The LiveCode 8.0 IDE

Several of the IDE’s palettes have been rewritten in LiveCode 8.0 to support widgets, most notably the Tools Palette and the Property Inspector. Also many stacks have become script-only, to enable better version control in the LiveCode IDE Git repository – this includes the project browser, the menu bar, and parts of the script editor.

Since there was so much code rewriting occurring in IDE stacks any, we took the opportunity to update the way the stack interact with user stacks and each other. As much as possible, the functionality and data provision for these stacks now comes from the central IDE library, revIDELibrary. This removes their interdependency, and allows them to be viewed as plugins or extensions. As such they provide examples of how we recommend structuring such extensions.

They take advantage of some new features and abstractions in the 8.0 IDE, which can hopefully be leveraged by you, the plugin authors and tool makers, regardless of whether you are planning to distribute them or not. By using this system as much as possible, you can help refine the functionality for the benefit of all, all the while ensuring that the tools remain compatible and potentially improving the performance of the IDE while they are in use.