Release notes for MonoDevelop 0.8

MonoDevelop 0.8 has been released. MonoDevelop is a GNOME IDE primarily designed for C# and other .NET languages.

This release contains lots of fun stuff, read below.

Installing MonoDevelop

MonoDevelop Dependencies

Compiling the following order will yield the most favorable response.

  • Gtk# 2.3.92
  • Gtksourceview#-2.0 0.10
  • Monodoc 1.0 (requires gtk-sharp 1.0)
  • Gecko#-2.0 0.10
  • MonoDevelop 0.8 Source

You can download MonoDevelop 0.8 source from here. The Mono download site contains packages for everything for many popular distros. You can also check the mono redcarpet channel.

New Features/Major Bugs Fixed

Code Completion Fixes

The code completion window now supports scroll with the mousewheel, and completes on double-click. The documentation tool tip has also been improved.

Debugger

The debugger integration is disabled in this release since the Mono Debugger is being changed.

GUI improvements

Several dialogs have been reviewed and now they are more HIG conformant. It is now possible to switch between open files using ctrl+tab/shift+ctrl+tab. The Assembly References Dialog has also been improved.

Java Language binding

Many improvements: wrappers for referenced assemblies are now automatically generated, improved error reporting, improved project configuration panels.

Better Error Management

MonoDevelop is now better in catching errors, and there is an improved error dialog. A sanity check is now done at startup which detects assembly conflicts and avoids weird stability problems.

Dockable Toolbars

MonoDevelop’s toolbars are now dockable, and it is possible hide/show them.

Out-of-process Reference Load

Assembly references are now loaded out-of-process, and this avoids conflicts between the assemblies referenced by projects and the assemblies used by MonoDevelop. Gtk# 1.0 projects can be safely created again.

Project Configuration

The management of project and solution configurations has been improved. It is now possible to specify which projects have to be built for each configuration. A new combo box in the toolbar can be used to select the configuration to build.

NUnit Add-in

The NUnit add-in has been mostly rewritten and has tons of new features. Some details can be found here

Text search has been improved in many ways: the text editor now supports backward search, search is now based on the native GtkSourceView search funcions (which is much faster), and there is a new search results pad.

Boo Add-in

Peter Johanson has kept working on the Boo language binding which now features code completion in the boo shell, large improvements to code completion/parsing, and embedded resource support (e.g. embedded glade files for Gtk# development).

API Changes

There have been many improvements in the MonoDevelop libraries, which provides new features to MD add-ins:

  • Added support for logging to arbitrarily named loggers. Allows for easy filtering/control of logging.
  • The code completion window has been moved from the text editor to the MonoDevelop core library, and can now be reused in other add-ins.
  • Stock icons and project templates can now be added as resources.
  • Improved Parser Service design, which makes it more reusable.

Credits

Contributors

Alex Graveley, Antonio Ognio, Ben Maurer, Ben Motmans, Daniel Kornhauser, Erik Dasque, Franciso Martinez, Gustavo Giraldez, Iain McCoy, Inigo Illan, Jacob Ilsø Christensen, Jeroen Zwartepoorte, John BouAnton, John Luke, Lluis Sanchez Gual, Martin Willemoes Hansen, Miguel de Icaza, Nick Drochak, Pawel Rozanski, Pedro Abelleira Seco, Peter Johanson, Richard Torkar, Todd Berman, Vincent Daron, Christian Hergert, and Scott Ellington.

This list is not complete, it is missing some contributions sent in to the list and via our bugzilla. Your work is still greatly appreciated. If your name was left off the list, it was not intentional, please send an email to the list and it will be corrected as soon as possible.

Translators

  • ja_JP - Atsushi Eno
  • fr - Vincent Daron
  • es - Antonio Ognio
  • da - Martin Willemoes Hansen
  • pt_BR - Mauricio de Lemos Rodrigues Collares Neto, Andre Filipe de Assuncao e Brito

Thanks

All of our wonderful testers who put up with the insane dependencies, the constant breakage and still managed to post nice bug reports.

Mike Krueger and the rest of the AlphaSierraPapa team for giving us a great codebase to start from, and continuing improvements.

All of the active MonoDevelop developers.