The Script Editor

DM Genie features a powerful script editor in which you can code your feats, classes, etc. If you have used integrated development environments such as Visual Studio before, these features will be familiar to you. Auto-complete and syntax hints help both novice and advanced programmers work faster and better.

Context-Sensitive Help: Shift-F1

    You can quickly open the DM Genie help file to the correct spot by placing your cursor on a member of an object and pressing Shift+F1. For example, pressing shift-F1 on the text "Cr.AddModifier" would bring you to the AddModifier help topic in the Creature object information file. Note that for context sensitive help to work, the object name should end in one of the Recognized Object Names. If Shift-F1 brings you to this page, then either the object name or its member is not recognized!

Auto-Complete

Autocomplete     Like most modern programming environments, the DM Genie script editor has an Auto-Complete feature. Simply type in the name of an object using the naming convention and enter a dot (.) as you normally would to specify a member of that object. You will be presented with a list of all available members and functions for this object. You can type in the first few letters to automatically find the function you are looking for, and then press Space, Enter or open a bracket, and the name will be automatically filled out for you. You can also scroll down the list and select a member name this way. Press Escape to remove the auto-completion listbox.

Syntax Highlighting

    If you check the Highlight Syntax box, your code will be colored according to the program syntax, making it easier to read. This can be slow for very large blocks of code, and so you can disable it.

Syntax Hint and Help

Syntax hint     After you have entered the name of a recognized object member or function, a text box will appear underneath your line giving you the function's declaration - that is, the parameters to fill and their type. The parameter you are currently entering will be highlighted in bold. Optional parameters are presented in [square brackets] - to skip an optional parameter you must still put in a comma. For most members, you will also see one line of help which quickly describes the use of that variable or function. Press Shift-F1 to get more information from the help file.
    

Recognized Object Names

In order for the auto-completion, syntax hint and context-sensitive help features to work, the script editor must be able to determine the class of the object under the cursor. To do this, DM Genie matches the end of the name of the object to to the name of the class, or an abbreviation of it:

Creature: All object names ending in Cr, Creat or Creature
Attack: All object names ending in Att, Attack or Attacks
Race: All object names ending in Race
LastDamage: All object names ending in Damage, LastDamage
Item: All object names ending in It, Item
Skill: All object names ending in Skill
Spell: All object names ending in Spell
Feat: All object names ending in Feat

For example, all of the following names will be known to be a Creature object: Cr, OldCr, NewCreature, TheCreat. If you follow this naming convention, all the advanced editor features will work for you.





Documentation for DM Genie and Player Genie, page Script_Editor. Copyright © Mad Scientist Studios, 2006.
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