Tabbed Editor?
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Hello!
First off, yes I'm aware of the FAQ and multiple plugins that already exist.
To address the existing plugins, yes they exist. They're quite old. They lack comfort features. I've been working hard the past few days to modify one of them to be a lot better to use to find out there isn't a whole lot I can do.
The code for EditorWindow, EditorArea, EditorView, and so on are all behind private code. So there's no good way if any way to keep track of split windows and add tab bars to them, or determine where a newly opened editor is. (split/window/etc.)
So it seems like my only option is to modify Qt Creator itself. But I want this to be easily accessible to everyone who wants it, and not just me and the random people who are willing to build my own Qt Creator fork just for this feature.
My question is, what are my options here? I'd be happy to try and contribute to Qt Creator, but the FAQ is against me there.
I vehemently disagree with the design decision in the FAQ. I believe at the bare minimum there should be an option for a tabbed editor experience in Qt Creator. I absolutely love Qt Creator as a C++ IDE and it has some of the best CMake integration out there.
But not having tabs is driving me nuts. It's C++, we're constantly switching between files. Ctrl+K is fine for files we haven't opened yet. Other IDEs also use tabs as the method to split into views or windows which is so natural and convenient vs Qt Creator's tiny buttons and keyboard shortcuts that don't even seem to really work?
I've seen a few posters say something along the lines that they got used to it or they "don't miss tabs." That's great, but I miss them a LOT. Tabs are a wonderfully useful feature.
Sorry if this was slightly rant-y, but I want tabs. I know many people want tabs. It wouldn't be a FAQ if that weren't the case.
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@Spirrwell said in Tabbed Editor?:
but I want tabs. I know many people want tabs
Feel free to provide a patch or plugin to QtCreator. It's OpenSource...
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@Christian-Ehrlicher said in Tabbed Editor?:
@Spirrwell said in Tabbed Editor?:
but I want tabs. I know many people want tabs
Feel free to provide a patch or plugin to QtCreator. It's OpenSource...
I just explained why a plugin isn't feasible and a lack of tabs is a design decision as pointed out in the FAQ. If I go through the work to modify Qt Creator and submit a patch is my work going to be for nothing? I've read that this has been tried in the past and been rejected though I can't find references to when.
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Then fork QtCreator. I really wonder what you think you will gain with this post...
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@Christian-Ehrlicher said in Tabbed Editor?:
Then fork QtCreator. I really wonder what you think you will gain with this post...
I also said I want it to be easily accessible to everyone, without having people jump through hoops and find my Qt Creator fork to build it themselves. That's incredibly messy and not a good solution.
What I'm hoping to gain with this post is a good solution.
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Hi @Spirrwell,
I think you should contact the core developers on the mailing list.
I see two options:
- They would accept your patch to optionally have tabs
- They would accept changes to make private API you need public, so you could access them from your plugin (which could in principle even be distributed alongside Creator)
I personally don't need tabs, and I think most long-time Creator users feel the same, but I also understand that other people have different workflows.
Maybe we can meet in the middle :)
Regards
