Editing Inform (section)

=== Inform 7 IDE ===

[[File:Inform 7 code and skein.png|right|thumb|The Inform 7 IDE on [[macOS|Mac OS X]] showing source code and the skein]]<!-- FAIR USE: Screenshot of the software in question for identification and illustration.  Furthemore, software in question is under GPL, while screenshot itself is released under public domain. -->
[[File:Inform 7 map and transcript.png|right|thumb|The Inform 7 IDE on Mac OS X showing the Index Map and the transcript]]<!-- FAIR USE: Screenshot of the software in question for identification and illustration.  Furthemore, software in question is under GPL, while screenshot itself is released under public domain. -->

Inform 7 comes with an integrated development environment (IDE) for Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Linux. The Mac OS X IDE was developed by Andrew Hunter. The Microsoft Windows IDE was developed by David Kinder. The Linux IDE (known as GNOME Inform) was developed by Philip Chimento.<ref name="gnomei7">{{cite web
  | url   = http://sourceforge.net/projects/gnome-inform7/
  | title = GNOME Inform 7 SourceForge project page
  | date  = February 2008
  }} &ndash; Now moved to GitHub at {{cite web |last1=Chimento |first1=Philip |title=ptomato/inform7-ide |website=[[GitHub]] |url=https://github.com/ptomato/inform7-ide |date=27 December 2022}}</ref>

The Inform 7 IDE includes a text editor for editing Inform 7 source code. Like many other programming editors it features syntax highlighting. It marks quoted strings in one color. Headings of organizational sections (Volumes, Books, Chapters, Parts, and Sections) are bolded and made larger. Comments are set in a different color and made slightly smaller.

The IDE includes a built-in [[z-machine|Z-code]] interpreter. The Mac OS X IDE's interpreter is based on the Zoom interpreter by Andrew Hunter, with contributions from Jesse McGrew.{{Citation needed|date=April 2008}} The Microsoft Windows IDE's interpreter is based on [[WinFrotz]].

As a developer tests the game in the built-in interpreter, progress is tracked in the "skein" and "transcript" views of the IDE. The skein tracks player commands as a tree of branching possibilities. Any branch of the tree can be quickly re-followed, making it possible to retry different paths in a game under development without replaying the same portions of the game. Paths can also be annotated with notes and marked as solutions, which can be exported as text walkthroughs.  The transcript, on the other hand, tracks both player commands and the game's responses. Correct responses from the game can be marked as "blessed". On replaying a transcript or a branch of the skein, variations from the blessed version will be highlighted, which can help the developer find errors.

The IDE also provides various indices into the program under development.  The code is shown as a class hierarchy, a traditional IF map, a book-like table of contents, and in other forms.  Clicking items in the index jumps to the relevant source code.

The IDE presents two side-by-side panes for working in. Each pane can contain the source code being worked on, the current status of compilation, the skein, the transcript, the indices of the source code, a running version of the game, documentation for Inform 7 or any installed extensions to it, or settings. The concept is to imitate an author's manuscript book by presenting two "facing pages" instead of a multitude of separate windows.<ref name="raif" />