Addition to the Editor

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John West

Senior Member
I'd like to suggest adding a drop-down menu tab to the Editor that would list all of the commands and allow the user to quickly display the exact 'Manual 2' page describing each command selected.

Opening the entire Manual 2 PDF and scrolling through it in order to find a given command is quite slow and somewhat tedious and distracting, yet it could become quick and convenient through the implementation of such a menu, pulling up only the page of interest without loading the entire PDF.

Plus, it could be set up to display only those commands that would work on the particular type of picaxe that had been selected at start-up, eliminating a possible bit of confusion and some additional research time.
 
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SgtB

Member
I never use F1 , but this should be in a "first run" tips popup. That's fantastic, and I feel dumb not knowing of it.:eek:

EDIT: And while you're at it, hit print for a nifty cheat sheet.
 
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John West

Senior Member
eclectic said:
How about using,
in the meantime,

F1 ?

e
Click to expand...
That comes pretty close to doing what I'd like, just a bit differently, and still doesn't get you to the Manual page without inconvenience. But it will help and I'll sure use it until something slicker comes along.

Thank you.

I had no idea the F1 key did that. Did I miss some reference info that mentions special features of the Function keys? A complete How to Use the PICAXE Editor for Dummies, or some such?

I guess I'll just have to press each of the function keys in turn and see what happens. An adventure!
 
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westaust55

Moderator
Additionally, if you do load the Manual 2 document from the HELP part of the PE menu/toolbar, you can enable the display of the manual contents at the left side the pdf screen (called bookmarks) for quick access to the programming commands rather than frequent scrolling back to the contents page at the beginning of the manual 2 pdf file.
 
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John West

Senior Member
Thanks, westy. I'll do that. At the moment my biggest problem with referencing the manuals is an underpowered PC, so underpowered I can't even run XP on it, (not the fault of Rev Ed.)

Loading and scrolling of large PDF's occurs in fits and jumps and stutters, making it quite awkward (and annoying) to attempt to reference anything in the manuals. That's what led me to consider the fastest, easiest way to get at the command info.

I'm not sure why the access to the command info that's accessed by F1 is not displayed as a visible "button" on the Editor command line. There seems to be plenty of available real estate to put it there. Perhaps they felt that hiding it made the editor appear less cluttered. But I'm a very visual person, one of those folks who, if I can't see something, forgets to use it and soon forgets it's even there.

I'll soon figure out what's wrong with the 3 GHz, 1 GB Windoze machine sitting on my bench and fix the beast. Then access to the manuals won't be nearly such a pain.
 
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hippy

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The 'F1' command list can also be accessed through the Help -> Quick Syntax Checker menu option. None of the options are 'hidden' in the Programming Editor and can all be accessed through the menu.

There is currently no 'Tip Of The Day' function. I suspect most people are like me and would turn it off because it gets in the way of what they want to do whenever the launch the application. Even when there is some useful tip I'm unlikely to see it before I've turned it off !

Whenever I install a new application I tend to go through all the menu options, see what's available and click on those which aren't obvious to get a feel for what they do.
 
J

John West

Senior Member
I did go through all of the menu listings to the extent that I read the list of them. The problem was that when I saw the words "syntax checker" I did not associate it with a list of commands and their format. I thought it was the same syntax error check that is run during a program load attempt.

I'll have to click on each function instead of just reading the name of them.

Still, I hope Rev Ed will consider implementing my idea. It shouldn't be especially difficult and would quickly provide complete command info.
 
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westaust55

Moderator
Within the F1 function there is already a button at the bottom of the pop-up window which when clicked brings up the Manual2 pdf document – but at the index page.

To load up just the desired page for a command would in some instances require a “document” of several pages.

The use of a separate set of pdfs covering each command would in IMHO cause grief for Rev Ed to maintain two sets of documents as one complete manual 2 PFD and another set being around 180 separate documents as 1 per command.

Then what happens when the manual is updated but not the PE. The documents within the PE collection will be out of date. At the moment at least we can copy the single new manual 1, 2 or 3 docs into the PE folder if the need arises.

By way of example, how many forum members are aware that manual 2 was rev’ed up toV7.2 in Jan 2011 ? :confused:
If you are still running PE V5.3.3 then your manual 2 within the PE folder is out of date and had there been any pdf files for individual commands some of those sub docs would be out of date.
 
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BillyGreen1973

Senior Member
Just noticed that if you use the

'PICAXE Manual'

drop down at the top of this forum, and select 'Manual 2', the link is broken.
Adobe reader opens and gives an error saying
'Expected Name Object' (or somthing similar)

Will try it from my home PC when I get home from work in about an hour.


UPDATE:
Tried it at home and everything works fine.
Must be the Laptop at work playing up. Oh well
 
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geoff07

Senior Member
Something that might help make Manual 2 more accessible without a lot of effort would be to use hot links within the pdf, so from one command you could get to all those associated commands with one click. A small para at the top of the listing: 'Associated Commands' would do it. Sounds like a job for a summer intern.
 
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