Ruby In Steel For IronRuby

IMPORTANT INFORMATION!

This software is alpha. It runs the pre-alpha version of IronRuby. It is not suitable for real-world development. It is free software and is completely unsupported. We do not guarantee it to be fit for any purpose whatsoever. SapphireSteel Software does not accept responsibility for any consequences of any sort resulting from the use of this software.

Principal Features

Currently the Ruby In Steel IronRuby Edition provides you with the following features:

 Project Management using the Solution Explorer
 Ruby Code Colouring and Collapsing
 Project Wizards to create IronRuby Form or Console applications
 The ability to run Console apps in a docked Ruby console
 Editing features such as commenting, code formatting, smart indenting, brace-matching and keyword-end matching
 Form designer with drag and drop, properties panel and visual alignment hints

It has the following limitations:

 No Debugging
 No IntelliSense
 No Standard Ruby (ruby.exe) support
 No Rails support

Note that some options and tools relating to Ruby, Rails and the Debugger do appear in this software. This is due to the fact that the IronRuby edition is based on our standard Ruby IDE. While the tools and options are displayed in the IronRuby edition they have no effect.

Installation

The IronRuby Edition of Ruby In Steel can be installed into Visual Studio 2008 only (standard edition or above). If you do not have a copy of VS2008, you may install the free Ruby In Steel-specific copy using the installer provided with the Text Edition. If you use the Text Edition installer, uncheck the option to install Ruby In Steel, Rails and (optionally MySQL). Then, once VS2008 is installed, run the IronRuby installer to install the IronRuby edition.

You cannot install the IronRuby Edition into the same copy of VS2008 as any other edition of Ruby In Steel. If you want to avoid conflicts with another version of Ruby In Steel, you may want to consider installing the IronRuby edition onto a Virtual PC.

Samples

To get you started you may want to look at some sample applications (in Zipped archives), beneath your Ruby In Steel installation. The default location is:

C:\Program Files\SapphireSteel Software\Ruby In Steel\v1.0\Samples

Documentation

Be sure to read the README file, the Installation Guide and the Manual supplied with the software. Note that the Manual refers to the standard (Text and Developer) editions of Ruby In Steel and not all the functionality described is currently available in the IronRuby edition. The Manual does, however, provide guidance to the main features of the IDE and editor.

More...

There is a great deal of information on Ruby In Steel here on the web site. If you are new to Ruby In Steel you may want to start by looking at the following...

 IronRuby IDE - The Visual Form Designer
 IronRuby IDE - Editor Features
 IronRuby Form Designer Introduction
 The Ruby Editor
 Customize The Colours
 Ruby In Steel Colour Schemes

We also have screencasts online which demo the features of the software. Once again, not all features are available in the Iron Ruby Edition.

 IronRuby Form Designer Screencast
 Ruby In Steel Screencasts

Font Problems?

There is a known issue relating to the refreshing of the Visual Studio font cache which may sometimes disable the additional Ruby-specific colours in the Options dialog. If you find that these colours are not available as options, exit Visual Studio, locate the \Extras\Misc directory beneath your Ruby In Steel installation (e.g. C:\Program Files\SapphireSteel Software\Ruby In Steel\v1.0\Extras\misc and run the script: resetfonts.reg (you need Administrator privileges to run this). When you restart Ruby In Steel, the extra font options should now be available.