Rider is a .NET IDE by JetBrains, currently heavily focused on Unity game developers. Recently JetBrains launched a early preview of Rider For Unreal Engine. Wait a minute you might say… isn’t Rider for C#, while CLion is their C++ IDE, and isn’t C++ the primary language for Unreal Engine developers. Why yes, you are correct astute reader. JetBrains however are focusing Rider toward game developers, which includes C++ and to a lesser degree Blueprint support, in addition to C#/.NET support that already exists in rider.
The top 5 reasons to choose Rider according to JetBrains:
1.
A Fast IDE with native C++ support
Rider is powered by ReSharper C++, which offers native and cutting-edge support for modern C++. Users are helped daily by its 250+ code inspections, 50+ context actions, solution-wide refactoring, and code generation abilities.
This is all combined with the IntelliJ Platform’s solid IDE features, such as super-fast navigation, integrated version control, and extensive plugin support. Rider provides this rich feature set without compromising speed or responsiveness.
2.
Knowledgeable about Blueprints
Rider for UE4 doesn’t just work with your C++ code. It also reads the Blueprints (BP) from your project and the Unreal Editor, along with plugins from both. This allows Rider to show the usages in BP files, as well as the values of the overridden properties. When navigating to BP objects, Rider opens them in the Unreal Editor.
3.
Assists with the reflection mechanism
UE4 reflection macros are more than just simple text! To speed up the process of game development, Rider provides code completion for reflection specifiers and shows the documentation in the Quick Documentation popup.
4.
Takes care of the UE4 code style
Rider accommodates UE4 naming conventions across all its actions, which helps keep your code easy to read. Inconsistent UE4 naming inspections detect names that don’t follow the rules and suggest a quick fix.
5.
Profound code analysis & RPC support
Rider ensures that your UE4 code is accurate with the help of specialized UE4 inspections for missing or incorrectly set UE4 reflection macros. Similarly, code navigation and generation actions are set up to deal with UE4 Remote Procedure Calls correctly.
If you want to check out Rider for Unreal Engine, the signup is available here. You can learn more about Rider for Unreal Engine and see it in action in the video below.