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The new X++ editor

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I am currently working on the next version of Dynamics AX – AX6 and as part of the development experience improvement, my team has been working on a new editor for the X++ language. This editor is based on the same framework than the Visual Studio editor.

Here is how it looks like:

 editor_overview[1] 

The line numbering and the gradient marking are the first visible signs of a new UI. The rendering is WPF based, so that gives some opportunities for cool graphics.

Here is little more exiting view:

editor_syntax_col[1]

Things to notice, that are new relatively to the existing editor are:

  • Support for multiple fonts and styles (comments are in a different font in italic).
  •  Differentiated coloring of strings and numbers.
  •  Operators coloring (in pink here, but don’t worry I’ll most likely change it before we release !).
  •  Change tacking margin.

For other sneak previews at AX6, you might want to take a look at mfp's blog

This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

Comments

  • Anonymous
    November 30, 2009
    Hi Excited to see that changes are being done to the editor. My background is in Visual Studio and I miss a lot of the functions that I am used to work with. The toolbar in your example does however hint that the changes you are planning for are far from what I had hoped for. Do you have any plans for extending the editor to look a lot more like the VS code editor? E.g. multiple methods in the same window, outlining, screen split, comment away multiple lines, snippets, Ctrl+Space to complete partly written code...and so on.

  • Anonymous
    December 05, 2009
    We are definitly improving the editor, using Visual Studio as our source of inspiration. We are also working on several of the features you mention.

  • Anonymous
    December 21, 2009
    That sounds great, looking forward to see it in action.

  • Anonymous
    January 04, 2010
    Looking very nice, indeed! :-D

  • Anonymous
    February 17, 2010
    Also you can borrow some ideas from existing Dynamics AX Add-on named AxAssist (www.axassist.com). This add-on extends standart IntellySense and also contains some other features (like customizable hotkeys, additional toolbars etc). Will it be possible to write any add-ons for future editor? Will you provide any classes or methods which  will be able to return additional info from editor (e.g defined varibales, position of cursor, etc)?

  • Anonymous
    February 21, 2010
    We are definitly also working on making the Intellisense experience better. The extensiblity model will also be improved. I have had several requests about this, so I'll publish a post with detailed examples shortly.

  • Anonymous
    May 24, 2010
    Excited to see it in action !!! Cheers.

  • Anonymous
    June 23, 2010
    The new UI is toooooooo COOOOOOOOL

  • Anonymous
    July 16, 2010
    Hi Vincent Nicolas, Actually i am also working on Ax 6.0,But I didnot find this view of Ax6.0 Editior.can u please Tell How Could it is Coming different.

  • Anonymous
    December 09, 2010
    Hi Deepak, Please let me know if there are any documents related to Ax 6.0 Installation. Thanks in Advance Sanjiv