The IDE

SketchCompiler.Compile

• SketchCompiler.Compile(string sourceCode) → CompileResult

Parses the editor's text with Roslyn, compiles it in memory, and instantiates the first Sketch found — this is what pressing Run does, start to finish, well under a second for a typical sketch.

SketchEditorView

A tabbed code editor with C# syntax highlighting, live Roslyn diagnostics, and autocomplete.

Code navigation

Standard IDE navigation, backed by the same Roslyn semantic model live diagnostics use — scoped to the one sketch you're editing, since each sketch is its own independent compilation rather than part of a larger project.

And the shortcuts for the live, generative and day-to-day tools:

The three jump-to-X actions are also on the editor's right-click menu, next to Cut/Copy/Paste. References resolve within the one open sketch; a symbol from DanaProcessing itself (like Circle or PVector) is compiled with no attached source, so Go to Definition reports "no source available" for it instead of guessing at a location.

Hot Reload

Recompiles the running sketch and swaps it in without re-running Setup() or losing its current state, as long as every field still lines up (same names, same types) between the old and new version — falls back to a full restart otherwise, with the reason shown in the output panel. Triggers automatically whenever you Ctrl+S the sketch that's currently running; Sketch → Hot reload (Ctrl+Shift+R, also in the ▾ next to Run) does the same thing on demand.

▶ Run / ■ Stop one switch · Shift+F5

Run is a switch. Stopped, it says ▶ Run; while a sketch is live the same button turns dark, a small dot breathes and it says ■ Stop · 1:42 — how long the sketch has been running. Click it (or Shift+F5) and the sketch stops for good: no more frames or input, its OnStop() runs — so the camera, the microphone, MIDI and serial ports are let go — and every live loop and voice goes silent. The last frame stays on the canvas. To start over without stopping first, use Ctrl+R or ↻ Restart from scratch in the ▾ next to it. Switching to the code, resizing to the narrow layout or minimizing the IDE never pauses anything: only this switch stops a sketch.

Run in a separate window

Sketch → Run in a separate window (Ctrl+F5, also in the ▾ next to Run) compiles the active sketch the same way Run does, but opens the result in its own window instead of the embedded canvas — no editor, no IDE chrome around it, the way Processing's own Run button works. Fully independent of the main window's Run/Hot Reload state; pressing it again replaces the previous window instead of stacking a new one on top.

Agent mode

An AI assistant, opened from the ✦ Assistant title-bar button (or Tools → Assistant, Ctrl+I), with four tools scoped to the sketch you're working on: read the current source, replace it, compile & run it (compile errors and runtime exceptions are reported straight back to the model so it can react), and search this API reference. Needs your own API key for whichever provider you set up in Settings — the IDE doesn't include or pay for one, and the key stays local, never sent anywhere but that provider.

NuGet packages in a sketch

Drop a // nuget: comment at the top of a sketch and pressing Run resolves, downloads (cached under %AppData%\DanaProcessingIde), and links the package before compiling — no .csproj to create or edit.

// nuget: Newtonsoft.Json, 13.0.3

public class MySketch : Sketch
{
    public override void Setup() => Size(600, 400);
}

Sketch → NuGet Packages opens a Browse/Installed package manager (search NuGet.org, pick a version, install/update/remove) that writes these directives for you.

Example gallery

More than 60 built-in sample sketches, open via Sketch → Examples. The window has a search box (accent- and case-insensitive; it also searches inside the code, so PVector or Sphere finds the samples that use them), topic tags with filter chips (2D, 3D, Audio, ML.NET, Particles, Games…), and a code preview; ↑/↓ and Enter work from the keyboard — 2D and 3D, from a minimal Setup()/Draw() to a live-coded beat with the audio engine, an orbiting camera, a GPU-uploaded 3D swarm, parallel prime search, a live-training ML.NET color field, a reinforcement-learning self-play demo, and PDF export. Each one is commented to explain not just what it draws but why it's built that way — a working answer to "how would I actually do X" for most of the API on this page.

Standalone export

File → Export sketch (Ctrl+E) packages the active sketch as a single, self-contained, double-clickable executable via dotnet publish — no .NET runtime install required on the machine that opens it, nothing to explain to whoever you send it to. An optional "modo gadget" (windowless) mode drops the OS title bar entirely — drag it with Alt+click, close it with Alt+F4 — for running the exported sketch as a desktop widget instead of a regular app window.

Crash reporting & feedback

Opt-in, off by default (Settings → Reporte de errores). When enabled, an unhandled exception writes a local crash report; on the next startup, the IDE offers to open a prefilled GitHub issue for it — you review and submit it yourself, nothing is sent automatically or silently. The Help menu also has a standing Report a problem item for general feedback, with no crash required to use it.

Settings

Tools → Settings (Ctrl+,) opens a Settings window with one short page per topic, picked from the list on the left, so you only see the options you came for. Colors preview live while you choose; nothing is kept until Save, and Cancel puts everything back. When a change needs a restart (language, corners, fonts) the footer says so and offers Save and restart.

MainWindow

The full IDE shell: editor and canvas side by side on a wide window, a single "Código"/"Resultado" toggle on a narrow one, a custom title bar, status bar, and error panel. A sketch keeps running until you stop it — while you type in the editor, on the "Código" pane of a narrow window, with the IDE minimized — so the visuals stay in step with the music, which never stops either. While the canvas can't be seen its frames are drawn offscreen and show up the moment you look again. To lower the cost while you type, the 2D supersampling drops to 1x until you pause.

ClayTheme

The IDE's visual language — warm off-white surfaces, soft shadows, and an ember-orange accent — driven by the Settings window's Appearance page above.