Release Notes: Sprint 21

What's New in Sprint 21

• Code Hinting
  • JavaScript code hinting: Smart code hinting includes keywords, local variables, arguments, and property names based on nearby code.
  • Note: If you have been using the earlier "brackets-js-code-hints" extension, you must uninstall it -- it cannot coexist with the newer version built into Brackets.
• Live Development
  • Default localhost for Live Preview using Node: By default, Live Preview now launches an http://localhost URL instead of file:// thanks to a built-in Node.js server. Pointing Live Preview at your own local server remains supported (see File > Project Settings).
• Overall UI
  • Drag & drop to open files: Drag files onto the Dock icon (on Mac) or the Brackets window itself (on Windows) to open them.
  • Remember cursor & scroll position across launches: Files you leave open when you quit or switch projects will be reopened right where you left off. Within a session, this also works for files you close and reopen later.
• Extensions
  • Extensions can add new syntax languages: New file types can be added by extensions, with support for syntax highlighting, block/line comments, code hinting, Go to Definition, and more.
  • Extension developers no longer need to disable the cache using Developer Tools -- reloading Brackets should always show changes made to extensions.
• Code Editing
  • SASS code coloring
  • Toggle Line/Block Comment support for PHP, XML, C/C++/C#

Full change logs: brackets and brackets-shell

UI Changes

No major changes to existing features.

API Changes

EditorUtils removed - EditorUtils.getModeFromFileExtension() is replaced by LanguageManager.getLanguageForFileExtension(). However, it's usually simpler to use the other new APIs introduced this sprint instead: document.getLanguage() or editor.getLanguageForSelection().

Editor constructor - The mode argument has been removed, shifting other arguments over (mode is now determined by the Document). Note: you should not normally need to call the Editor constructor directly.

Debug menu - Removed Menus.AppMenuBar.DEBUG_MENU menu ID. This menu is now defined by an extension and may not always be present.

New/Improved Extensibility APIs

LanguageManager and Language - LanguageManager allows extensions to define new language support in Brackets without making modifications to core Brackets code. In this first iteration, a Language can be defined declaratively in JSON as a set of properties including a CodeMirror syntax highlighting mode, file extensions to map to the language, and finally line and block commenting syntax. Optionally, extensions may define custom CodeMirror modes. For an overview of language support and our future direction please see the wiki.

Node Server - See the Overview for Developers. These are preliminary APIs that will probably change next sprint.

Known Issues

• JavaScript Code Hinting will not work properly if the earlier standalone brackets-js-code-hints extension is installed.
• Debug > Run Tests is disabled in the installer/DMG distributions of Brackets, because the unit test code is not included. To run unit tests, pull Brackets from GitHub instead.
• Mountain Lion (OS X 10.8) by default will not allow Brackets to run since it's not digitally signed yet. To work around this, right click the Brackets app and choose Open. You only need to do that once -- afterward, launching Brackets the normal way will work also.
• #2272: Windows Vista may not allow the Brackets installer to run (you may not see any error message). To work around this, right-click the installer file, choose Properties, and click the Unblock button.

Community contributions to Brackets

The Brackets team welcomes five new core committers: Jonathan Diehl, Jon Rowny, Dennis Kehrig, Chema Balsas, and Tomás Malbrán. (Read more...)

• Language extensibility APIs & refactor LESS support as a default extension (and cleanups) by Dennis Kehrig
• Enable SASS code coloring by Bryan Stedman
• Toggle Comment support for PHP & C/C++/C#; recognize .jsx as JS; bug fixes by Tomás Malbrán
• Show contributors list in About dialog by Tomás Malbrán
• Fix #1551: Reloading Brackets always reflects changes made to extensions by Dennis Kehrig
• Fix #1933: Move Line Up/Down in an inline editor would sometimes cause it to close by Tomás Malbrán
• Fix #2875: CSS code hints overwrite 1 char too many in one-line rules by Tomás Malbrán
• About dialog contributors list bug fixes & cleanups by Tucker Whitehouse
• Fix bugs when renaming a file/folder whose name is a prefix of some other item by Dennis Kehrig
• Live development bug fixes by Jonathan Diehl
• Fix #2895: "Setup for hacking"/restore scripts didn't work if existing symlink pointed to non-existent folder by Chema Balsas
• Fix #2877: Debug menu shortcuts are enabled even when Debug menu is hidden by Tomás Malbrán
• Fix #1399: Make Update dialog's text selectable by Tomás Malbrán
• Fix #2255: Recent Projects header flickers on rollover if working set was empty on launch by Chema Balsas
• Spanish translation updates (and) by Chema Balsas
• Spanish "Getting Started" updates by J.M
• German "Getting Started" updates by J.M
• Cleanup: move Update dialog UI into a template by Tomás Malbrán
• Cleanup: move Debug menu into a default extension by Tomás Malbrán
• Cleanup: move default menus into separate file from menu APIs by Bernhard Sirlinger

Contributions from Brackets

Contributions to CodeMirror:

• Avoid scrolling to cursor position in a non-visible editor

Bugs fixed in Sprint 21

For details on the bugs addressed, please refer to closed sprint 21 bugs. A few of the fixed bugs might not be caught by this search query, however.