Overview
You can write code in either standard VB.NET or C#. You can also switch between both. If you change your language selection in the code editor, the system automatically converts existing code to the selected language.
For Python code, the editing is executed at the Python editor and a reference the program created is added.
On this page:
Code Editing
To edit code:
Go to Scripts → CodeEditor.
From the drop-down list in the main toolbar, select the task or class you want to edit. To create a new task or class, see Scripts Tasks Configurations or Scripts Classes Configurations earlier on this page.
If needed, select a different code language from the code editor toolbar.
You can also format your code to be more readable. To do so, click Auto Format. A prompt will appear; click OK.
Click Save.
When Selecting Scripts → CodeEditor, the Code Editor environment is displayed with the contents of the last selected Script Task or Script Class.
While in that environment, you can change the task or class you are editing using the ComboBox at the top area.
Scripts Compilation
The Scripts Compilation utilizes an incremental compilation approach, which means that scripts are automatically compiled in the background as they are created or modified without requiring explicit user intervention. This approach ensures that only the necessary scripts are compiled, resulting in improved performance and reduced compilation time.
When a script is created or modified, the incremental compilation mechanism identifies the affected scripts and compiles them individually rather than recompiling the entire project. This targeted compilation minimizes the overhead associated with compiling unchanged scripts, resulting in faster build times.
Before deploying a project into a production environment, it is highly recommended to execute a build operation. This build operation ensures that all scripts are up-to-date and compiled correctly, reducing the chances of runtime errors or unexpected behavior.
When you use the code editor, the system constantly compiles code in the background. You can also build the whole project, as needed. For more information, see Running the Application.
Productivity Enhancements
IntelliSense: it is a code-completion aid that features listing the available properties and methods for the objects and auto completing their names. Additionally to the Properties and Methods of the .NET Framework, it also supports all Project entities, like Tags and Displays. Just type a dot "." after an element to show its available properties.
The Toolkit namespace: our platform exposes many .NET libraries to the application, but there are a few methods that are frequently required, such as type conversion, copying tags to DataTables and .NET objects, or dynamically changing the communication settings, and others. Those methods included in a library toolkit. To use these methods, you need to put
TK.in the code editor. IntelliSense will respond with a list of all available methods and provide a summary documentation for any method you select. Example:double x = TK.ConvertTo<double>("123");
Debugging and Error Handling
Creating debugger Information
The platform has an integrated .NET code debugger. In order to use it, the local computer must have a cache with the necessary files to run the debugger. The steps to enable the debugger are:
Enable the Debug Information on Runtime → Build and Publish.
As necessary, save the source code you want to debug. This will create the debug information. This step is only necessary the first time you open the project on the computer. Afterwards, the background compiling generates the necessary debugging information to enable the use of breakpoints and step execution.
Attaching the .NET debugger
In order to have a .NET debugging session, the engineering environment must be connected to the runtime, and the .NET debugger must be attached to server or client process. Follow these steps.
When Running the project, go to Runtime → Startup and enable the connect check box.
If the project is already running, go to Runtime → Startup, according to the runtime you want to attach, and connect to the runtime system by pressing the connect button on those pages.
Open any script that has debugging information and press the Attach .NET debugger button. A message on the bottom of the engineering workspace will show that a debugging session is active with the server components or the client components of the running project.
When the .NET debugger is attached, the system will stop on the defined breakpoints and will stop automatically when any .NET Exception occurs.
Breakpoints, Steps, and Watch
In order to setup a breakpoint, open the desired code, select the line, and press Insert Breakpoint on the toolbar.
When the system stops on a breakpoint, you can perform step by step execution or click the continue button.
In order to inspect local .NET variables, tags, or project objects, select the text in the script editor. When the execution is stopped on a breakpoint, the toolkit will show the current value of the variable.
You can also add .NET variables or project objects to the Watch window. When adding tags or project objects, you need to use the at symbols @, like @tag.tag1. This will allow the system to know it is a project object and not a local .NET variable. Keep in mind that the Watch display is only updated when execution is stopped. If you want to have real-time values for tags and objects, open the PropertyWatch diagnostics tool.
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