Trying new IDE: I cannot make Dexed work

[Basile B.]

On Monday, 10 June 2024 at 14:23:34 UTC, Eric P626 wrote:
> I was currently using Code::Blocks since I used to code in C. 
> But I realized that there is limited D language support in this 
> IDE. There is no code completion and refactoring variable names 
> does not work for example. I can still manage to compile and 
> run the program with ldc.
>
> In order to find a new alternative on linux, I was checking the 
> list of IDE found here:
>
> https://wiki.dlang.org/IDEs
>
> I did not want to use IntelliJ because it's fat, slow and 
> memory hungry. The interface is also overcrowded.
>
> I did not want to use VScode because ... it's Microsoft. Still, 
> I am willing to use it as a last resort option.
>
> Dexed was one of the available options. So I installed the 
> software and managed to run it. Now I tried just to create a 
> DUB project add a file to it and compile and run.
>
> * I cannot add source files to projects

You must refresh in the project inspector so that new sources got 
detected and visible in the the tree. DUB projects usually dont 
use specific sources, rather a root folder

However you can add specific sources, that can be made in the 
"DUB project editor".
Once done you still need to save the project (and eventually to 
refresh... I dont remember how that is implemented RN).

> * Even if I selected LDC as the default compiler and specified 
> its path, it still try uses DMD to compile code.

you must also define that DUB projects are compiled with the 
"global" compiler (options/DUB build/compiler).

There's no notion of "default" so I suppose you meant "global".

> * Variable renaming does not work, nothing happens.

Variable renaming is based on a DCD feature that only works 
within a function body.

> So I was beginning to wonder if Dexed was actually a solid IDE 
> or it's just me that does not understand how to use it.

Well it's a bit both. Dexed actually matches to its author needs. 
The author does not program in D anymore so it's possible that a 
few things are broken and the he did not notice. Nowadays he 
almost entirely uses Dexed to work on another language called 
STYX (dexe support it too), so DUB support, completion support, 
etc. are not really maintained.