SCL editor update

The text editor for SCL has been problematic since the very beginning. Major pain points are:

• The code completion window pops up inappropriately. There is a dual selection for the candidates which is frustrating.

• Code validation is limited due to the inability of the control to underline random characters.

• Highlighting is there but problematic for us to support.

• Inserting/Removing text is sometimes awkward. New lines are inserted for no reason.

• Special characters (Alt Gr) cannot be used.

• Foldable regions cannot be updated as you type.

All in all - a very annoying front end for our script.

With version 2606 this changes completely. All of the limitations mentioned above are now fixed simply by replacing the text editor control with a better one. It preserves the look and feel of the previous one but this time without the usability issues. Now this is great, isn't it?

Text highlighting is now based on the SCL lexer (like the SCL debugger). For us this means no more support of the highlighting mechanism. For users this means more accurate colors and faster rendering.

Folds (regions) are now supported as you type. This is also based on the lexer, again improving accuracy and performance.

Validation is rich (although not full yet).

Syntax and semantic errors are reported

much more adequately.

Code completion popup is new. It does not interfere with your actions and has a single selection + additional information shown in a tooltip as you change the selection. (for variables/arguments it shows the type & the comment)

Function return values are now shown when you hover over the name of the function.

Overall these changes make the editor much more responsive and intuitive to use.

An additional bonus is the ability to search within the code. Hit Ctrl+F and the search panel appears. It matches all occurrences of the text (case insensitive). You can navigate back and forth among all matches using F3 / Shift + F3 or Return / Shift + Return hotkeys.

Search can be extended to support exact matches and regular expressions. In this sense we still have room for improvement :)

This text editor is not new in Process Simulate. It is already used by other applications like: Motion Parameters Editor, OLP Free Text Editor (Fanuc), SCL Debugger. It is capable enough to work with any programming language as long as we have a lexer/parser for it.

I believe it will lay the ground for offering better user experience when it comes to working with code.

Enjoy it!