How to Bring Back Vertical Line at Character 6

[Robert_C_]

Hello all,

I am new to Visual Studio and Intel Visual Fortran. My office computer was just upgraded from WinXP to Win7 so I had to say goodbye to Compaq Fortran 6.6. Everything is to my liking except two things:

1. I miss the vertical bar that the Compaq software showed at Character 6. Is it possible to bring it back with Intel Fortran?

2. I like to work using several open windows of the same source code. I discovered that when I return to my project after closing it, the windows have not been saved (like with Compaq). Can this be configured?

I hope I am not asking Visual Studio questions here...

Thank you.

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Normally, when you reopen a project that you close, it remembers the state of any open files you have and they show as open. Perhaps you're deleting the hidden .suo file somehow? I just tested this to make sure I wasn't imagining it.

As for the vertical bar, you'll see it if you type something in column 6 in a fixed-form source file. In free-form source (.f90 file type), column 6 is not special. The editor is pretty smart overall about how continuation is treated in fixed-form source.

[andrew_4619]

The Open Files that were open on exiting  behaviour is normal and is associated with the Solution not the Project. I presume you are opening the Solution file and not opening a project which creates a new solution each time?  I have had a recurring problem that developed over a long period of time where the solution settings in the .SU0 file become corrupted and one of the symptoms is the 'not opening the previously open files. Did you 'upgrade' and old solution file or create a new one? I would recommend creating a new solution file and loading the old project files to see if this fixes the problem.

[jimdempseyatthecove]

In fixed form (.FOR and .for files), when a non-blank character is located in column 6 the IDE shows a different background color. You may have configuration preferences to select the color. On my system the background color goes to green.

Jim Dempsey

[Robert_C_]

Hello and thank you for your replies and advice.

The source file that was opened when I closed the project is open when I reopen the project, but only in a single window. This means that I have to manually create extra windows every time. I tried opening the project and the solution but the same behavior occurs.

Concerning the background color of column 6, I can see the green background when a character is present, but I would like the whole column to be green even when no character is there (like in the Compaq compiler). This helps me to visualize the indentation and thus to locate myself in the code. You can see an example here: http://www.xlsoft.com/jp/products/intel/cvf/docs/vfgs/images/dbsetbk.gif

Robert

[Steven_L_Intel1]

Please explain the extra windows. Do you have the same file open in multiple windows?

If you would write in free-form source, you wouldn't have to worry about column 6. See Doctor Fortran in "Source Form Just Wants to be Free"

[dboggs]

"If you would write in free-form source, you wouldn't have to worry about column 6"

I write exclusively in free-form source, but I still like to indent all lines to column 7 (or more), leaving the traditional margin at left for the (rare) statement labels, comments, etc. So I would find some sort of visual guide to be useful. Similarly, although extra long lines are accepted, I like to end them at column 80 and continue on the next line. So I would find some sort of guide at column 80 very useful also. IOW, I tire of constantly checking the cursor location shown numerically at the bottom of the screen.

So I am lobbying for a new feature in the VS editor--the ability to locate a custom vertical guide at whatever column you want. Regardless of whether you're using fixed form or free form!

[IanH]

If you have an appropriate edition of Visual Studio, there are existing extensions that can do this for you.  See here.

[IanH]

Also... I've one machine where VS2010 appears to remember both the files and the number and placement of windows for each file for a solution, and another machine where it doesn't appear to (it opens the files that were open, but not the same Window > New Window views of those files). 

As time permits I may start a scientific exploration as to the possible reasons for the difference.  To date I can confidently say that turning the problematic machine around to face different compass directions doesn't appear to help.

[andrew_4619]

  To date I can confidently say that turning the problematic machine around to face different compass directions doesn't appear to help.

I think that does help if it is turned to a bearing where you cannot see the screen, you can apply the paradigm of  "Schrodingers computer"

[Robert_C_]

Hello,

Steve, yes, I have the same file open in two side-by-side windows. Interestingly enough, VS2010 remembers the cursor position in the open file, in the first window, but not the second. I've decided to give up on this as it's not a big deal.

Thank you to all and especially IanH for providing a potential solution. I would still love for the next Intel compiler to support this function.

Steve, I read your short text about free-form. I guess I could convert to free-form easily since I am very consistent with the use of spaces.

Regards.

[dboggs]

Ian, thanks for the tip about the VS extension. This looks EXACTLY like what I've been yearning for. I was skeptical because my VS might be too old. Then I saw that the product was compatible with VS 10, which I am using. So I was encouraged. Then, I was skeptical because my VS is only the shell (as provided by Intel), not the full VS. Then, in my VS shell I found the menu item Tools > Extension manager, so I was encouraged. So I downloaded the product. Unfortunately, when I try to install it, I get the error "this extension is not installable on any currently installed products" so now I am totally discouraged.

I suppose this is just one more feature of VS that Microsoft has removed from the shell, along with other features that I used to enjoy.

[IanH]

I qualified the edition because I wasn't sure whether the shell permitted extensions or not (I don't use the shell edition).  But one thing to check/try before you give up is to make sure that you downloaded the VS2010 specific version - see the link in the first paragraph of the Description section on the page I linked to.

[dboggs]

Ian, you are right! Thanks again. That link for the VS2010-specific version is very well hidden--especially since the opening page states quite clearly that the basic version is compatible with 2010. It's not. After pressing on the right link and getting to the right page you then see that there is a different version to download. And it works.

I love this feature although it would be nice if there were a little more help documentation for it. It's tricky to get started, and I have not yet figured out what all of those options are for (I have to reverse engineer each one by trial and error). But this is a wonderful feature.