[resolution] Chirpy broken with WW

Chirpy breaking WW got on my nerves so i downloaded the source and debugged the problem !

The culprit is the following function that is called when chirpy initializes: http://chirpy.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/view/4bb5f1101193#Chirp.cs

    public void TreatLessAsCss(bool force) {
        try {
            string extGuid    = "{A764E898-518D-11d2-9A89-00C04F79EFC3}";
            string extPath    = @"Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0_Config\Languages\File Extensions\.less";
            string editorGuid = "{A764E89A-518D-11d2-9A89-00C04F79EFC3}";
            string editorPath = string.Format(@"Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0_Config\Editors\{0}\Extensions", editorGuid);
            var user = Microsoft.Win32.Registry.CurrentUser;

            using (var extKey = user.OpenSubKey(extPath, true) ?? user.CreateSubKey(extPath))
            using (var editorKey = user.OpenSubKey(editorPath, true) ?? user.CreateSubKey(editorPath)) {
                if (force || string.IsNullOrEmpty(extKey.GetValue(string.Empty) as string) || (editorKey.GetValue("less", 0) as int? ?? 0) == 0) {
                    extKey.SetValue(string.Empty, extGuid);
                    editorKey.SetValue("less", 0x28, Microsoft.Win32.RegistryValueKind.DWord);
                }
            }
        } catch (Exception e) {
            this.OutputWindowWriteText(e.ToString());
        }
    }

I filed a bug report here: http://chirpy.codeplex.com/workitem/117

But in the meantime i compiled a version with this function disabled, if anyone wants it: http://dl.dropbox.com/u/12260882/Chirpy.dll

WW works great now + i get to use chirpy ! Now i'm actually happy that i bought the PRO version :)

Thanks, that's awesome information! We can probably add something to Web Workbench to work around this behaviour (with an opt-out for people who prefer the Chirpy behaviour), but it may take a bit of trial and error. But at least now we know where to start! Thanks again!

Actually I posted the same thing on the discussion board along with the solution a few hours ago, could have saved yourself the trouble, and maybe also give credit where it's due! :)

http://chirpy.codeplex.com/discussions/290449

By the way if you don't want to lose chirpy functionality even for specific .less files, just make this change and compile:

string extPath    = @"Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0_Config\Languages\File Extensions\.less";

diff:

string extPath    = @"Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0_Config\Languages\File Extensions\.chirpless";

This isn't a bug really, just chirpy going in and declaring those files as to be highlighted by .css rules. It's not that great, and it certainly overlaps with other tools (like this) so I don't think anyone would go about and "fix" it. Only way I see it just parameterize the .less extension, and add it somewhere on the configuration is the only workaround-solution

This hack from chirpy never really worked for me anyways. Maybe because i also have resharper installed, which enhances css highlighting too ?

..anyways, chirpy should just add an option to the .less dialog box to disable this behavior.

btw i did search the chirpy issue tracker first ..never occurred to me to look in the discussion forum. You would have saved me 5min out of the 10 it took me to dl the source, find the problem and recompile :-) but tnx anyway

Well it took me more than 3 hours, so I guess you must be better than me, which means you could follow through my suggestion about the .less extension option. Anyhow, in the meantime, I made it happen because in the process I also got the chance to get somewhat famliar with chirpy's architecture. By the way intellisense works fine, highlighting is the thing that breaks, so maybe you have some other tool that also tries to take over?

Everyone, feel free to download and repost , the new option is under options --> chirpy --> dynamic css (less)

This is the full installer for the last version of chirpy. I'm also going to send this in to the developer but I am not a user of distributed source control systems so this might take a while.

http://www.mediafire.com/?g49y5rwdqle49sa

Changing the new option need restarting VS to take effect

Cool, great initiative !

An option check-box is probably the best solution as it offers, choice ;-) Now we just have to wait for the devs to get something official up.

Yes, i have re-sharper 6.1 that also adds css stuff http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/whatsnew/index.html#CSS

that might not like chirpy playing with VS settings either ..just like WW.

But now with chirpy patched, intellisense & everything else works flawlessly. I guess tomorrow is .less day at work :)

Cool! Glad to hear it! I lost over 13-15 hours messing with squishit, cassette, combres... but none are as configurable as chirpy, and + it doesnt use any production server horsepower. I just love preprocessing <3

I gave up on squishit after messing with it for over an hour and it not working ..too complicated !

Tho Microsoft.Web.Optimization & YuiCompressor.NET on nuget have potential (and are dead simple to use/extend) for writing dynamic compression handlers.

Another nice thing about static bundles, is that you preserve intellisense throughout VS in your js files ..that alone is priceless when you break your code into lots of tiny modules.

Couldn't wait for the devs, so i took your route of adding an option to the dialog box.

Made a fork of chirpy on codeplex, added the changes, and issued a pull request into the main repo ..so with some luck this should definitely be in their next release!

http://chirpy.codeplex.com/SourceControl/network/Forks/itechnologynet/Enhancements/contribution/1836

Chirpy main source code is now update. http://chirpy.codeplex.com/SourceControl/changeset/changes/d8dbe8ecc108

Thank you, long live the chirp !:)

Also going through MSAjax settings i noticed that in almost all option panels values that are in dropdowns are not sticky (problem with enum casts to selectedItem) ..if i have time i'll give it a pass this WE.