Comments on Flowcode 4.1
Posted: Sun Sep 06, 2009 10:15 am
Hi Team,
I have been working quite intensively with Flowcode V4.1 lately.
I would like to give you my comments on Flowcode behaviour that I encountered.
Lots of items have been improved compared to V 4.0, but there are are still several issues that need to be addressed.
These are my personal remarks in random order as I encountered them. Some of them are already mentionned by other users and these are meant as positive critic to make a promissing program better.
1) I think there is still a lot to do about the workspace. A lot of settings that I setup during work are not remembered between settings. Eg: the zoom level of the windows, the window position if I select " tile windows" , the position of the component bar, the size of the panel (it changes randomly). I am used to a standard workspace setup and it is very annoying that I always need to rearrange them between sessions. Please save and restore these setting when the file is saved.
2) I don't need the common tab of the component bar if I cannot configure it. This makes no sense. Please make it configurable or remove the common tab. Personally I preferred the situation like it was in V3.
3) Please get rid of the "simulation completed" window or at least remember it's location the next time when I have put it aside.
It even remains there for seconds when I switch programs. It is always in the way and I don't need that information. Or give it a on/off selection field in the global section for users who like it .
4) The same is valid for the splash-screen. It comes twice in V4.1. Give it a on/off selector in the global section.
5) Something very annoying is that variables are not sorted alphabeticaly in the variable window and are not remembered in a makro. I know you can sort them manualy but I guess there is no single user who will prefer an unsorted mess above a sorted list. Please let Flowcode do this for us. It is much more userfriendly.
6) The same is valid for the Project options. Selecting a PIC18F452 from the unsorted list of PIC's will keep you busy for a while.
7) Tab colors are not working.
8 ) Makro tabs are closing all the time when I select them. It looks like the little 'X' to close them is always there, although it is not visible.
9) Something about printing. Flowcode has been positioned as THE tool for commenting and learning C code.
I always wondered why all comment fields are so truncated that they become in fact useless. Inside makro's you don't see anything. The annotation fields improved a little, but are still insufficient. Even printing the flowchart doesn't solves it. You need to write a lot of comments manually on the printout to make the flow understandable for someone else. I don't think this is the intention? Please expand the comment fields to cover the whole page.
10) This is a suggestion: Why not allowing a "REM" situation. During testing, it often happens that I want to rem-out some icons. Now I need to insert jump-to icons to jump over these instructions. Right-clicking on the icon and to assign them out temporarily ( giving them a blue color) would solve this much more elegantly.
Thanks for reading,
Best regards,
Eric
10)
I have been working quite intensively with Flowcode V4.1 lately.
I would like to give you my comments on Flowcode behaviour that I encountered.
Lots of items have been improved compared to V 4.0, but there are are still several issues that need to be addressed.
These are my personal remarks in random order as I encountered them. Some of them are already mentionned by other users and these are meant as positive critic to make a promissing program better.
1) I think there is still a lot to do about the workspace. A lot of settings that I setup during work are not remembered between settings. Eg: the zoom level of the windows, the window position if I select " tile windows" , the position of the component bar, the size of the panel (it changes randomly). I am used to a standard workspace setup and it is very annoying that I always need to rearrange them between sessions. Please save and restore these setting when the file is saved.
2) I don't need the common tab of the component bar if I cannot configure it. This makes no sense. Please make it configurable or remove the common tab. Personally I preferred the situation like it was in V3.
3) Please get rid of the "simulation completed" window or at least remember it's location the next time when I have put it aside.
It even remains there for seconds when I switch programs. It is always in the way and I don't need that information. Or give it a on/off selection field in the global section for users who like it .
4) The same is valid for the splash-screen. It comes twice in V4.1. Give it a on/off selector in the global section.
5) Something very annoying is that variables are not sorted alphabeticaly in the variable window and are not remembered in a makro. I know you can sort them manualy but I guess there is no single user who will prefer an unsorted mess above a sorted list. Please let Flowcode do this for us. It is much more userfriendly.
6) The same is valid for the Project options. Selecting a PIC18F452 from the unsorted list of PIC's will keep you busy for a while.
7) Tab colors are not working.
8 ) Makro tabs are closing all the time when I select them. It looks like the little 'X' to close them is always there, although it is not visible.
9) Something about printing. Flowcode has been positioned as THE tool for commenting and learning C code.
I always wondered why all comment fields are so truncated that they become in fact useless. Inside makro's you don't see anything. The annotation fields improved a little, but are still insufficient. Even printing the flowchart doesn't solves it. You need to write a lot of comments manually on the printout to make the flow understandable for someone else. I don't think this is the intention? Please expand the comment fields to cover the whole page.
10) This is a suggestion: Why not allowing a "REM" situation. During testing, it often happens that I want to rem-out some icons. Now I need to insert jump-to icons to jump over these instructions. Right-clicking on the icon and to assign them out temporarily ( giving them a blue color) would solve this much more elegantly.
Thanks for reading,
Best regards,
Eric
10)
. Would you know why?