Dot or colon + Intellisense (not) helping

[ic2]

After compiling my program with X# 2.16 I got a few dozen errors urging me to change dots to colons and also the other way around. I've done that all and the compiler seems happy with it and I know it has to do with instance members of the class requiring a colon and static members requiring a dot but in both cases it is not something I defined so I have no idea which I have to choose. I also know that I can set "Allow the DOT for instance members" in Language settings but I just wondered if there's a way of knowing which to choose before the compiler does that for me.

What won't work is Intellisense. I have this code (first 3 lines, where I had to change the : to a .):

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	aRow := {;
	iConnectEmail.Properties.Resources.blank, ;
	iConnectEmail.Properties.Resources.blank, ;

Not sure if it worked in 2.14 but again Intellisense doesn't do the job. It doesn't show me any tooltip info in iConnectEmail or Properties or Resources except that aRow is an array and it doesn't suggest anything when I remove a few letters, type it again and press the dot. That is what I would need to at least start to understand whether to choose a colon or a dot.

Dick

[Chris]

Hi Dick,

The rule is simple:
- In all cases when you access an instance member, then you need to use the colon (just like in VO). Instance members are when you use a local, or an iVar etc to access something, like oMyLocal:SomeMethod(), oDataWin:Owner:Caption etc
- In all cases when you access a static member of a class, then you need to use the dot. We did not have static members in VO at all, while in .Net it's generally this: ClassName.SomeStaticMember, like for example Application.EnableVisualStyles(), where Application is a class/type, while EnableVisualStyles() is a static method of that type.

Also when you access (with a dot) a static member of a class, then this gives you an instance of some other object, which you need to then access with a colon. For example in this code:

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? Application.ExecutablePath:Length

We are using the static member "ExecutablePath" of the type "Application", so we need to use the dot. This returns a string (instance of the String type), so we then need to use the colon (as in VO), to access it's property named "Length" to get the size of the string.

.

[ic2]

Hello Chris,

Thanks for the explanation. I think I can summarize it as follows: always a colon except when accessing some specific .Net class.
But what about the Intellisense? Why doesn't any of the 2 lines below show tooltips or suggestions - except to the aRow array of line 1?

Dick

[leon-ts]

Dick,

But what about the Intellisense?

This is probably a bug related to string splitting.
Github: https://github.com/X-Sharp/XSharpPublic/issues/1260
Betatest: https://www.xsharp.eu/forum/betatesters ... ller#26246

[Chris]

Hi Dick,

No I did not say that it has to do with some specific .Net classes. But I also confirm the intellisense bug you reported, looks like it has to do with continuing a line in the next line with the semicolon. Very possibly Leon is right and it's related to the other bug he has already reported, I will ask Robert if it's indeed the same root cause for both.

[robert]

Guys,
There is a small issue in the current build, where looking up type info etc. for a line that is a continuation of a previoys line does not work.
I have checked in a fix today, and that will be included in the next build.

Robert

[ic2]

Thanks everyone for the confirmation of the bug and the quick upcoming solution from Robert.
You can leave it to me to find Intellisense bugs;)

Dick