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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.

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-by-step execution, 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 F11
Step Debug → Step F10
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 F10 Execute the current line and halt at the next. Enters called routines.
Evaluate Selection (Data-Tips) F11 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.

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