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COLT 2.0 is out!

Today we release new version of our product. COLT 2.0.

JavaScript developers will find it interesting.

What's new?

Node-webkit support, remote or local web servers support (live-proxy). COLT console version (can run on server without UI). Angular support. New HTML updates algorithm. Sublime Text integration improvements (JSDocs, etc). Better performance. New node-webkit-based UI. Better Linux support. New demo mode (similar to Sublime). Significantly smaller download size.

Flash

Sad news, but we no longer support flash. Flash support is now up to community. Sources of flash version will be made available at github. We have decided to focus on JS. Node, web, node-webkit, phonegap. Or new website is at COLT.IO.

Angular

1. Directives are recompiled after HTML live-update. In other words, if you changed your directive, such as {{myData}}, you will see your data from $scope instead of curly brackets after update. Our HTML recompilation algorithm is smart enough to handle things like ng-repeater. To better see the effect of your changes we highlight affected element with red border.

Watch this demo to see it in action.

http://youtu.be/uQGn2OYi38M

2. HTML updates and directives recompilation can work with dynamically added HTML. You can edit the template already loaded into main page through ng-router and see the end result immediately.

Live-Proxy

Now you can specify web URL as main document in the project settings. In this case COLT will load web pages and resources from web server, and transform them to make it work in live mode on the fly. As soon as the resource is modified on the server, COLT will react and deliver updates to all connected clients. Now it does not matter what technology or languages are you using on serverside. Sublime будет will still get updates, compile, and trace to the console. You only need to make sure your files are synced to server using your favorite existing solution. We expect this to help you use COLT and livecoding in large projects with complex serverside.

Console version

You no longer need UI to launch live-session. You can launch the jar using shell, using the path to project xml as the argument.

Example:

$ java jar colt.jar myProject.colt

This mode is perfect for server setup for using COLT as live-proxy.

New HTML updates algorithm

Modern application development assumes using multiple html files. One Page Application. Now, every tag in your project gets globally unique identifier, that allows to locate it in your application no matter how did it get there. So now when you change the tag in any file in the project, its new state will be reflected at run-time. To help you see the changes, this tag will be temporary highlighted with grey border. Keep in mind that these HTML and JS updates work across any connected browsers and devices, mobiles, TVs, etc.

node-webkit support

Now livecoding and Sublime integration is not limited to browser and node.js. There is one more supported environment. You can start node-webkit application from Sublime or project UI and any HTML changes will be reflected there. Sublime will use data from running application to provide code hints.

Sublime

Several things were improved with Sublime.

1. Better runtime and syntax errors display. 2. JS Docs support. 3. Automatic COLT project setup for node and node-webkit. 4. Better autocompletion. 5. Better logging - "show value" is more concise and can also be seen in browser using console.log() - this works better in complex projects. 6. Multiple bugfixes.

Webstorm

Many Webstorm users do like the features we did for Sublime. While Webstrom provides excellent autocompletion, we believe our HTML and JS updates algorithm is better. An option to inpect last known value of any variable without debugger is cool too.

New UI

Our new UI is using node-webkit. Previous one used java-fx and proved itself to be lacking on several counts. It is now faster, provides smaller download size and allows us to use our own tool to develop itself.

We have open-sourced our UI, so if you ever need the starting point for node-webkit win/mac/linux application, feel free to use our project.

UI sources are available at -

https://github.com/code-orchestra/colt-ui

New demo-mode

We made demo-mode similar to Sublime. Now when you start COLT it does not ask you for serial number. From time to time you will see unregistered version notice.

You will also receive good discount for 1 year subscription.

Download COLT 2.0 Beta at

Mac https://codeorchestra.s3.amazonaws.com/COLT.dmg Win https://codeorchestra.s3.amazonaws.com/COLT-install.exe Linux http://codeorchestra.s3.amazonaws.com/colt-linux.tar.gz

There's more :) If you want to get 1 free year of COLT, please write the review and tweet the link to @code_orchestra.

Getting started

http://codeorchestra.com/#/documentation

Future plans -

1. Migrate gradle pre/post-compilation scripts to grunt (they are temprarily disabled now)

2. Improve Angular support in Sublime. Autocompletion of directives, $scope methods and data fields inside element attributes and curly brackets. Go to directive declaration. Smart Аngular snippets.

3. Better node.js and node-webkit start times. Dependencies mechanism. On-demand code transformation similar to web projects.

4. Find function usages in Sublime.

5. Improved JS Docs - some comments break JSDoc parser.

6. Support for frameworks other than Angular. Please send requests.

Reach us at COLT.IO

Feel free to ask any questions. Your feedback is always welcomed.

COLT 1.3.0 is out!

New COLT build is out there waiting for you. So, what's new? Number one is new trial mode. You can now continue trying COLT without entering serial number even after our gentle reminder pops up (every 25 times you save something, COLT will remind you that you should by it). This trial mode is much like what you have in Sublime Text. Your live session will not be terminated but paused, and you will not need to restart COLT just when you were about to test something important. If you press "Continue with demo", the session is resumed. We hope that this new trial mode will help you to make right decision and subscribe to COLT updates :) Number two is yet better Sublime Text integration. 1. You can now see COLT logs in Sublime console. One more step for us to make it possible for you to work with COLT without having to open up its UI. You can work with Sublieme and HTML page or nodejs console, without ever checking COLT UI. 2. Code completion is even better. Now COLT can suggest local and global variables. Functions, that were not yet executed, are also handled much better now. 3. Node.js support was given some love, too. There is now node.js code completion, and "Run with COLT (node.js)" command in Sublime plugin. Of course, there was a number of bugfixes. In the meantime we keep working to make COLT work better with popular frameworks, and on that UI thing.

#Colt #release

COLT 1.2.6 is out

We have released new version of COLT. It is better, it is smarter.

In this release we have improved launch times for large projects.

When we worked on Sublime support, we found COLT to be slow compared to this editor. You could restart Sublime 10 times before the average website opens in LIVE mode. We have identified two problems here, and one of them is taken care of in this release.

Previously COLT was processing every file in the project regardless if it was actually used or not. And average site might have lots of "dead" scripts, etc. So we have changed COLT's logic to process the files only when they are actually requested. In addition, we no longer copy files that are not processed by COLT to our temporary folder, which has also improved performance. Now it's safe to drop photoshop files or videos into your project folder. Overall launch time was improved by the order of magnitude. For example, it used to take 12 seconds to open our own site. Now it is only 400 milliseconds!

Next COLT release will get rid of its second problem - slow UI. By default COLT will run in the background. And UI will open only when user wants to inspect or change project settings.

COLT for Linux is now available for download!

By popular demand we now have limited Linux support (only JavaScript is supported atm). You will need to install Java 8 JRE manually. Download Linux version of COLT here https://codeorchestra.s3.amazonaws.com/CO2-linux.tar.gz

Subscribe to @code_orchestra twitter and get free for 6 months COLT

Subscribe to @code_orchestra and get free for 6 months COLT coupon deadline extended to December 20. Tell your friends!

Sublime+COLT - add +100 intellect to your favourite IDE

We have added COLT integration to Sublime. The changes were so big that we have incremented COLT minor version to 1.2.5.

What is this release about? We call it Real Time Programming.

The thing is, when you have actual application running, you have access to all the information available at runtime. We inject special hooks into every function that can evaluate arbitrary code or access last known variable values.

In the end, actual object fields and methods are available in code autocompletion. Just press ctrl+space and you can see this:

Or this.

"[COLT]" suffix in autocompletion dialog marks information that comes from currently running application. COLT also lists function arguments.

Now we are able to execute any function by placing the caret inside and hitting shift+F5.

And (important) if you execute it again, it will be given same parameters again! For example, you can change function logic, execute it, check the logs, check the browser, and go on using this function.

Go to Declaration — F3. Now you can always find your function, from where ever you call or reference it. In order to support "live coding", COLT keeps track of function declaration across all the sources. Every function is assigned unique ID, which can be used where ever there is function call or reference to find exact place where the function was declared. And JS document does not have to be opened!

With new autocompletion and Goto Declaration features developing jquery plugins or any code with complex inheritance or functional programming tricks became easier.

Finally, you can check any field of variable last known value by placing the caret there and pressing Shift+F10.

Since all these new options are only available when the application under development is running in live mode, we made launching the application in COLT as simple as possible. To launch the webpage from Sublime with COLT you go to main html tab and invoke «Run with COLT» command — cmd+shift+F10. No need to manually launch COLT, open or configure the project.

To restart COLT session, use the same shortcut again.

To simply reload the page press cmd+shift+R.

To monitor connection status when COLT or browser windows are minimized, we have added simple connection state indicator.

It's on the bottom left of Sublime window.

Disconnected from COLT — either COLT is not open, or Sublime has been closed and connection was lost. Just press shift+cmd+F10 to start the application.

Connected to COLT — Sublime «sees» COLT, but there are no active sessions. It could happen when the application was terminated. We do our best to maintain the application in valid state, but there are situations when it's not possible.

[~] Connected to COLT — everything looks super. The application is Live and you're in the world of Real Time Programming. The tilde character is textual representation of COLT «green lightning bolt» icon.

You can get new COLT version at codeorchestra.com site.

And install «COLT» Sublime package via Package Control. Our Sublime plugin can be easily adapted for other editors. Its source consists of three easy to understand Python files.

Subscribe to @code_orchestra and get free for 6 months COLT coupon deadline extended to December 20. Tell your friends!

COLT build with TypeScript support is out!

We've added TypeScript precompilation in the recent build. To enable it, simply check the "TypeScript" checkbox in the Precompile section of the Advanced Settings:

Links for download:

COLT-install.exe (Windows)

COLT.dmg (Mac)

Free COLT licenses for Open Source projects

Now you can get a free personal COLT license if you have an open source project.

To apply for the license, post at our issue tracker, providing basic project info and project page/repository URL.

COLT is a front-end development tool which allows writing code live-style. Just as you modify the code and save, the alterations are delivered to the working application using a special protocol. What's important, all the variables, scroll position, form typed date, etc would be preserved. HTML/CSS would be modified seamlessly without page reload. Out livecoding implementation is preprocessing-based which means that the live code would work anywhere — on any device: desktop, mobile, TVs, etc; and on any browser. COLT can work with CoffeScript, TypeScript, LESS/Sass. It can work anywhere the web-technologies are applied, e.g., JavaFX and PhoneGap. It works with any IDE.

Besides JavaScript, COLT supports ActionScript and we're planning on adding other popular languages support.

Links for download:

COLT-install.exe (Windows)

COLT.dmg (Mac)

COLT 1.2.4 with CoffeeScript, LESS and Sass support is out!

We've released COLT 1.2.4 which now supports precompiling CoffeeScript scripts and LESS/Sass stylesheets.

To make use of the new capabilities, simply check the corresponding checkboxes in the Precompile section of the Advanced settings.

We're also working on TypeScript support which we're planning to release by the end of the week.

Links for download:

COLT-install.exe (Windows)

COLT.dmg (Mac)

IntelliJ IDEA plugin for COLT is out!

We've released a COLT integration plugin for IntelliJ IDEA to take the most of livecoding with your favorite IDE. To install, simply unzip it into the plugins folder of IDEA installation dir; then start the IDEA, go to Preferences... -> COLT, specify the COLT installation path and you're good to go.

To run your IDEA project with COLT in live mode, just right-click on the main class and hit "Run with COLT".

COLT would be started automatically and connected to IDEA. On the first run you would need to enter a verification code displayed by COLT in the IDEA's pop-up dialog. Then a livecoding session would start. While connected to COLT, you may run Live or Production build using COLT menu in IDEA, or by clicking on green lightning icon at the bottom-right corner of IDEA frame.

You can also create your own COLT run configuration in IDEA pointing to the existing COLT project or exporting your project right from the run configuration dialog pressing the "New" button.

Download the plugin

We've also updated the COLT build, adding an ability to specify a custom output folder for JavaScript to ease integration with your working environment

COLT Features Matrix

We've published a features comparison table of COLT and other products featuring Live Development capabilities:

Brackets/Adobe Edge vs COLT

We're often asked what is the difference between Brackets/Adobe Edge and COLT?

This video shows how Brackets and Edge handle the same case of live editing the HTML page. COLT's killer feature is preserving the state, which means no scroll positions, form data, JavaScript variables values, etc are lost. Which does save a lot of time. Plus, COLT works with any browser/device, opposed to Brackets/Edge supporting only Chrome.

Big Live Development (Samsung TV, Safari, Chrome, Firefox, iPad, iPhone)

Today we've recorded a demo of simultaneous livecoding of Apple HTML-page on different devices and browsers. We had three laptops (running Safari, Firefox and Chrome), one big-screen TV (Samsung w/Smart Hub), one iPad 3 and an iPhone 4. Having launched COLT, we were able to modify the page on all the devices w/o reloading it — only the modified tag was refreshed (note that reloading the page on TV takes about ~5 seconds). The updates were delivered to all clients almost immediately.

What you would need for such a test:

All the devices must be connected to the same network

Run COLT and click the start session button (bottom right corner)

Make sure the session has started (a lightning icon turned green) and point all the devices to the URL of a page opened

Open an HTML page in any text editor and start modifying the code. The updates would happen almost immediately on all devices. Also try modifying the CSS and JavaScript code.

COLT Roadmap for ActionScript developers

Looking at our most recent news regarding COLT-JS, an ActionScript developer may think Flash is of no more interest to Code Orchestra. Well, it's partly true — let's admit it, JavaScript is more commercially promising than ActionScript. Adobe's suicidal actions has took orders away from Flash developers, and thus took away the prospects from the Flash tools developers.

But! We're not giving up on Flash! It still has social games market, and AIR for mobile is still doing greet.

So we'll push the ActionScript version, we swear.

In version 1.2.3, we've added desktop AIR support and refactored the AIR livecoding itself. AIR SDK is now bundled with COLT — we've got the redistribution license from Adobe. Thanks to them, by the way, at least they helped in this.

Now we're planning on concentrating on IDEs support: IDEA, FB and FD. No more new JS features until we're done, we promise.

Next thing is accelerating the Flex compiler even more, at least x5 to what we've achieved already.

AIR support also has a high priority — ANE, of course. Now you have to write a custom script to add a native extensions, but you'll get a fully-featured GUI in next builds.

Besides that, we're planning on working on MXML for sure.

Please vote for the ActionScript COLT feature you really need, so we can adjust the priorities:

Compiler acceleration

ANE GUI

MXML

COLT 1.2.3 with new JavaScript/HTML5 features is out!

Today we're releasing a new build of COLT. This particular build has a number of truly revolutionary features.

1. Live HTML Edit — HTML, CSS and images delivery w/o page reload. COLT pushes a diff to a HTML page through the websocket, and the code would be modified using JavaScript. Only the modified tag would be delivered this way. Unlike the Brackets, Adobe Edge or Webstorm, COLT really does work with a page in Live mode. You won't lose the scroll position or the data typed in a form. A page would be updated immediately (~50ms). With images update tracking, all the <img> tags referencing a resource modified would be overridden.

2. Inspectables — now you can mark JavaScript code with a special /*@inspectable*/ annotation and call up a form to work with the annotated code on a HTML page. Сhanging the values in that form modifies your code! This approach unveils a perspective of visual programming and collaboration. For example, you can expose constant values, send a page link to a designer, who would tweak those constants/function parameters to make the page look the way it should.

3. Collaboration — you may share your page in live mode to multiple devices/clients. For example, you can open the page in a few browsers, on a tablet or any other mobile device, on a big-screen TV's browser. A number of people can work on a project having shared the its folder and simultaneously see the result of their work in their own development environments. To open a COLT-driven page on a device, just make sure it's in the same network and point its browser to the same URL a live-session was started from.

4. Offline CMS — we've added Mercury HTML5 editor support to COLT. Now you, as a web-developer, may offer a new service to your client — provide a COLT project with along with a site with a Mercury setting enabled to ease the further site modification. Add a special data-mercury attribute to the HTML markup — the marked tags would be editable WYSIWYG-style right on the page itself.

A user would need to download COLT, open a project and start a session — a browser with a page would open up, exposing an editor toolbar on the top, with the editable sections highlighted. Clicking the "Save" button after the modifications would update the HTML page and save it to disk.

Now your clients can make use of such hosting services as S3, GitHub Pages and others which don't allow server scripting, but still be able to use modern CMS capabilities offline. S3 publishing is already available in COLT as a part of Production Build routines. We'll add FTP and git connectivity in next builds.

What's also important, your clients may use COLT in Demo mode, they would just have to restart it after 25 saves.

Links for download:

COLT-install.exe (Windows)

COLT.dmg (Mac)

COLT is on sale

We've lowered the subscription cost — you can subscribe for as much as $6.95 during three months, just till the end of the year, and stay on that subscription plan further. Buy it now!

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