NSIS Installation Creator/Editor

As you'll propably know from the other thread: "NSIS Script Editor", I am developing a Script Editor for NSIS that makes creating scripts a lot easier. N.I.C.E. means NSIS Installation Creator/Editor. Since I am going to rewrite the whole program in C#, I'd like to know what features you want to see (even those that you already saw in other (NSIS) editors). A few that will be implemented are:

• Syntax highlighting
• New project wizard
• Template scripts (to install .exe, plugins, etc..)
• Syntax correction (When hitting enter on a line containing a false instruction, it replaces it)
• Compile errors and warnings (shows them beneath your project)
• NSIS Project (manage multiple files in one project)
• Language file editor
• Wizards for common tasks (like File, etc..)
• Plugin insert wizard
• Auto update (NSIS and N.I.C.E. from the internet (via CVS if you want))
• Show possible parameters (simple, shows the syntax under the line you are typing in)
• Show possible parameters (extended, shows possible parameter values for the instructions)
• XML-compiling (XML-loading will be fatser)
• Autocomplete (When you start typing an instruction, N.I.C.E. completes it)
• Compile from program (with NSIS, no compiler setup)
• Shortcut keys (F5 for compiling for example)
• Find and Replace
• Autosave (every n minutes)
• Line numbers, character spacing (Row 12, Col 45)
• Sidebar with functions, help and project information.
• Comment complete block (out)
• Script rewriting (removes all the spaces and tabs from the beginning of the lines and add them again, for nice code-readability)
• Save comments, author and other information with the project (or script)
• Standard text-editor functions (copy, paste, etc...)
• Follow label-, function- and macro-pointers (double click on a macro name to see the definition)

Long list, don't you think? If you have anything to add, thing I must implement, thing I never should implement, etc.., let me know!

well, I am a bit sad that you use c#🙁

I am scared of ms.NET

Originally posted by n0On3
well, I am a bit sad that you use c#🙁

I am scared of ms.NET

What are you scared for? .Net sounds great (according to the .Net magazine 😳)
By the way, I haven't programmed any program yet in C#.
Do you have any other suggestion of programming language, or should I stick to VB6, which doesn't meet my requirements any more?

The main problem with .net for desktop use is the 20MB+ runtime, also it doesn't work on older versions of Windows (can't remember if that's just Win95 or also Win98).

Personally not sure if it's really worth people simply writing n different text editors for NSIS. It's great that you're prepared to spend the time and effort but what it could really do with is a proper gui linked to the editor in the same way as Wise and Installshield.

The .NET Frameworks works on all Win32 versions except Windows 95, but that's not a real problems, it's 7 years old.

I also think that there are enough text editors now. It's better to combine efforts to write a good GUI linked to the script.

Wishlist addition

This may be beyond the scope of a mere script editor, but I would like to see an integrated development environment with a debugger that would:
- Let you step through your code as it executes, with the option of express-executing (i.e. without stepping through) a function or section.
- Display the current contents of the stack, user-variables, and NSIS variables.

Originally posted by Mottel
- Let you step through your code as it executes, with the option of express-executing (i.e. without stepping through) a function or section.
- Display the current contents of the stack, user-variables, and NSIS variables.

This is not possible since the NSIS compiler doesn't support it. It might be an idea for NSIS 3.0, but until then, I won't even try to support it. It's way to difficult.