Hello List,

Below standing text is what I intend to send to OP as a feature
request or inspiration for future versions, but I would be very happy
for any response from other users on this before submitting.

/nikolaj
___

Lasso Studio for Eclipse - input ideas for future releases.

PowerBook running OSX 10.4, Lasso 8.0.5, testing on the build-in
Apache/Lasso Server.

Let me shortly introduce myself: I'm a Lasso programmar for quite
some years, and I really welcomed LSfE! I had, however, a really
tough time getting used to Eclipse itself AND the way the Lasso-
plugin works. Unlike others on this list I had never seen Eclipse
before, and as familiar it looks to me now, as tough was my learning
curve.

Let me point out: I think this tool is fantastic and I use it all the
time despite the problems I have. What I hope to achieve with below
standing is that the great developers at OP take a fresh look at the
HCI-aspect of the LassoStudio/IDE in order to make it easier to
access and adopt to various - and sometimes maybe untypical -
situations.

Here we go:

I still don't understand the underlayings of Eclipse and LSfE, and
that may be the reason for what I write here, but I do believe there
must be many like me, and especially many potential users like me,
shame on me if I'm wrong here.
Please bear with me for not going in-depth with most of the things, I
hope it will be seen more as 'highlights from a confused mind'...

1. Terminology. Eventhough I have read the documentation I still
don't really understand a lot of the terminology. Like 'Workspace',
'Workbench', 'Working Set', 'Build Project', 'Build Working Set' and
'Build Automatically', Clean Project'. Why, for example, can I
'Switch Workspace'?
I don't get it why we have 'Run History', 'Run As' and just 'Run',
where the latter leads to the Run Setup dialogue, actually, and the
same three for 'Debug' respectively. Choices in 'Run As' and 'Debug
As' seems superflouos to me because all I will ever want is to run/
debug as Lasso Script...
I can't grasp what 'Launch' and 'Launch Configuration' is, apparently
differring from the the two previously mentioned - 'Run' and 'Debug'.

2. Lasso Run/Debug Setup. This is maybe the hardest part, where IMHO
something really has to be simplified. Take this one as an example:
seen from a HCI-point of view it's not easy to understand why Run ->
Run... and Run -> Debug opens the same window with the only exception
of the window title and the submit button label.
Then, once you are in this dialogue, the confusion increases. One
example: there are 5 different tabs to relate to, and one of them is
called Debugging, also if you access this dialogue from Run -> Run...
But what especially is hard for my surely limited understanding to
wrap itself around is why there are SO INCREDIBLY MANY settings
necessary to get the plug-in to communicate with the server, of which
some seem to cover the same matter just in different ways...
You have to enter the Lasso Server WSDL (BTW: what is WSDL?). Makes
sense. But why do you need a Default File, when you a little later
have to add content to a tab named Source? And how is it that you
need a Default File at all when you can actually work on other files
if Preferred Configuration is ticked - or is it the other way round...?
Why do you need to add yet another server address in the tab
Debugging - we just entered one in Lasso Server WSDL?
And, really, what is the meaning of the tab Source? As mentioned
before you enter a default file, but still the system can't operate -
or operates wrongly - if there is no or wrong source given. How come
a source can be a Workspace or a Working Set or whatever, even a Java-
thingy - out of which I don't understand the meaning of at least the
half of the terms, as mentioned earlier? And there can be more than
one source - isn't this against elementary human logic? And what does
it mean to search for duplicate source files on the path? I have
actually had alerts telling me to choose from 2 or more files when
debugging, but why does this has to be a problem at all?
The tab Common makes almost no sense to me at all, all I can
understand is the Display in favorites menu checkbox-group...

3. Virtual Hosts. And last but not least to my particular problem,
with which I have been bothering the list without ever getting it
resolved: if you, like me, want to use absolute paths in your code,
you need to set up virtual hosts for local testing according the
Greg's walk-through, resulting in this kind of URLs while testing on
your local machine: www.projectname.dev. Otherwise it won't work.
Now, this REALLY causes LSfE problems. I haven't been able to nail
down a safe-and-sure method to get this to work. However, it
SOMETIMES works, that is what is so odd... If only my basic
understanding of the whole thing was less vague...
There are so many settings, apparently, that influence how LSfE looks
for files and execute them, in particular if you want to debug with
browser input which IMHO is one of the most powerfull features of
LSfE, and it just does NOT combine well with virtual hosts on a local
machine. LSfE does not understand how you can have one server address
in the field Lasso Server WSDL, a default file on another path in the
field just below and yet a Project Folder situated on yet another
path in the Source tab.

So, what is my conclusion?
It would be fantastic if general setting where kept general, and
project-wise settings were kept strictly related to projects, getting
rid of all terms like Workspaces, Building Sets and whatever. At
least to me all these terms make no sense... The term Project is what
makes sense to me, sorry for being lame...

General Server Settings in one dialogue, valid throughout whole
eclipse with no regard to which project you actually work on.
Project settings in another dialogue, kept very simple: a project
server address, so you can enter virtual host addresses, and then
LSfE simply resolves all the rest itself! Paths, default files if
needed, sources if needed (I still don't understand why this tab is
needed), basically anything.
So, when you run or debug inside a project, LSfE automatically choses
all the right configurations, default file stuff, debug listen
address, sources etc. etc., necessary to run or debug literally any
file inside this project on any conditions. Done! Doesn't it sound
intreaguing :)

Have a good day, best wishes, Nikolaj

--
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