Navigating through patterns

If you select an item from the help by pressing →Use or the confirm key, it is inserted into the code. Its variable parts (arguments) are then quoted between « and » ("french quotes").

If there are such arguments at or after the cursor, pressing the confirm key in the editor (Jog Dial on UIQ) gets a different meaning: it selects the entire argument, thus allowing to:

This feature significantly reduces the number of keystrokes required to enter code: let's assume you have continued writing the code fragment to draw text, and now want to add an if-then-else construct to color the text, alternating between red and green:

use graph as g

for i=1 to 10 do
  if
  g.text(10, 15*i, "i="+i)
end

Invoking help with the cursor after "if" will display the following help screen:

   
Series 60 sample screen
UIQ sample screen

Pressing →Use inserts this skeleton into the code. Note that the first argument «expr» is already selected, so you can immediately replace it: type i%2=1, then press confirm to select «statements». Replace it by typing g.pen(g.red), maybe using help again.

   
Series 60 sample screen
UIQ sample screen

Pressing confirm again selects the entire "elsif" clause. We don't need it, so press the delete key.

Pressing confirm again selects the entire "else" clause. We want it to select a different color if i%2#1, so press confirm to just remove the quotes. This also selects «statements». Replace it by g.pen(g.green).

The final code now looks as follows:

use graph as g

for i=1 to 10 do
  if i%2=1 then
    g.pen(g.red)
  else
    g.pen(g.green)
  end;
  g.text(10, 15*i, "i="+i)
end

It is a good idea to practice a little bit with the help system, in particular with the argument selection feature. Also, browsing through the default help gives you an overview of the language constructs supported by help.

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Document AB-M-TUT-869