Fast, Efficient, and Error-free Code Development
The SheerPower IDE SmartCopy feature greatly speeds up the writing
of error-free SheerPower 4GL programs. SmartCopy does this by intelligently
copying, pasting, and replacing code.
By default, SmartCopy operates on the single line of code above the
cursor. But, if a SmartCopy command is preceded with a slash ("/"),
the SmartCopy command operates on the entire paragraph of code above
the cursor. Usually, the Smart Key is CTRL+ENTER (while holding
down the ctrl key, press ENTER).
To set up SmartCopy in SPDEV:
SPDEV >> Options >> Keystroke function mappings
Next, checkbox CONTROL, and click on the ENTER key. Then
click on MAP THIS KEY. A list of functions to map is
shown. Choose "SmartCopy", click on "Map it", and then
"Save and Exit". You are ready to use the SmartCopy feature.
To use the SmartCopy feature, you:
- Move the cursor directly under a line or paragraph of
code (a snippet).
- Enter a SmartCopy command and press CTRL+ENTER
to invoke the command.
SmartCopy commands can be as simple as a single field name.
For example:
my_city$ = payroll(city)
zipcode CTRL+ENTER
SmartCopy sees the word "zipcode", assumes that it is a
field name, and scans the line above for a pattern of
"(*)". It finds "(city)", and marks the word "city" as the
TARGET and "zipcode" as the replacement text. SmartCopy
then duplicates the entire line, and changes all
occurrences of "city" to "zipcode". When the change is
made, SmartCopy also preserves the upper/lower case of the
text.
To explicitly give the target and the replacement text, use
the format of:
target = replacement
For example:
city = zipcode CTRL+ENTER
If you are generating a
series of lines based on a single line of code above
the cursor, you can give multiple replacement values
separated by commas. For example:
my_city$ = payroll(city)
state,zipcode,country CTRL+ENTER
This generates three new lines of text:
my_state$ = payroll(state)
my_zipcode$ = payroll(zipcode)
my_country$ = payroll(country)
And, another example, this time duplicating OPEN statements:
open structure payroll: name '@..\data\payroll', access outin
payroll = client, membership, audit CTRL+ENTER
This generates three new OPEN statements:
open structure client : name '@..\data\client', access outin
open structure membership: name '@..\data\membership', access outin
open structure audit : name '@..\data\audit', access outin
SmartCopy also allows for the rapid correction of text
through replacement. For example, we incorrectly entered
"fullname" and should have entered instead "client_name":
my_fullname$ = payroll(fullname)
.fullname = client_name CTRL+ENTER
The leading DOT (".") says that we are doing an "in place"
replacement of text. The result is:
my_client_name$ = payroll(client_name)
All SmartCopy commands can be applied to an entire paragraph
of code. A leading slash ("/") means to apply the
SmartCopy command to the entire paragraph above the
cursor. For example:
audit(type) = 'CITY'
audit(value) = payroll(city)
do_the_audit
/city = state, zipcode CTRL+ENTER
This produces two new paragraphs of code:
audit(type) = 'STATE'
audit(value) = payroll(state)
do_the_audit
audit(type) = 'ZIPCODE'
audit(value) = payroll(zipcode)
do_the_audit
Notice also in this example the preservation of
case for the uppercase text.
SmartCopy can also be used to duplicate one or more lines
of text -- with or without replacements. The TICK MARK ("`"),
under the tilde on the far left top of most keyboards,
tells SmartCopy that you want text duplicated. The value
after the tick mark is the number of duplicates
requested..up to 99.
For example, to make four duplicates of empty HTML table
cells in this paragraph of HTML code:
<tr>
<td>
</td>
</tr>
/`4 CTRL+ENTER
To just duplicate one line of code a few times:
print '------'
`3 CTRL+ENTER
produces:
print '------' << this is the original line
print '------'
print '------'
print '------'
(The SmartCopy technology is US patent-pending, application# 61357057)
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