Active
Score60
Summary
A search feature in the Script Workspace that allows for searching for keywords or phrases in the scripts' entire contents: script steps, functions, fields, comments, etc.
Importance
I believe this feature would save developers an enormous amount of time pinpointing areas within a script that need debugging.
Use Cases
- Quickly find, highlight, and cycle through the occurrences of the ExcecuteSQL function in a script.
- Jump to a section of a script based on a keyword in a comment such as "error occurs here", "needs more work", "verify this", or a modified date.
- Quickly find, highlight, and cycle through the Set Field script steps.
- Quickly find, highlight, and cycle through the dreaded <Function Missing> errors in a script.
- Quickly find, highlight, and cycle through where a particular field and/or table occurrence is being referenced in a script.
Great idea.
This feature has become even more important since the introduction of the script workspace, because it is no longer possible to jump to a line in the script by typing.
For all of you who can't wait: In the meantime you can use the MBS Plugin (from monkey bread software) for something NEARLY as good: With the latest MBS Plugin installed, you get a search box in the title bar of the script workspace, which highlights any script steps where the text occurs. Ok, you have to scroll, but heck it#s a major improvement on nothing at all!
2EmpowerFM also does this very nicely
MBS Plugin does have a script search field on Mac to search current script.
...of course with the big difference, that the current script search function with the MBS plugin is free
Free? MBS is a zillion feature nice plugin but near as I can tell, most certainly not free.
SOME (developer) features of the MBS plugin are free, off the top of my head:
- Script + calculation syntax coloring
- Script variable checking
- Script line numbers
- Script workspace go-to-line, highlight-search and copy script functions
- Relationship graph search function
...and the quantity of functions I think barely breaks the trillion mark
Just install + enjoy
A versatile plugin with a great reputation.
Pay; install; enjoy.
I see a minimum price of $149USD
I don't see free listed anywhere here:
http://www.monkeybreadsoftware.de/filemaker/pricing.shtml
It's not listed, but there.
All the script editor goodies work without a license.
The license check applies only when calling MBS() function.
Thanks for the clarification.
If only all the great MBS features like this were available for Windows users! I use Developer Assistant plugin from 2EmpowerFM, but these features should be built right in to Pro Advanced. Think about it, FMI: people are paying hundreds of dollars extra per year for some of these plugins; maybe FMPA's price could be a little higher if that's what it would take to get some usability improvements!
In FM 13 or prior, open a script, click on any step, and type the name of a step that's used (i.e "exe...). If there are more of that step, do it again. Now type a # followed by a comment, like "#err" or "#needs"
I'm not saying there wasn't any room for improvement, but I could do this in the last version and now it's gone. It solved 90% of my "find it" needs, without clicking into a search box. Truly "hands on the keyboard", like 14 is supposed to be.
Can we have this back before we create something that solves the other 10% of needs, but makes 90% still harder than it was in the last version?
</whining>
Chris Cain
Extensitech