Syntax-Aware Text Editor

All text editors include color-coding:

• Blue is used for reserved words (tags).
• Teal blue is used for functions inside Spectre expressions.
• Maroon (dark red) is used for strings (values).
• Green is used for comments.
• Dark slate gray is used for numbers.
• Black is used for expressions, braces, and equal signs.

A sample cPlan script is shown below.

You can cause the start and end of a code block to be highlighted in green by placing your cursor right after an open brace {. For example:

Similarly, you can cause the start and end of a parenthetical string to be highlighted in salmon by placing your cursor just after an open parenthesis (. For example:

Within an open script, tree-view style +/- toggles after the line numbers allow for expansion and contraction of code blocks.

Example for collapsed blocks:

Example with one block expanded:

NOTE: You can collapse or expand all blocks at once with the View > Collapse/Expand All menu command.

You can toggle the display of line numbers on or off in text editor tabs (View > Show Line Numbers). This will also suppress the status bar display of the total number of lines in the file.

You can manually comment and uncomment lines of code by typing // at the start of a line. A line of code that is commented is skipped over when the script runs.

Use Ctrl + / to automatically comment and uncomment a line of code.

While editing a script, more help is available depending on the script type and current block.

• If the pointer is inside a Spectre expression, for example, `value("Bar")-value("Foo")`, you can press F2 to open a Edit Expression window. The Edit Expression dialog has context-sensitive help and lists the available columns. See Spectre Expressions Editor for more details.
• Certain strings support Auto Complete. For example, in Spectre Build you can define the type of a column with the attribute type="". When the pointer is within the quotes, press Ctrl+Space to show a list of allowed types. In some script locations, where you enter strings for a project path, directory names may be suggested.

• When entering blocks of code, press Ctrl+Space after a tag name and before the '{' to display a picklist pop-up of possible attributes and values. Choose an attribute from the list and press Enter.

  

  If you know the first letter or two of the tag or function, you can type that to narrow down what is presented in the auto-complete menu.

  NOTE: Tooltips provide descriptions of the picklist options.

  

  An icon appears next to an item if it is required (multiple items with icons indicates that at least one is required as shown below).

  

• TIP: If the editor offers no suggestions, make sure the pointer is in a valid code block. This may involve adding a new line after a '{' and positioning the pointer in the new line.

The Workbench text editors highlight syntax errors with a red squiggly underline. Place the pointer over an error to see the message as shown below. Errors include syntax and context issues.

If you try to save a script with a syntax error, a confirmation dialog may display based on your preferences (see Setting Workbench Preferences).

An orange squiggly line indicates that there may be an issue, but it is not a syntax error as shown below.

TIP: A deprecated tag is likely to continue to work, but it is usually best to replace it with a current tag.

You can adjust the size of the text editor tabs in Workbench with the following zoom commands:

• Ctrl+0 (the zero on the keyboard, not the numpad)—Default (100%) (resets the zoom)
• Ctrl+mouse wheel scroll up—Zooms in
• Ctrl+mouse wheel scroll down—Zooms out

• Ctrl and "+" (the plus on the numpad)—Zooms in

• Ctrl and "-" (the min on the numpad)—Zooms out

The zoom level is displayed at the bottom of the script tab as shown below.

You can move focus to a specific line in the text file with the Go To Line dialog box.

To use the Go To Line:

1. Press Ctrl+G.

   The Go To Line dialog box opens.

   

2. Enter a line number and click OK.

3. Focus is moved to that line number.

When migrating to 7.x, a large portion of development work involves copying and pasting Integrator calcs into the Spectre Add Column dialog, in order to adjust the calculation for Spectre. The syntax for Spectre is different enough from Integrator such that the default auto completion for Spectre expressions can dictate manual removal or insertion of quotes and parentheses in the existing calc in order to clean up the syntax.

Starting with Workbench 7.1(17), you can set a preference to enable or disable the auto completion for quotes and brackets in the Spectre Expression Editor. See Setting Workbench Preferences.