SpBasic Help

SpBasic Help Facility
SpBasic includes a unique Help facility which let's you easily recall spBasic Statements and Functions. The Help Form not only includes the spBasic Language, but also includes any User Defined Statement help. This is a powerful feature which makes it much easier to write spBasic programs. The Help Form can be displayed by clicking the Help Button, "H", the third button from the right on the Edit Form, or by selecting "Help -> Show Help Form" on the main menu.

When this is selected, the Help form is displayed.

This Form shows all the spBasic commands and functions associated with a particular Group. The Group is selected by using the drop-down 'Group' list. For example, the Group shown is the 'SPB Statements' group. This gives the Statements and Functions in the spBasic language (only part of the statements are shown, the scroll bar is used to view all the statements). The Help form is used in two ways.

    1) You can insert a statement into an spBasic program by pressing function key F2, or by left-clicking on a statement in the Help form. This will automatically insert the statement into the display window.

    2) You can display Help on a statement by pressing the F1 function key or by right-clicking on a statement and selecting 'Show Item Help'. The Help function key F1 will also show the statement Help window if the statement is selected in the Edit Form, and the function key F1 is pressed.

When the F1 function key is pressed or the 'Show Item Help' is selected, the Help text for the statement is shown. For example, this window shows Item Help for the 'Do While' statement.

The Help function key F1 will also show the statement Help window above if the statement is selected in the Edit Form, and the function key F1 is pressed.

The Help Form Menu
The Help Form menu allows you to set various Help options. The Menu is shown below,

The 'View' menu allows you to select 'Long Help' or 'Short Help'. 'Long Help' is the long version of the statement Help, and shows the spBasic Statement and all the Statement arguments. 'Short' Help shows only the Statement without the arguments. You may want to use 'Short' help to insert statements into program once you get familiar with the statement argument list. The label below the Group label shows 'Long Help' or 'Short Help' to indicate which option is selected. You can also toggle between the 'Long' and 'Short' options by clicking on this label instead of using the 'View' menu.

The 'Insert' menu will set the 'Insert' option. If 'Insert' is On, you can automatically insert a statement into your program by left-clicking on the statement in the Help display. If 'Insert' is Off, left-clicking on the statement selects the statement in the Help display, but the statement is not inserted into the program. The label below the Forward-Back arrows shows 'Insert On' or 'Insert Off' to indicate which option is selected. You can also toggle between the 'On' and 'Off' options by clicking on this label instead of using the 'Insert' menu.

The ‘Insert’ option has no effect on the function key F2. Pressing F2 will insert a statement into your program regardless if ‘Insert’ is on or off.

The Forward-Back arrows act the same as in a Browser. You can go back to a previous statement by clicking the Back arrow, and then forward by clicking the Forward arrow.

You can view the statements in the Favorites Group by using the 'Favorites' menu or selecting Favorites in the drop-down Group list. The menu also allows you to Edit the Favorites Group statement list. The Favorites Group is discussed below.

The 'Favorites' Group
You can add your most used spBasic Statements and Functions to a 'Favorites' Group so you can easily find them. The Statements and Functions can be added to this Group by using the 'Favorites' menu item, or by right-clicking on a statement and selecting 'Add to Favorites' as shown here.

When this selected, the selected Statement on the Help form is added to the 'Favorites' Group. When you add a statement to the Favorites list, it is added before the selected line in the Favorites Group.

If you want to add an item to the bottom of the Favorites list,
  1) Go to the Favorites group and select the top line in the list window.
  2) Go back to the statement from the Group that you want to add.
  3) Right-click on the statement and select 'Add to Favorites'.

The Statement list in the Favorites Group can edited by right-clicking on the form to show the following menu,

You can Cut and Paste items and create Headings to organize your Favorites. To add a blank line to the Favorites group, select Create Heading and leave the heading blank.

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