Eclipse 4diac Weekly #71

Update on what development happened across the Eclipse 4diac project in the week from January 23, 2026 to January 30, 2026.

This week’s updates focus on robustness and usability improvements in the 4diac IDE, with refinements across refactoring, library element handling, system management, UI consistency, and replay debugging support. 4diac FORTE complements this with targeted fixes and cleanups around array/value conversions, diagnostics, and code consistency.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac IDE

Editor, refactoring, and model robustness
- Fixed undo context handling in the bulk editor to correctly integrate with other editors and dirty-state tracking.
- Switched rename and move refactorings to model-based edits and ensured explicit builds are scheduled afterward.
- Fixed issues with recursive members in structs and avoided unnecessary notifications in type entries.
- Refactored and fixed system creation after recent infrastructure changes.
- Restored correct “Copy Project” behavior in the System Explorer paste action.
Library element and type handling
- Fixed disconnected library elements during disposal in the type editor.
- Corrected dependency updates in the library element provider.
- Removed obsolete system access from the System Manager, consolidating handling in the type library.
UI, usability, and visual improvements
- Improved interface bar visuals with a cleaner appearance and enhanced dark mode support.
- Fixed input updates for sub-editors in the breadcrumb editor.
- Improved export feedback by showing ignored files and informational messages in the export status dialog.
- Fixed texts and removed outdated icons for configurable FBs and container variables.
Function blocks, initial values, and validation
- Added documentation comments for RS and SR bistable latch function blocks.
- Disallowed recursive members in structs.
- Improved handling of inherited initial values on generic variables.
- Added configurable severities for initial values on generic variables.
Debugging and tooling
- Prepared replay debugging support for use with the interpreter in the GUI, including:
  - Integration of a tracer reader from Trace Compass.
  - Clear separation between simulator and interpreter components.
  - Support for selecting local or remote simulators.
  - Ensured listeners are removed safely only if projects still exist.
Miscellaneous fixes
- Updated generic class naming for array-to-value conversion.
- Fixed dependency update initialization in library element handling.

Enhancements and Fixes in 4diac FORTE

Data conversion and utility functions
- Refactored and fixed VALUES2ARRAY and ARRAY2VALUES to improve correctness and maintainability.
Diagnostics and usability
- Added a helpful startup message for common issues when device creation fails due to missing shared libraries or linker flags.
Code cleanup and consistency
- Renamed the RT_Bridge class to GEN_RT_Bridge and aligned all related declarations.
- Fixed missing includes in the embrick module to restore successful builds.

Many thanks to all contributors for their work and their feedback!

Cheers,
The Eclipse 4diac Team