Code Perspective

Web development with coda seems to be a pretty popular topic these days on the web. With such a powerful engine behind it, especially for multi-user collaboration it is quickly becoming a widely used tool in the web development community. There are a couple things that you can do if you’re a coda developer to increase your workflow, and really superpower your coda!

Books

Using the books feature in coda can be an extremely useful resource. Whether it be to just check an API function in PHP quickly or grab the code to move a box across the screen with JQuery it’s all easily accessible in one location. If you are using the trial version of coda then this screen may not be available to you, however once you purchase the full version then you should be able to add, edit, and delete books. Coda books aren’t necessarily just ebooks either, they can be just snapshots of the API’s of languages as well. To add a book click the plus button at the bottom left and fill in the book title and the book url. The rest of the options are optional, however if you want to be able to search through a book while editing code in the editor then you will need a search url as well. By holding down the command key and double clicking a word in the editor, you can search a specific book based on what type of file you’re currently editing in. You may notice a * in the search URL of the books you add. This is used so that when you search for a word it replaces the star with the word you want to search in the book for. Here are some examples of books you may use.

Book Title: JQuery

Book URL: http://docs.jquery.com/

Use for Mode: Javascript

Search URL: http://docs.jquery.com/Special:Search?ns0=1&search=*&go=Go

Book Title: MySql

Book URL: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/

Use for Mode: SQL

Search URL: http://search.mysql.com/search?q=*&ie=&lr=lang_en

Book Title: PHP

Book URL: http://php.net

Use for Mode: PHP – HTML

Search URL: http://us2.php.net/manual-lookup.php?pattern=*&lang=en

Clips

Coda clips are used to quickly add snippets of code to documents. You can make as many categories and snippets as you like for as many language as you like. To add a clip just go to document under the edit tab and select the clips button from the bottom bar. A darkened window should appear like the one above. To add a category just click the plus sign on the left, and to add a clip within that category just click the plus sign on the right. To edit a coda clip just hover over any clip and click the information(i) button on the right side of the clip. A great resource for web development clips in a variety of languages and platforms is the Coda Clips site.

Sharing

Using a collaboration engine called the Sub-Etha engine, coda can allow users to collaborate with multiple people on the same document at exactly the same time. It’s real time collaboration over a network. So for example, you need help working on some PHP code you’re working on. All you have to do is click the share button on the bottom left of the editor and you can proceed to invite people to view your document. Or, if you feel so willing, you can open it up on a bonjour stream and have multiple people access the file. From there you can see real-time edits from multiple different people on the same document. This can come in handy especially in large offices, instead of wasting time going from office to office to ask questions about a piece of code. Or if you so feel you could also take advantage of a modified eXtreme programming methodology and have multiple people code up the same document from multiple computers.

Summary

Basically, coda can by itself be an extremely useful tool especially for web developers. Using the extra features such as book, clips and sharing coda can help you increase your workflow and productivity in no time. The ability to collaborate with others on the same document in real time is a huge plus especially for fast paced businesses. If you’re using coda, don’t hesitate to take advantage of the features it has to help you work faster!