be found in the astyle.lua Lua macro.
 
To see how that macro works open a test C# file and located in the Macros panel or menu you will find an option to re-indent and re-style the current file.

Thanks for writing this review, I've very much enjoyed reading it

It's always good to get a user's perspective of Zeus as it shows where the software can be improved.

[Jibz]

Thank you for the very nice and thorough review, wraith808 .

And thanks to Jussi for taking the time to comment in this thread .

Do you have any insight on how Zeus Edit compares to UEStudio?

[wraith808]

I've updated the OP with links to comparisons- one of SlickEdit vs. UltraEdit and one from the Zeus forums on ZeusEdit vs UltraEdit vs Editpad Pro.  I haven't used UltraEdit in years; I'm not sure how much it has changed with UEStudio, but it wasn't in the same caliber when I used it.

[simakuutio]

Ok, yet another editor which looks quite alot like Textmate (OSX) to me (well, alot of editors looks like each other so this is irrelevant point anyway)... what are main benefits in this editor compared to Sublime Editor (http://www.sublimetext.com/) which is gaining heavily popularity among coders.

[wraith808]

Well, you've seen the review of Zeus.  What in Sublime did I not cover?  I've used Sublime Editor before in a limited fashion (I've also used TextMate) and I just don't see the comparison. They look like totally different approaches, so I don't even know how to compare them.

[Jussi Jumppanen]

They look like totally different approaches

I'd agree with this assessment.

I've not used Sublime or TextMate but from what I read they use more of a plug-in approach to configuration. To add a feature you download and install a plug-in.

Zeus does not use that approach, but instead provides an editor that can be configured by the user. As such it uses an approach more similar to editors like Vim, EMACS, SlickEdit etc.

As to which approach is best, that is another discussion

Zeus has always be designed as an alternative to Visual Studio and as such it has many Visual Studio like features (i.e. project/workspace, project make, compile, class browser, source control integration etc). In that sense Zeus is more of an IDE than an editor.

Now I suspect Sublime might offer those IDE like features via plug-in (I don't know) but as your review shows, Zeus has those features pretty much out of the box.

[panzer]

Downloaded Zeus Lite. Installation. Open file --> error.
Uninstall.

[panzer]

Edit.

[Jussi Jumppanen]

Downloaded Zeus Lite. Installation. Open file --> error.
Uninstall.

The free Zeus Lite is just the version 3.80 version of Zeus, which means it dates back to around 2004.

So as you can see it is getting a bit long in the tooth

At the time it was developed Windows XP was on the desktop, so it should run fine on that system.

But it has only ever been lightly tested on Vista and Windows 7 and never on Windows 8 so for those systems it might not be such a good fit.

[wraith808]

Downloaded Zeus Lite. Installation. Open file --> error.
Uninstall.

-panzer (September 24, 2013, 02:33 AM)

That was singularly unhelpful.  What kind of error?  What OS?

And to let you know why I think it was unhelpful especially to post if you weren't going to engage is that it's quite difficult to get developers willing to engage in such a way and offer discounts/giveaways these days, because the chance of negative publicity and interactions is very real.  We want to put forth DC as a place where developers can engage and be assured that their contributions will be received respectfully.  Please keep that in mind when posting.

[Tuxman]

Does this still count as a mini review?

[wraith808]

Does this still count as a mini review?

-Tuxman (September 24, 2013, 10:07 AM)

Guess it depends on your definition of mini.  I've seen some as long... it's not all *that* long.  I've also seem some terminally brief.  So I guess that remains an exercise for the reader.

[panzer]

-panzer (September 24, 2013, 02:33 AM)

That was singularly unhelpful.  What kind of error?  What OS?

-wraith808 (September 24, 2013, 09:36 AM)

Some error when it asks me to take a look inside a log and report it to the developers.

I asked myself how do I not know about this software. But I do. I tried it before and got the same error.  I uninstalled it then and forgot about it.

Maybe it is my just my comp (Win XP), who knows. I really do not like two versions of software: those which crash during installation and those which crash the moment I start to use them.

Maybe the author should base the Lite version to some newer Zeus Edit Pro version ...

[wraith808]

I understand what you're saying, and your frustration.  But I guess my point is that if you're not willing to work with the developer, either here or by contacting the developer, then posting such comments is only a negative statement and doesn't really *help* the situation, and makes developers less likely to engage with us.  Especially when the developer has been as up front and engaging as they have in this case.  And makes it harder to bring you this type of offer in the future.  Not to soft shoe anything, but just to be aware of the tone of your posts and how they affect the board and the view of the board as a whole.  Just food for thought.

[Jussi Jumppanen]

Some error when it asks me to take a look inside a log and report it to the developers.

The message box would have been pointing you to the Zeus error log and the crash dump file.

Usually those two files are enough to get to the bottom of most Zeus errors.

I really do not like two versions of software: those which crash during installation and those which crash the moment I start to use them.

I agree with you on that one.

In fact for a long time now it has been my policy that if you manage to crash the latest Zeus Edit Pro version, report the bug and I can manage to replicate and fix it, you will get a free registration.