The Basic Editor

The Basic Editor provides the standard editing functions you are familiar with when working in a text document. It supports the functions of the Edit menu (Cut, Delete, Paste), the ability to select text with the Shift key, as well as cursor positioning functions (for example, moving from word to word with and the arrow keys).

Long lines can be split into several parts by inserting a space and an underline character _ as the last two characters of a line. This connects the line with the following line to one logical line. (If "Option Compatible" is used in the same Basic module, the line continuation feature is also valid for comment lines.)

If you press the Run BASIC icon on the Macro bar, program execution starts at the first line of the Basic editor. The program executes the first Sub or Function and then program execution stops. The "Sub Main" does not take precedence on program execution.

Insert your Basic code between the Sub Main and End Sub lines that you see when you first open the IDE. Alternatively, delete all lines and then enter your own Basic code.

Navigating in a Project

The Library List

Select a library from the Library list at the left of the toolbar to load the library in the editor. The first module of the selected library will be displayed.

The Object Catalog

Click the Object Catalog icon in the Macro toolbar to display the object catalog.

The dialog shows a list of all existing objects in a hierarchical representation. Double-clicking a list entry opens its subordinate objects.

To display a certain module in the Editor or to position the cursor in a selected SUB or FUNCTION, double click on the corresponding entry.

Saving and Loading Basic Source Code

You can save Basic code in a text file for saving and importing in other programming systems.

You cannot save Basic dialogs to a text file.

Saving Source Code to a Text File

Select the module that you want to export as text from the object catalog.
Click the Save Source As icon in the Macro toolbar.
Select a file name and click OK to save the file.

Loading Source Code From a Text File

Select the module where you want to import the source code from the object catalog.
Position the cursor where you want to insert the program code.
Click the Insert Source Text icon in the Macro toolbar.
Select the text file containing the source code and click OK.

Basic IDE

Using the Object Catalog