JavaScript Editor - full of features, knowledge base, and utilities

JavaScript Editor: the jsEditor helps you to quickly and easily write JavaScript. Its utilities help you create and manage Internet files, including Style Sheets.

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Code Help

When writing JavaScript, you type a 'dot' before you add properties, functions, etc. With jsEditor, when you type a 'dot (.)' Code Help will appear (if you are in the JavaScript area), and if what you have typed is recognised, then a list of properties appear in Code Help.

For instance, if you type document. then code help appears as follows:

codeHelpDoc.bmp (120282 Byte) The list box at the bottom has a number of properties which will be selected as you type. For instance, if you typed 'b', then 'bgColor' would be selected and you could enter that into the document by pressing the return key. (You would then have document.bgColor in the document.)

In the picture, most of the buttons aren't selected because no item is selected in the lower list box. (This and the next picture were from Windows 2000. The third picture is from XP, and looks rather different!)

You can use Code Help to insert names and IDs that exist in your document.

codeHelpNames2.bmp (190182 Byte) From the Object drop-down, choose NamesAndIDs, and Code Help will find the names and IDs in your document. In the example on the left, 'rdo' has been typed and rdoCatalog has been automatically choosen from the list.

By reading the highlighted line, you can see that rdoCatalog is the ID (ID) of an INPUT. (The items will either be names or IDs.)

If this is the name you are looking for, then press return and this name will be inserted into the document. Only the name will be inserted, the other information is only to clarify the name. In the example, both the name and the ID are the same.

It is good practice to give names and IDs meaningful names, as in the example. 

Below is a screen shot of jsEditor with Code Help. The Code Help box is visible and the popup menu shows the options:

  • Insert Code in the Editor (Usually you will use the return key to do this)
  • Add Item to List (You can add new JavaScript to your list with the click of the mouse!)
  • Replace Item in List (The currently selected item is replaced with the current text)
  • Delete Item from List (The selected item is deleted from the list).
  • Save Changes (This is automatically done when you close code help, but you can save your changes when you like. In the example, the option is disabled because there are no changes to save.)

This means that you can modify the Code Help as you wish, by adding new JavaScript functions, events, etc.  

Whenever you type a dot, Code Help appears and you continue typing in Code Help until you find your item selected in the list below. You then press return to insert this item - correctly spelt and with the correct case. The image below shows code Helper appearing after typing the "dot" after "location". Pressing <return> here will enter "location" into the page (document.location) and the Code Help Screen will disappear. If you press escape, the screen will disappear and make no changes. If the required item isn't in Code Helper, pressing <return> will enter the code you have written so far into the page. Right-click to add new code or remove old code, etc.

The idea is that you build up your own list of items and write them in a way that helps you, rather than to have a list that attempts to satisfy everyone and which becomes more difficult to use. The screen shot below is from Windows XP, and it will look different on other systems (different colours).

The screen shot below, shows the popup menu:

You have the options of:

  • Insert Code in Editor (usually you will press <return>) This is disabled if no item is found
  • Add item to List - a new item which has been typed above can be added to Code Help
  • Delete Item from List - you can delete the currently selected item. (This is disabled if no item is selected)

If Code Helper annoys you (as when typing "....", etc!), you can disable it by going to the Main Menu Options. Pressing F5 will always bring up Code Helper. In this way, you do not have to wait for Code Helper to appear after typing a dot. Keeping with the screen above, you could start with "location" as the first word in code.

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