Hi twostep, jasperhb, RexBeckett, and others,
Thank you for your interest in ZeroBrane Studio integration with Vera. I’m pleased to announce that the product is available for purchase and download at ZeroBrane Studio for Vera/MCV devices - Lua IDE/editor/debugger for Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux. I know, it’s been coming soon for several weeks, but I wanted to make sure I incorporate all the feedback from the early users and provide documentation that will make it easier to start using the product.
I’d like to thank all the beta testers, who not only took time to test the product and provide their feedback, but also reviewed and updated the documentation.
I’ll briefly go over its features to provide a summary for those who may be new to the product. The main aspect that should be of interest to most of you is the debugging on the device. You can run Lua code from the IDE and make it execute on the device; not only that, but you can also step through the code, look at the stack and variables, run any Lua and luup commands in the remote console, modify variables there and more.
You can also initiate debugging from the device, which allows to debug Lua code running as part of scenes or plugins. It is setup a bit differently from the “regular” debugging you initiate from the IDE, but otherwise provides access to the same functions (stepping, breakpoints, remote console, and everything else).
The IDE also provides auto-complete and tooltips for Luup functions, support for editing XML files, and ability to upload files to the device, download LuaUPnP.log, and restart the Luup engine on the device.
There are two more things that may help with debugging and troubleshooting Lua scripts. You can use print() expressions when debugging and their result will be redirected to the Output window in the IDE. This is a lightweight alternative to luup.log calls. Not only that, but the output is going to be pretty-printed, which means that print(mytable) will print the table content. You can also use pretty printing in several other places in the IDE, for example, in the Console and in the Watch window.
The last thing I’ll mention is the code analyzer that checks your code for typos and subtle errors.
Onto the pricing. The current introductory price includes 40% discount that is likely to be available through the holidays till the end of the year. You can choose between non-commercial (hobby and learning) and commercial options. I also have subscription plans for those who need work with more than one device. If you need any special arrangements, you can email me at support@zerobrane.com.
Please let me know if you have any questions/suggestions or come across any issues; I’ll keep an eye on this thread and other forum posts. You can also find me on freenode IRC in #zerobrane or email me. Thank you.
Paul.