TOKYO (MacHouse) – It’s been 8 weeks or so since I released the last desktop application. That’s because I now have a full-time job besides developing applications to sell at Mac App Store. Meanwhile, things have changed lately. I now use Swift to develop Mac and iOS applications. The thing about Swift is that it’s not well baked yet. If you are already familiar with how things go with Swift, you probably know that it doesn’t really support SQLite. If you really need to use SQLite to store data, you have to use Objective-C code. Fortunately, Xcode lets you import Objective-C header and implementation files. Oh, by the way, I submitted a desktop application that I’ve developed with Swift to Mac App Store some 14 hours ago. This new release is called CodeBlue 2.
CodeBlue 2 is a successor to an existing desktop application (CodeBlue) that lets you store, manage, organize programming code comprehensively. You can create dozens or even hundreds of code categories, which we call fields. List a number of code snippets under a field you select with a drop-down menu at the top. You can store as many URLs as you have as the source of programming code for each node snippet. Click on the Go button to access the URL you select with the drop-down menu at the bottom. Highlight the titles of important code snippets. You can also set specific key phrases for each field so that the application can syntax-highlight them within code text.
What’s new?
- The code area now shows line numbers.
- The user can now move the selected code snippet from one field to another.
- The user can now give any number of URLs as the source of programming code to each code snippet. Select one with a drop-down menu at the bottom. Then click on the Go button to access it.
- The user now has 160+ field pictures to choose from.
- The application is written in Swift.
- The application comes with a built-in user’s guide called Quick Tour.
![]() Source: Tom Bluewater
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![]() Source: Tom Bluewater
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Features
- Create dozens or even hundreds of code fields. Give each field a picture for its identity.
- Highlight the titles of important code snippets.
- Search all code snippets under the selected field for a specific key phrase.
- Select a code snippet and find matches for a key phrase you specify.
- Move a code snippet you select from one field to another.
- Rename a code snippet title.
- Save the selected code snippet as a text file.
- Save the entire code field as a text file in the XML format.
- Save a backup data file to a location you specify.
- Recover data from a backup data file you select. Recover data from a backup data file created with CodeBlue Version 1.
- Create and store backup data files inside the sandboxed folder.
- The application supports the fullScreen mode.
- The application supports the retina screen. (tested with 2014 2.6 GHz 13″ MacBook Pro)
- Languages: English only.
- Application file size: 36.3 MB (Version 2.2.3).
- The application comes with a built-in 23-page user guide. Choose Show Quick Tour under CodeBlue 2 whenever you need to see it.
System requirements
- 10.10 (tested with 10.10.5), 10.11 (tested with 10.11.1)
- 64-bit system
Limitations
Nothing so far…
Version history
Version 2.2.3 (Released on November 5, 2016)
- Fix: When the user clicked on the + button to create a new code snippet for the second time, the code text box as opposed to the title field could get the focus.
- The user can now set their default name for the code file in Preferences. (Navigate to the More tab.)
- The user now has options of letting the application remember the last keyword for searching code snippets or not. See General Settings in Preferences.
- When the user places the mouse pointer over the (black) code snippet title field, its creation date will appear as a tool tip.
- The syntax-highlighting function is fixed (again). The syntax-highlighting function will now work as the user types while the the code area is set to the edit mode.
Version 2.2.0 (Released on November 2, 2016)
- The user can now share the selected code snippet between remote computers by saving it as a separate file. Select a code snippet and choose Export Code under File. See Quick Tour Page 23 for more information.
- Quick Tour is updated.
- The syntax-highlighting function is fixed.
- Fix: The application could crash after saving a file to their disk when the user chose ‘Save Code Snippet As Text’ or ‘Save Field As XML’ under File.
- A dozen deprecated Swift expressions are updated.
Version 2.1.4 (Released on November 1, 2016)
- Fix: The syntax highlighting function works properly. For example, it can now distinguish “bool” from “boolValue.”
Version 2.1.3 (Released on July 22, 2016)
- Fix: When the user performed ‘search’ for the selected field, code snippets was not listed in accordance with the sort option under the Code Settings window.
- A few other changes and fixes are done.
Version 2.1.2 (Released on June 12, 2016)
- While a code snippet is shown, the user can now replace up to 10 phrases. Click on the Replace toolbar button.
- Fix: In Preferences, the open-folder path and the save-folder path did not fall back to default settings when they were not set.
Version 2.1.0 (Released on May 26, 2016)
- The user can now rearrange the appearance of the field on the code field drop-down menu. Choose Rearrange Fields under Field or click on the Rearrange Field toolbar button.
- By default, the application will automatically scroll the text view area to show the next match.
- A loader with a borderless window will appear every time the user launches the application.
- The application will run a minor, quick fix on the data file once and for all.
- Fix: Some menu commands became active when the user selected the row of a backup data file in Preferences.
Version 2.0.6 (Released on May 24, 2016)
- Fix: When the user makes changes to a selected code snippet, the syntax color was not always enforced.
- When the user edits a field, the application will automatically select the table row after updating the field drop-down menu.
- A dozen more window colors are available. See User interface in Preferences.
- A few other minor changes are done.
Version 2.0.4 (Released on May 22, 2016)
- Fix: When the user moved the selected code snippet to a different field, the field selection drop-down menu was initialized.
- The user now has options of listing code snippet titles with alternating row colors or not. See General settings in Preferences.
- The user can now choose Copy URL under Snippet to copy the current URL appearing on the URL drop-down menu to the system clipboard.
- A few other minor changes are done.
Version 2.0.2 (Released on May 21, 2016)
- Two additional pages are added to Quick Tour.
- Fix: When the user inserted an additional URL to the URL drop-down menu, the delete button did not always become active.
- Fix: When the user chose Save Code Snippet As Text or Save Field As XML under File, some commands were enabled.
- Several other minor changes and fixes are done.
Trial/Demo version
Click here to download a trial version. This trial version will remain fully functional for 7 days, starting from the very moment you first launch it.
Video tutorial
There is no video tutorial at this time.
CodeBlue 2 is a product of Tom Bluewater.
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