Hi,

The lazarus code editor shows tooltip hints about identifiers; It gets those from the sources or even fpdoc.

Is there any reason why the object inspector would not be able to offer the same hints ? Properties and events are also just identifiers after all.

Michael.

Right click on OI: enable Show hints

Mattias

Unbelievable... How many years this gem remained hidden from me.

You can learn everything there is to know about lazarus in a week, and yet after many years, it can still surprise you. ( (c) Gandalf )

Thanks.

Michael.

There is also the (optional) OI information box which displays limited documentation. However, it is often very limited.
e.g.

"TControl.OnClick
Event Handler for mouse click"

which hardly aids a programmer looking for more information, and in fact is hardly worth it be difficult to add parameter and parameter type information, and function return type such as codetools offers in the Editor?

Howard

The OI and the source editor show the same hint.

Since 0.9.31 the hint shows some more fpdoc content. For example the description.

Since yesterday it shows the type of redefined properties like OnClick. That means it shows property OnClick: TNotifyEvent.

It's a todo to show related information like parameters of TNotifyEvent.

Mattias

For people who use a stable release all the time, set up according to their established preferences, this is true.

I prefer to work mainly with the cutting-edge. And working help for some reason is often the first casualty of a new installation. Since Lazarus does not yet install all help files on all platforms ready-to-run, I often find on upgrading or using a daily snapshot that help and hints have stopped working for me, and require quite a lot of downloads and file copying and setting of help parameters (as URLs, not usual directory locations) before the new help installation is rolling again. Unaccountably this process sometimes goes quickly and smoothly, and at other times takes far too long, and I have to refer to wiki articles and mail list archives to try to solve the problem.

OTOH the OI already lists all published events nicely, without need to look up the sources. So it is quicker for me (if help is not yet working) to drop a component on a form, inspect some information in the OI as needed, and perhaps delete the component again if it is not actually needed. Obviously for classes that are not on the Component Palette this method is not applicable, but often it seems the quickest way to get to the information I need. Otherwise I quickly end up with loads of source files open in the Editor (which I prefer to avoid because it makes it harder to find the few files I am working on; and if ever I close a file, I nearly always seem to need it only a few moments later).

Howard

What's the use of such additional information in OI?

You can let the OI create the event handler for you, no need to bother with parameters here.

DoDi

I think I am being stupid, could someone elberate?

Thanks

Richard
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