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Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

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The nuBASIC IDE bundles an advanced syntax highlighting editor, an interpreter, and a debugger into a single application available for Windows and Linux (GTK+2). It is the recommended tool for writing non-trivial programs.

What's new

The Windows IDE has gained three significant capabilities on top of the historical editor + Build/Run/Step workflow:

  • Richer debugger — full Step Into / Step Over / Step Out / Run to Cursor / Pause-Break commands; class destructors and calls inside expressions are stepped correctly. See Integrated Debugger.
  • Multi-source projects — open a .nbp project file and the IDE loads the entry script and lets the debugger step into every Include-d file as a single program. See Multi-source projects.
  • VS Code extension — first-class VS Code support with the same step modes, watch, call stack and breakpoints, backed by the nubasicdebug console-subsystem binary. See VS Code extension.

Syntax Highlighting Editor

The editor is built on the Scintilla library.

Main features:

  • Syntax highlighting — nuBASIC keywords, literals, comments, and identifiers rendered in distinct colours
  • Code folding — sections can be collapsed to a single summary line and later expanded
  • Auto-completion — F12 opens a pop-up list of matching keywords; Tab inserts the selected item
  • Bookmarks — any line can be bookmarked with Ctrl+F7; navigate with Ctrl+F8 / Ctrl+F9
  • Find and Replace — full-text search with case sensitivity, whole-word matching, and regex replacement
  • Context-sensitive help — select a keyword and press F1 to display the built-in help entry
  • Online help — Ctrl+F1 opens the relevant online help topic in a browser
  • Integrated debugger — breakpoints, Step Into / Over / Out, Run to Cursor, Pause/Break, expression evaluation (data-tips)
  • Line and column indicator — the toolbar permanently shows the cursor position
  • Zoom — F3 zooms in; Ctrl+F3 zooms out

Keyboard Commands

Editor movement keys (Arrow, Page Up/Down, Home, End) extend a stream selection when Shift is held, and a rectangular selection when both Shift and Alt are held.

Action Key
Indent block Tab
Dedent block Shift+Tab
Delete to start of word Ctrl+Backspace
Delete to end of word Ctrl+Delete
Delete to start of line Ctrl+Shift+Backspace
Delete to end of line Ctrl+Shift+Delete
Go to start of document Ctrl+Home
Extend selection to start of document Ctrl+Shift+Home
Go to start of display line Alt+Home
Go to end of document Ctrl+End
Extend selection to end of document Ctrl+Shift+End
Go to end of display line Alt+End
Scroll up Ctrl+Up
Scroll down Ctrl+Down
Line cut Ctrl+L
Line delete Ctrl+Shift+L
Duplicate selection Ctrl+D
Previous paragraph (Shift extends selection) Ctrl+[
Next paragraph (Shift extends selection) Ctrl+]
Previous word (Shift extends selection) Ctrl+Left
Next word (Shift extends selection) Ctrl+Right
Previous word part (Shift extends selection) Ctrl+/
Next word part (Shift extends selection) Ctrl+\
Rectangular block selection Alt+Shift+Movement
Extend rectangular selection to start of line Alt+Shift+Home
Extend rectangular selection to end of line Alt+Shift+End
Go to line… F2
Zoom in F3
Zoom out Ctrl+F3

Code Folding

Fold-point markers in the fold margin:

  • Click — expand or collapse that fold without affecting its children
  • Ctrl+Click — toggle the fold and apply the same operation recursively to all children
  • Shift+Click — expand all child folds without toggling the clicked fold itself
  • Ctrl+Shift+Click anywhere in the fold margin — expand or contract all top-level folds simultaneously; also available via View → Toggle all folds

Tip: To open a large block with all grandchildren still folded, first collapse it with Ctrl+Click, then expand with a plain click.

Find and Replace

Find (Ctrl+F or Search → Find…)

Options:

  • Direction — upward or downward
  • Match whole word only — matches only when surrounded by spaces, tabs, punctuation, or line boundaries
  • Match case — case-sensitive search

Find and Replace (Ctrl+R or Search → Find and Replace…)

Adds:

  • Replace — replace current match and advance
  • Replace All — replace every occurrence
  • Regular-expression replacement is supported

Bookmarks

Menu command Shortcut Description
Add/Remove marker Ctrl+F7 Toggle a bookmark on the current line
Find next marker Ctrl+F8 Jump to the next bookmark
Find previous marker Ctrl+F9 Jump to the previous bookmark
Remove all markers — Clear every bookmark in the current document

Auto-Completion

Press F12 to open a pop-up list of nuBASIC keywords matching the characters typed so far. Navigate with the arrow keys; press Tab to insert.

Toolbar

Button Menu item Shortcut
New File → New Ctrl+N
Open File → Open… Ctrl+O
Save File → Save Ctrl+S
Debug Debug → Start Debugging F5
Stop Debug → Stop Debugging Esc
Breakpoint Debug → Toggle Breakpoint F9
Build Debug → Build Program Ctrl+B
Evaluate Debug → Evaluate Selection —
Step Into Debug → Step Into F11
Step Over Debug → Step Over F10
Step Out Debug → Step Out Shift+F11
Cont Debug → Continue Debugging F8
Find Search → Find… Ctrl+F
Con Top Debug → Console Window Topmost —
Ide Top Debug → IDE Window Topmost —

Context-Sensitive Help and Online Help

Context-sensitive help (F1): Select a keyword in the editor and press F1. The IDE displays the full built-in help entry in the output panel — same as Help <keyword> in the REPL.

Online help (Ctrl+F1): With a keyword selected, opens a search query for that keyword in the default web browser.

Integrated Debugger

Breakpoints appear as red circles in the left margin; the program-counter arrow marks the next line to execute.

Debug Menu

Command Shortcut Description
Build Program Ctrl+B Compile program metadata. Runs automatically on first start and after source modifications.
Start Debugging F5 Launch program with debugger attached.
Stop Debugging Esc Terminate the running program immediately.
Continue Debugging F8 Resume from the current breakpoint.
Step Into F11 Execute the current line. Descends into called Sub or Function.
Step Over F10 Execute the current line as a single unit. Calls run to completion; halts at the next line of the caller.
Step Out Shift+F11 Resume until the current Sub/Function returns.
Run to Cursor Ctrl+F10 Resume until the line under the cursor is reached, then halt.
Pause / Break Ctrl+Pause Interrupt a running program at the next steppable statement.
Evaluate Selection (Data-Tips) — Evaluate the selected expression and display the result as an inline annotation.
Start Without Debugging Ctrl+F5 Run without debugger. Press Ctrl+C to interrupt.
Toggle Breakpoint F9 Add or remove a breakpoint on the current line.
Delete All Breakpoints — Remove every breakpoint in the current document.
Go to Program Counter — Scroll to the line that will execute next.
Go to Procedure — Open a sub-menu listing every Sub and Function; select to jump to its entry point.
Console Window Topmost — Keep the nuBASIC console window above all other windows.
IDE Window Topmost — Return normal z-order and bring the IDE to the foreground.

Output Panel

The bottom of the IDE contains a tabbed panel with two tabs:

  • Output — interpreter messages, build results, and Data-Tips evaluation results. Color-coded: white (normal), yellow (warnings), red (errors).
  • Console — the embedded nuBASIC graphical console. All Print output, graphics, and keyboard/mouse input appear here.

Multi-source projects

Programs longer than a single file can be organised as a project. A nuBASIC project is described by a small text manifest with the .nbp extension that records the entry-point script, the syntax mode, and a display name. The included files are still brought in by Include / #Include directives in the entry script — .nbp only tells the IDE which file is the entry point.

name = MyProgram
syntax = modern
entry = src/main.bas
Key Meaning
name Display name shown in the title bar and in the recent-projects list
syntax legacy or modern — initial Syntax mode for the entry file
entry Path to the entry-point .bas file, relative to the directory of the .nbp
Menu command Description
File → Open Project… Pick a .nbp file. The IDE loads the entry script, sets the declared syntax mode, and updates the title bar.
File → Close Project Detach the current project; the editor reverts to single-file mode.
File → Recent Projects Lists recently opened .nbp files.

Once a project is open, Build / Start Debugging uses the entry script as the program entry point. The debugger walks transparently into Include-d files; breakpoints in any of them are honoured, and the call stack panel shows the file name and line number for every frame. From the CLI, the same .nbp can be passed to nubasic -e or nubasicdebug to run the project as a unit.

VS Code Extension

A VS Code extension ships alongside the native IDE and provides syntax highlighting, a Run button, and a debug adapter compatible with the standard VS Code debug UI (breakpoints, Step Into / Over / Out, watch, call stack, variables).

Installation. The Windows MSI's optional VSCodeExtension component installs the extension automatically. Manual install:

code --install-extension <nubasic>/bin/nubasic-latest.vsix

Running and debugging. Open a .bas (or .nbp) file and press F5. The extension creates a default launch.json of type nubasic. Available modes:

request Effect
launch Run with the debugger attached
launch + noDebug: true Run without breaking on breakpoints
launch + mode: "graphics" Hybrid --graphics-window mode: graphics in a separate GDI window, debugger and stdout in the VS Code session

The extension picks the interpreter from nubasic.executablePath, the NUBASIC_HOME environment variable, %PATH%, or the HKCU\Software\nuBASIC\InstallDir registry key. It launches nubasicdebug for debug sessions and nubasic for plain Run sessions.

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