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DanielF
21-02-2012, 07:00 AM
I'm looking for a G-code editor that provides help/hints for G- and M-codes, in the way AutoEditNC does. Unfortunately the only version of AutoEditNC available for download is 3.0beta, which is unfinished and bug-ridden, so of little use.

Does anyone know of an editor with similar features? Doesn't have to be free, though preferred if it is (CNC is just a hobby for me).

Rgds, Daniel

Jonathan
21-02-2012, 10:06 AM
Have you seen Gwizard?

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCGWizard.html

John S
21-02-2012, 10:17 AM
Crap.
You don't buy it you rent it, needs internet connection to work and you have to install loads of Adobe virus's to get it to work.

Jonathan
21-02-2012, 10:23 AM
Crap.
You don't buy it you rent it, needs internet connection to work and you have to install loads of Adobe virus's to get it to work.

All good points but I'm just using the Beta test and have been doing for several months... when that ends there are ways.

DanielF
21-02-2012, 01:15 PM
Have you seen Gwizard?

http://www.cnccookbook.com/CCGWizard.html

Jonathan,

I had a look at their website, and it sure didn't sound like a G-code editor – sounds more like a fancy CNC calculator! Indeed, I've seen it described as: "G-Wizard, the CNC Machinist's Calculator".

Am I wrong?

Rgds, Daniel

Swarfing
21-02-2012, 02:43 PM
Give Notepad++ a try and download the config bits for G-Code

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v5.9.8.html

http://www.addyourservice.net/notepadppcncsyntax.php

JAZZCNC
21-02-2012, 06:09 PM
Jonathan,

I had a look at their website, and it sure didn't sound like a G-code editor – sounds more like a fancy CNC calculator! Indeed, I've seen it described as: "G-Wizard, the CNC Machinist's Calculator".

Am I wrong?

Rgds, Daniel

Yes your right about G-wizzard but there's a G-code editor that you can join Beta test but to be honest I'm not having much joy with it, it's slow and locking up all the time. Still needs much work.!!

DanielF
22-02-2012, 02:23 AM
Give Notepad++ a try and download the config bits for G-Code

http://notepad-plus-plus.org/download/v5.9.8.html

http://www.addyourservice.net/notepadppcncsyntax.php

Thanks 2e0poz, but it sounds like no-one here has ever tried AutoEditNC!

It's not just a code editor – there are dozens of free ones (like Notepad++), and I have a few "programmer's editors" already (Crimson Editor is my favourite). The feature that distinguishes AutoEditNC is its G/M-code 'hint' facility. You click on the G or M button, and from the list of available codes, select the one you want to use. It then presents a pop-up window with the syntax for that code (and often an explanatory diagram), including its arguments (if any) and an explanation of exactly what it does. You can then edit those arguments in the pop-up, click the 'Add this command' button, and that command, with arguments, is added to your file at the cursor insertion point. (You can also click the 'Add..' button without editing the arguments, and edit the defaults it provides, within your code file.)

This is a great help for an occasional programmer like me, who (because I do it so infrequently) can never remember the argument details for the more complex commands without referring to a quick-reference sheet or similar.

If only AutoEditNC worked properly, it would be ideal. So I'm looking for a similar editor with a similar 'hints' feature, that works reliably.

Anyone seen one??

Rgds, Daniel

John S
22-02-2012, 10:21 AM
Daniel,
There probably isn't another one as it's a very niche market.
Remember as you become more proficient at editing / coding the need for the hints reduces. Also as software is getting better / cheaper as regards features verus price, once you have a decent post processor setup for that program the need to edit programs goes away.

I did a training day last year where at the start one of the items brought up by two of the guys was they had been told you could not run a machine without knowing G code.
I went from design to cut part on a Sieg KX3 machine, a con rod actually, with a piece of paper over the G Code window in Mach.
It was only after the part was cut and the paper removed that anyone saw the code that had produced the part.

JAZZCNC
22-02-2012, 10:32 AM
Thanks 2e0poz, but it sounds like no-one here has ever tried AutoEditNC!

It's not just a code editor – there are dozens of free ones (like Notepad++), and I have a few "programmer's editors" already (Crimson Editor is my favourite). The feature that distinguishes AutoEditNC is its G/M-code 'hint' facility. You click on the G or M button, and from the list of available codes, select the one you want to use. It then presents a pop-up window with the syntax for that code (and often an explanatory diagram), including its arguments (if any) and an explanation of exactly what it does. You can then edit those arguments in the pop-up, click the 'Add this command' button, and that command, with arguments, is added to your file at the cursor insertion point. (You can also click the 'Add..' button without editing the arguments, and edit the defaults it provides, within your code file.)

This is a great help for an occasional programmer like me, who (because I do it so infrequently) can never remember the argument details for the more complex commands without referring to a quick-reference sheet or similar.

If only AutoEditNC worked properly, it would be ideal. So I'm looking for a similar editor with a similar 'hints' feature, that works reliably.

Anyone seen one??

Rgds, Daniel

Yes Daniel the G-wizzard editor/backplot works pritty much the same, theres a list of G -M codes with all the param's and you just insert. It doesn't let you enter param's on this screen but does after it's been inserted,it also checks the formats correct and highlights red if error, green ok. I will suggest they add a box so param's can be entered on list screen,this would be usefull edition.

It's still a work in progress and running very very slow on my system, which hisn't slow it's an i7 Laptop with 12GB so it must be software issue or it just don't like my system.?

The only down side like John S says is the fact it installs Adobe shite and it has to phone home else it won't work. . . .Oh and when it's released you'll still have to buy/rent it.:thumbdown:

Worth a look thou because I dont know of anything else that comes near.!

John S
22-02-2012, 10:39 AM
Years ago I used to use one called Discriminator,
Still going but updated software but I don't know what the new version is like.

http://www.cncedit.com/

JAZZCNC
22-02-2012, 10:45 AM
Daniel,
There probably isn't another one as it's a very niche market.
Remember as you become more proficient at editing / coding the need for the hints reduces. Also as software is getting better / cheaper as regards features verus price, once you have a decent post processor setup for that program the need to edit programs goes away.

I did a training day last year where at the start one of the items brought up by two of the guys was they had been told you could not run a machine without knowing G code.
I went from design to cut part on a Sieg KX3 machine, a con rod actually, with a piece of paper over the G Code window in Mach.
It was only after the part was cut and the paper removed that anyone saw the code that had produced the part.

John I agree with you 100% - 1% :whistling: Knowing G-code is very important IMO and makes life far easier. Take this example.!

You drop a bollock with a clamp in the way but hadn't noticed untill half way thru program and clip it snapping tool, you haven't ruined work because it did it on rapid move. Obviously because we hit the E-stop at full rapid we lost position.
For You or I this would be easy fix, we'd home machine to re-establish 0,0,0 rewind code to safe place and use "Run from here" but How would someone who doesn't know G-code get back on track.?

To me it's very important knowing G-code, even if it's just basic's.

DanielF
22-02-2012, 12:46 PM
John & Jazz, thanks for your further input. Because CNC machining is very much an occasional adjunct to my main hobby, I won't be using it often enough to ever become 'proficient' at G-code programming. For the same reason, I'm unlikely to spend big money on some program that might generate the required G-code for the complex projects I will do occasionally.

And I'm fussy about what goes onto my already-too-slow main PC (not the one I use for CNC machine-control, but the one I design/program on), so don't like the sound of G-Wizard's accoutrements.

Looks like I'll just have to continue with my quick-reference on one half of the screen (kept there with NailIt) and a simple program editor on the other half, and copy-and-paste from the QR to the code window, when required. It's just a very 'squeezy' arrangement on my small screen.

I'll see what I can find about Discriminator. Thanks again, guys.

Rgds, Daniel