Why is JSON only treated as plain text in the debugger, unlike array & dictionary?

Post reply
0 favourites
  • 6 posts
From the Asset Store
OpenAI TTS
$9 USD
10% off
Text-to-Speech plugin.Allows your Construct 3 project to convert written text into spoken words
cesisco's avatar
cesisco

  • Ashley

    In the debugger, arrays & dictionaries get a nice little interface to view and modify values. This is incredibly useful for a variety of reasons—I need not state the obvious!

    So then why does JSON—the generally superior alternative that can do both arrays and dictionaries of its own—not get any similar functionality? It is treated as a big, ugly, condensed, plain text string that is practically impossible to navigate or modify in any meaningful way.

    I'm well aware that JSON is often used as static data, but it is equally useful as dynamic runtime data (and can be substantially cleaner and more organized than a mountain of separate array & dictionary objects) yet this side of it has gone completely ignored.

    As such, I implore you to consider a sort of "JSON Tree View" inside the debugger with modifiable values. I have made a feature suggestion with additional reasonings and details here: https://github.com/Scirra/Construct-feature-requests/issues/356

  • It isn't read-only. I've been modifying JSON in the debugger for years!

    I guess a tree view for JSON would be nice, but it should be optional. I have JSONs that are many megabytes in size. I need to be able to copy them as plain text to analyze with external tools.

  • dop2000 Yes I agree the ability to copy JSON as plain text should remain. I propose this as an additional feature.

    I didn't mean it was literally read-only! Just that its form in the debugger isn't exactly suitable for modification. I have edited the OP to prevent confusion.

  • Currently the debugger inspector is designed to use flat tables. That works for most properties, and flat data structures like 1D arrays, but it doesn't work well for 2D or 3D arrays, or complex nested data structures like JSON. So it's not a case of "just add that", it means implemeting an entirely new kind of user interface within the debugger inspector, and adding new UI usually means the feature request is complicated and time-consuming, which generally means it has to be really important to be worth prioritising over hundreds of other suggestions.

  • I agree that a JSON tree view would be very helpful, especially for working with nested structures. However, I also think it's important to keep the option to view JSON as plain text for large files. A toggle option between the two views would be ideal.

  • Try Construct 3

    Develop games in your browser. Powerful, performant & highly capable.

    Try Now Construct 3 users don't see these ads

  • So it's not a case of "just add that", it means implemeting an entirely new kind of user interface within the debugger inspector, and adding new UI usually means the feature request is complicated and time-consuming, which generally means it has to be really important to be worth prioritising over hundreds of other suggestions.

    Ashley

    It's really disappointing that the debugger seems to have the lowest priority when it comes to updates. While the editor and runtime receive tons of flashy new features, the debugger has remained virtually unchanged since Construct 2.

    There's still zero support for Hierarchies, Timelines, Flowcharts, Tweens! Breakpoints still work maybe 30% of the time.

    Yes, it's a back-end tool, and new users might not care about it. However, for experienced developers, dealing with its cumbersome UI and the lack of essential features on a daily basis is incredibly frustrating.

    I'm not referring to this particular suggestion, I understand that implementing a tree view is a significant request. However, there are many other ideas that remain unaddressed. Here are the features I miss the most:

    github.com/Scirra/Construct-feature-requests/issues/329

    github.com/Scirra/Construct-feature-requests/issues/6

    github.com/Scirra/Construct-feature-requests/issues/290

    github.com/Scirra/Construct-feature-requests/issues/406

Post reply
  • 6 posts
Return to board index
Jump to:
Active Users
There are 1 visitors browsing this topic (0 users and 1 guests)