Method Helper? More Questions.

[bubba]

I'm making fairly good progess trying out servoy. I actually got it to connect to a fairly good size Oracle database.

A couple of questions.

1. Is there a "method helper" while in the Method editor that shows all of the standard commands and functions? If I'm missing something obvious, my apologies. I see the commands for record manipulation, but not for things like the sum function, etc.

2. When dealing with large DBs, Servoy seems to be dealing with 200 record chunks. This is OK, but can it report the total number easily, and is there a way to adjust the size of the chunks?

Thanks,
Lee Snover

[bcusick]

I'm making fairly good progess trying out servoy. I actually got it to connect to a fairly good size Oracle database.

Excellent. Pretty easy, huh?

1. Is there a "method helper" while in the Method editor that shows all of the standard commands and functions? If I'm missing something obvious, my apologies. I see the commands for record manipulation, but not for things like the sum function, etc.

For each function in Servoy you can either right click or click the button "Move Sample" and it will move a fully commented code snippet into your script so you can check it out.

2. When dealing with large DBs, Servoy seems to be dealing with 200 record chunks. This is OK, but can it report the total number easily, and is there a way to adjust the size of the chunks?

You can't adjust the chunk size of 200. Why would you want to? Do you EVER click through more than 200 records at a time? Probably not. With databases of any size, users will probably search rather than just go through all the records.

Hope this helps,

Bob Cusick

[bubba]

I'm making fairly good progess trying out servoy. I actually got it to connect to a fairly good size Oracle database.

Excellent. Pretty easy, huh?

1. Is there a "method helper" while in the Method editor that shows all of the standard commands and functions? If I'm missing something obvious, my apologies. I see the commands for record manipulation, but not for things like the sum function, etc.

For each function in Servoy you can either right click or click the button "Move Sample" and it will move a fully commented code snippet into your script so you can check it out.

2. When dealing with large DBs, Servoy seems to be dealing with 200 record chunks. This is OK, but can it report the total number easily, and is there a way to adjust the size of the chunks?

You can't adjust the chunk size of 200. Why would you want to? Do you EVER click through more than 200 records at a time? Probably not. With databases of any size, users will probably search rather than just go through all the records.

Hope this helps,

Bob Cusick

Bob:

Thanks for the reply.

Yes, so far so good. Very easy compared to many products I've worked with. I'd just like to understand the guts a little more for my own edification.

What do I need to "righ click" on to get a list of functions/methods? Anywhere in the Method editor? I'm not quite following.

I understand you will be out in Phoenix at Devcon, and I would appreciate an opportunity to meet you and talk about things. I'm sure you have a busy schedule, but if you could spare a bit of time, I would appreciate it. More than happy to buy you dinner or such if your not fully booked.

Regards,
Lee Snover

[bcusick]

Hi Lee,

You want a SINGLE list of all functions? Then check out the new help in 2.1RC4. All of the functions appear in the "index" in the online help.

The right click I was referring to is when you have a particular function - you can right click on it and "Move Sample" into your method to see the syntax and an example of how it's used.

Regarding DevCon - getting together shouldn't be a problem - contact me offline at bcusick@servoy.com and we'll work it out.

Bob Cusick

[bubba]

Hi Lee,

You want a SINGLE list of all functions? Then check out the new help in 2.1RC4. All of the functions appear in the "index" in the online help.

The right click I was referring to is when you have a particular function - you can right click on it and "Move Sample" into your method to see the syntax and an example of how it's used.

Regarding DevCon - getting together shouldn't be a problem - contact me offline at bcusick@servoy.com and we'll work it out.

Bob Cusick

Bob:

I'm looking for something like the Calculation dialog in FM where all the various functions are there in the lists and you can double click them into the calc. field. Is anything like that in Servoy?

Thanks again for your assistance. I'll get in touch back channel.

Regards,
Lee Snover

[bcusick]

Hi Lee,

Nope, there isn't something like that. Remember Servoy != FileMaker.

[bubba]

Hi Lee,

Nope, there isn't something like that. Remember Servoy != FileMaker.

Bob:

Have a Method/Function helper is not really a Filemaker thing. Most mature development tools offer something like this. At a minimum in an HTTP help format.

If it's not there, I would think it would be a good feature to add. Constantly referencing a PDF is not much fun, especially when you are starting out.

Thanks,
Lee

[bcusick]

Hi Lee,

Great suggestion.

In the meantime - you can reference a list of all the functions in the online help (F1) - click on the "index" tab.

Bob

[Morley]

You want a SINGLE list of all functions? Then check out the new help in 2.1RC4.

How does one get this version of Help? I'm running 2.1rc4-build 307. The Help version is 2.1.01D.

No list of functions in the Index.

[bcusick]

Empty out the "developer_manual" folder inside the "docs" folder inside your Servoy installation. Restart Servoy and then hit F1 or choose "Help" from the "Help" menu.

Bob

[Harry Catharell]

Hi Lee,

With reference to your point about a 'method helper', I believe that the information that you want is available within the method editor dialogue and it may be that you do not know how to go about getting at it.

In the method editor window there are 4 sections :
1) The Main Tree
2) The List
3) Script Editor
4) Debugger

The Main Tree will show you all the main categories of objects available to you with expand / contract actions to display more or less items.

Selecting an element of the Main tree will then display a list of sub categories in the List.

Within the List you can :
-Hover over an item and see a tool tip which shows the function syntax
-Click on an item which shows the function syntax in the editor status area at the bottom left
-Ctrl-Click or right-Click on an item which then allows you a popup choice of moving the function into the Script editor window (as long as you have an open script in there) OR moving a piece of sample code which contains an example of the function in use

Using these two areas gives you MORE information than you would find in a FM script / formula screen.

Just like FM, the functions are relative to the areas that they pertain to BUT you must be familiar with the Servoy Object Model in order to know where to look for your appropriate function call !!

Check out the Help files and look under :
Methods -> The Solution Object Model
Methods -> The Servoy Editor

Hope this Helps

See you at DevCon

Harry