Npm installation of Eve is wonky

[alexispurslane]

NPM version: 3.8.3.
NPM package: witheve-0.2.3.
Operating System: macOS Sierra 10.12.3

Issues:

1. Non-code-fenced text is still syntax highlighted
2. Sometimes, the + symbol for adding new lists/text/headings/code does not appear
3. Right-side results do not update when a code block is checked or unchecked
4. Checkboxes on the left side toolbar do not respond to clicking
5. "Magic wand" button does not work periodically
6. Interface freezes at times

Questions About IDE/UI:

1. There must be a way to rename a new file from untitled.eve. What is it?
2. Can you delete examples?
3. Does the structure in the sidebar correspond to anything in the filesystem?

[alexispurslane]

When the entire file is syntax highlighted, there is this error in the debugger:

Uncaught Error: Unable to create zero-width InlineSpan. Maybe you meant to use LineSpan?
    at LinkSpan.InlineSpan.apply (:8080/build/src/ide/spans.js:223)
    at LinkSpan.apply (:8080/build/src/ide/spans.js:1047)
    at LinkSpan.Span (:8080/build/src/ide/spans.js:109)
    at LinkSpan.InlineSpan [as constructor] (:8080/build/src/ide/spans.js:216)
    at new LinkSpan (:8080/build/src/ide/spans.js:1036)
    at Editor.markSpan (:8080/build/src/ide.js:1345)
    at eval (:8080/build/src/ide.js:1036)
    at runInOp (codemirror.js:3197)
    at CodeMirror.operation (codemirror.js:5328)
    at Editor.loadDocument (:8080/build/src/ide.js:1022)

[joshuafcole]

@ChristopherDumas

Unfortunately the current editor has a number of desynchronization issues pertaining to quirks of using markdown as our transport and persistence format. All of these are solvable with some elbow grease, but we chose to prioritize building the new incremental runtime first, under the expectation that we'd be able to use it to bootstrap some of the more aggravating parts of the editing flow. Unfortunately, that process has taken longer than expected, and we're just now beginning to reach the point where that's feasible. There's still some performance work to be done before it's actually plausible though.

In the interim, editing is still possible by using your text editor of choice, and just using the eve editor as a code intelligence tool. I know that's not a fantastic effort, but please bear with us: We expect the bootstrapping will provide a better experience down the road across the board.

Until then, if you or any other community members are interested in tackling these UX flaws individually, I'd be more than happy to answer any questions you have.

With respect to your specific questions:

1. Unfortunately not from within the IDE. The file management logic at the moment is prototype quality at best. It uses filename as file UUID, which means that changing a filename breaks things at the moment. Actually separating these shouldn't be difficult, but it'll be a fair bit of rote work. Until then, you can rename in the terminal and then refresh the editor.
2. If you want to run in a separate workspace without the examples, create a directory containing an empty package.json (like you would with npm) and whatever eve file(s) you'd like to be present. In the future there'll of course be explicit flags available.
3. Yes, it's a flattened view of whatever workspace(s) are registered with Eve. By default that's the examples/ workspace.

[alexispurslane]

Great information! After I'm finished with my current projects (adding a search capability to Eve's docs and adding more string-handling functions) I'd love to try my hand at this. As it is, I'd actually rather work in my editor, since as it stands right now Emacs (with Evil) is a good deal more powerful than the IDE.