The flow9 repository have a Development Container configuration. This makes it possible to get started using flow9 without installing dependencies. For more info about Development Containers see: https://containers.dev/. The Flow9 Development Container configurations works well with Visual Studio Code.
You will need VS Code installed (https://code.visualstudio.com/download). And add the the "Dev Containers" extension:
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
You will also need to have Docker. Test this with:
docker run hello-world
If it is working it should display "Hello from Docker!" and a lot more.
Clone the flow9 git repository, it is recommended to use a sub-folder of home. For example "prg"
cd ~
mkdir prg
cd prg
git clone https://github.com/area9innovation/flow9.git
Start VS Code:
cd ~/prg/flow9
code .
When VS Code starts, it will ask if you if you want to open the DevContainer. Select yes to this. The first time it will need to build the Docker image, this will take between 1 and 10 minutes.
When the DevContainer is active, the lower right corner of VS Code will display a blue text "Dev Container: Flow9".
In the DevContainer you now have an environment with your git checkout and the required java, qt, haxe and haxelib installed.
If you open a terminal in VS Code you should have a prompt that looks something like this:
vscode ➜ /workspaces/flow9 (master) $
The workspaces/flow9 folder is the same as your ~/prg/flow9 folder.
For Windows it is recommended to use the Ubuntu WSL on Windows. This is because the Linux filesystem is much faster. But it also works with the Windows file system. Create a sub folder:
c:
cd \
mkdir prg
cd prg
git clone https://github.com/area9innovation/flow9.git
Start VS Code:
c:
cd \prg\flow9
code .
See the Linux/WSL description for additional details.
TODO
In VS Code with the DevContainer open, do the following in a Terminal:
cd /workspaces/flow9
flowc1 jar=sandbox/hello.jar sandbox/hello.flow
java -jar sandbox/hello.jar
If it is working, it should print: Hello console.
Try the html target with:
cd /workspaces/flow9
flowc1 html=sandbox/graph.html sandbox/graph.flow
In the host open the created graph.html file in a browser. In WSL it might be something like:
file://wsl.localhost/Ubuntu/home/ub/prg/flow9/sandbox/graph.html
Flow also have an QT target. To verify that it is working, do:
cd /workspaces/flow9
flowcpp --batch sandbox/hello_console.flow
This should display "Hello console".
Verify that the GUI is working in the DevContainer by running a test application:
xeyes
This should open a new window with two eyes. (If it does not work, then it sometimes helps to run the VS Code command "DevContainer: Rebuild Container")
If GUI applications works, then try:
cd /workspaces/flow9
flowcpp sandbox/graph.flow
This should open a new GUI Window and show an automatic graph layout.
To verify that the Flow9 VSCode Language Server Plugin is working, open the "sandbox/graph.flow" file and press F7. It should open an Output window, and something like display:
Processing '/workspaces/flow9/sandbox/graph.flow' on http server
done in 0.19s
Also try to add an syntax error, and press F7. It should then display an error message in the Output window. A "flow http server" message should also be visible in the lower right corner of vscode.
Press Shift F7 to run the graph application. It should open in a new window. Place the cursor on a name, and press F12 to jump to the definition of the name.
The Flow debugger need a ".vscode/launch.json" configuration to work. The flow9 repository have a default configuration that uses the flow file in the current active editor. It is called "Debug Active Flow Editor". If you have multiple launch.json configurations then open the Debugger Tab and select the "Debug Active Flow Editor" configuration.
Open the sandbox/graph.flow file, and add a breakpoint in the Add function. (This is currently line 39, starting with "nl = addNewDataPoint.."). You can add break points by clicking to the right of the line number. Then press "F5" to build, run and debug the flow application.
If it works, the Graph window should open. When you click the "Add" button in the Graph application, VS Code should break the program and show the stack trace and the local variables. See here for more information: https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/editor/debugging
If the GUI applications does not work (xeyes or xclock), then rebuilding the container sometimes works. Select the VS Code command "DevContainers: Rebuild Container" or "DevContainers: Rebuild Container without cache"
If VS Code fails to create the dev-container it might be needed to remove the bad images and container. Do that by listing all the containers and remove the flow9 containers:
docker container ls --all
docker container rm xyz
docker container rm xyz..
docker image prune
Where xyz is the id of the vsc-flow9-* containers