HomeVisionXL action editing
Multi-line copy/paste
Many HomeVision users have been asking for the posibility to perform
multi-line copy/paste operations. HomeVisionXL provides this feature. The
user can select multiple lines in the action editor and if the selection is
a consistent piece of the code, it will be possible to cut/copy/delete that
piece of code. A consistent piece of code is a sequence of code lines that
contain neither or all parts of a matching set of If/Then/EndIf,
If/Then/Else/EndIf and/or Wait/EndWait commands.
Undo and redo changes
Just like most modern text editors, the HomeVisionXL action editor has the
ability to undo and redo changes.
Conversion of If-Then to If-Then-Else and vice versa
Sometimes it may be desirable to add an else clause to an existing
If/Then/EndIf command. With the multi-line copy facility it is already quite
easy to just copy the condition part and the then-part to a new
If/Then/Else/EndIf template, but there is an even easier way. The context
menu that pops up when you click the right mouse button on the If command
will show the appropriate option to "Convert to If-Then-Else-EndIf" or
"Convert to If-Then-EndIf". When removing the else clause from an
If/Then/Else/EndIf command, any commands in the Else section will be placed
after the EndIf code line.
Shortcut to actions of referenced objects
On code lines that reference other objects that may have actions attached,
the context menu contains an option to edit those actions.
Multi-line comments
If a comment spans multiple lines, the whole block can be edited all at
once. This makes it much easier to reformat the text after adding a few
words early-on in the description.
Conversion of a line of code into comment
During action development it can be useful to temporarily disable part of
the code. The context menu contains a "Comment out" option to convert a
command to a note. This option will convert the command into a note
describing the command. The original command is hidden in the note in such a
way that it will not be visible. Notes created in this way can later be
converted back into the original command. When the text of the note is
edited, the hidden command is lost and it will not be possible to convert
the note text back to a command again.
Editing multiple actions concurrently
It is possible to open editing windows for different actions at the same
time, making it very easy to copy pieces of code from one action to another.
Nesting level bars
In complicated actions it may become difficult to keep track of which "If"
some piece of code belongs to. On demand, colored helper bars can be
displayed that indicate the span of an If/Then(/Else) block.
Tooltips with the current value of objects
While writing actions it may be helpful to get the current value of some of
the used objects. The HomeVisionXL action editor will display this
information in a tooltip for the objects used in the code line the mouse
pointer is pointing at.
Quickly change commands into similar commands
Some tasks require two pieces of code that do almost exactly the same
things, but opposite. For example: switching on lights when it gets dark and
switching the same set of lights off again when it gets light. Copying the
block of code is easy with the multi-line copy/paste feature, but then the
commands need to be changed from switching a light on to switching it off.
Doing this one by one by bringing up the command edit window, selecting the
correct command and clicking OK becomes tedious quickly. With the quick-edit
feature multiple commands can be selected and changed to a related command
in one operation. Even for changing single commands this way is faster than
using the normal command editing screens.
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