Is there a better, IDE-like support for RenPy?

[Deleted member 2426089]

Hey!

I'm a software engineer by trade, looking to play around in RenPy. I've always used IntelliJ IDEs and I really love them. However, I'm kinda missing some cruical IDE features in Visual Studio Code (with the RenPy Lanauge extension). A few of these are

- Clicking on a symbol (constant, variable, function, etc.) and finding its usages. How it works in other software: By clicking on a symbol, I'm shown all of its usages

This is an issue because in my RenPy code I'm using an event-system which means I'm defining all of my choices in constants. And it'd be great if I could quickly find the usages of a choice or navigate to the definition.

There is no code completion, the editor does not hold a reference of the defined variables. There is also no way for me to quickly navigate to the definition except for the good ol' CTRL+SHIFT+F - search everywhere function. That kinda sucks.

Additionally I'd love to go the the system function definitions to find out what the hell they actually do or where they are used. In an IDE it would be a simple click after which I'm shown the source code (if availalbe).

Also, is there a refactor/rename functionality in VSCode that actually parses through the files? For me it seemed like it just changed the naming in the currently opened file.

Am I asking too much from VSCode? Is there a way to do these kind of things? Is there a better editor or addon for RenPy?

Thank you for reading guys!

 

[8InchFloppyDick]

Just out of interest... Not sure why you're using VSCode if you're used to and like IntelliJ... Surely you'd just tell RenPy to use IntelliJ as your editor? What am I missing?

 

[Deleted member 2426089]

There is no RenPy language support for IntelliJ IDEs, is there?

 

[MFN]

Hey!
Try this editors:
1)

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2)

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Also, as i know, renpy include "atom". You just need to download it.

 

[DbatRT]

There is no RenPy language support for IntelliJ IDEs, is there?

Try:

You must be registered to see the links

 

[anne O'nymous]

My issue is that there is no code completion, the editor does not hold a reference of the defined variables. There is also no way for me to quickly navigate to the definition except for the good ol' CTRL+SHIFT+F - search everywhere function. That kinda sucks.

Any serious code oriented text editor, and even more any IDE, offer you the possibility to create your own language definition. So, just write it for the software you prefer to use.

Am I asking too much from VSCode?

From my point of view, you're asking too much to whatever software you'll finally use.

While IDEs have interesting and helpful features, they should stay "helpful" features, not mandatory ones ; they exist to ease you works, not to replace it.
Take the possibility to find all the use of a given variable, by example. It should be used when you aren't totally sure of the syntax, not as replacement of a strong naming convention. As for the auto-completion it's something I systematically turn off, because it's not a help. It make you gain less than 10 minutes/day, and if you can't remember the name, or syntax, of a command, then it's time to make a stop. Either you're in need of a small break, or you're missing something else regarding the said command, and it's probably not the way you should write your code, or not the command you should use.

 

[79flavors]

Atom, the editor recommended by RenPy and installable directly from the RenPy SDK Launcher does include auto-completion. Though whether it is what you are looking for, I couldn't say... as I tend to switch it off. But it should be relatively easy to go into the launcher preferences and select "Atom" as the default text editor - even if only temporarily.

Just don't make the mistake I did and download the latest version of Atom thinking you're being clever. There was a feature added in 1.36.0 that breaks how directory listings are handled - which makes it a bit of a pain to use in relation to RenPy. Which is why RenPy installs a slightly earlier version, with all the various RenPy support modules pre-installed and the default options configured appropriately.

Maybe try it and see if it's what you are looking for. If not... you're no worse off than you are right now.

 

[DuniX]

If you have Atom with the keyword.py file that has all the the possible Renpy API open in a tab and the code completion plugin you can have access to all the functions for the code completion.