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+---- Thread: Help with F1 function for Help (/showthread.php?tid=953)
Help with F1 function for Help - PhilOfPerth - 10-07-2022
There seems to be a bit of discrepancy in the f1 Help function.
If I use the Tab function in my programme, eg Tab(10), then select the keyword Tab and press f1 for Help, it gets ignored, but if I insert a space between Tab and ( - which the IDE removes later- I get the explanation as expected.
But with other non-spaced functions, like left$( (which are also ignored until a space is inserted), if I insert a space I'm offered a choice of explanation for the $ sign or for String, neither of which is what I need. This also happens with Mid$( and Left$( and others.
I know, I can refer to Wiki, but the f1 help is more convenient, and if this is offered it should be consistent.
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - Pete - 10-07-2022
That's because presumably Rob coded it to parse keywords for help with a space. No space, no parse = no keyword detected. This could be improved but to tackle the job would require using the more advanced parsing routines in the IDE. I'm not sure how involved that would be. Parse out parentheses, brackets, etc.
Okay, so what can you do? THIS...
Don't highlight. Just put your mouse cursor under the "B" in TAB(10) and press F1.
Pete
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - PhilOfPerth - 10-07-2022
Thanks Pete. Yes, that works.
Is that method presented anywhere? If not, maybe it could be included in the Help menu?
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - Pete - 10-07-2022
I don't think it's documented anywhere. Did you know I actually came up with the very first QB64 IDE help engine? Emailed it to Rob over 10 years ago. He sent me a reply "I love my email!" He could have used it out of the box, but he wrote a lot of his own code for it, too. The help has come a long way since then, continuing to add features and more depth in appearance.
You know something that amazes me with this project is how others have worked on it over the years and no one, as far as I know, has managed to screw it up. You know that old adage, "A camel is a horse a committee put together." Or better, "A FreeBASIC horse is a language a bunch of horses..." Never mind
Pete
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - PhilOfPerth - 10-07-2022
Oh well, I guess I'll keep using the "camel" help file until someone (???) removes the humps.
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - PhilOfPerth - 10-07-2022
Incidentally, that seems to work for any letter selected from the keyword.
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - Pete - 10-07-2022
Yes. It's interesting the highlighting doesn't parse the keyword out the same way as the cursor method. Oh well.
Pete
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - SpriggsySpriggs - 10-07-2022
If you highlight just the word on its own and nothing else, the F1 will still work. I think this also works with stuff like "PRINT USING"
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - PhilOfPerth - 10-07-2022
(10-07-2022, 03:45 PM)Spriggsy Wrote: If you highlight just the word on its own and nothing else, the F1 will still work. I think this also works with stuff like "PRINT USING"Hi Spriggsy.
That's what I thought was supposed to happen, but it doesn't. As I said earlier,
If I use the Tab function in my programme, eg Tab(10), then select the keyword Tab and press f1 for Help, it gets ignored, but if I insert a space between Tab and ( - which the IDE removes later- I get the explanation as expected.
But with other non-spaced functions, like left$( (which are also ignored until a space is inserted), if I insert a space I'm offered a choice of explanation for the $ sign or for String, neither of which is what I need. This also happens with Mid$( and Left$( and others.
RE: Help with F1 function for Help - mnrvovrfc - 10-07-2022
(10-07-2022, 11:29 PM)PhilOfPerth Wrote: If I use the Tab function in my programme, eg Tab(10), then select the keyword Tab and press f1 for Help, it gets ignored, but if I insert a space between Tab and ( - which the IDE removes later- I get the explanation as expected.This is odd indeed. Could it be that "TAB()" could always be part of "PRINT", not like "LEFT$()" which could be at RHS in assignment as well as its result being printed? What if this "trick" is done with "PRINT USING" or "PRINT #1, USING" or alike?
But with other non-spaced functions, like left$( (which are also ignored until a space is inserted), if I insert a space I'm offered a choice of explanation for the $ sign or for String, neither of which is what I need. This also happens with Mid$( and Left$( and others.