automatic syntax checking in the functions

Umb

I'm new to R3 and javascript, though not to programming. The worst thing I have come across is the lack of automatic syntax checking or even a failure response - you just have to run your code and it either works or stays silent - there's no clue as to what it doesn't like. Red underlining for syntax errors would be great. I would also like an autocomplete when writing code and if the options for any keyword were displayed in a dropdown as you're writing the code.
As it is, it's just a simple text box and you're expected to be a pro level javascript dude!
In addition, it would be super useful for beginners if you could highlight a keyword and hit F1 for a detailed definition

gabriel

Funny enough, it used to be "only a textbox". We´ve only just introduced a simple web based editor in r3.8 July of last year. 🙂

This editor however is not comparable to a full-fledged IDE and will not do the things that you mentioned. And while it would be nice to make the code editor more powerful, it´s currently not planned and would take considerable resources that we rather spend on new features for the platform.

You can get all these features from a proper code editor (like VSCode) - which you can use to create your frontend functions.

To see if things go wrong in r3, you need to open your developer console in your browser (usually via F12 hotkey). It will display errors, when they occur. If you want to log things from inside your function, you can use console.log() or similar functions as in any other JS script to log to the same browser console.

Writing frontend functions with JS is definitely an advanced skill and not required for many apps people build. It is an option, but not something you can easily learn just from using r3.

Umb

gabriel Thanks for the tips - they will help me a lot - I’ll be setting up VS Code shortly too 😃 I agree it would be a lot of effort to implement and only of limited use.

I’m looking forward to seeing what features are added in the future - are there any plans for utilising third party data connectors like odbc etc on the host machine? That might provide R3 with an easier low cost method of connecting to offsite databases.
I would also like to see support for the python language in front end functions … but that’s mainly because I already know it 😉

Martin

gabriel

You can get all these features from a proper code editor (like VSCode) - which you can use to create your frontend functions.

Out of curiosity I checked and funny enough: you can embed the VSCode editor into your own web pages, Javascript and PGSQL language support built-in. It is MIT licensed, so no restrictions.

https://timex19.medium.com/writing-a-html-code-67b1a59dd773
https://github.com/microsoft/monaco-editor

For inserting code into the editor, like for the placeholders in the right sidebar, I found a shortcut at https://stackoverflow.com/questions/41642649/how-do-i-insert-text-into-a-monaco-editor:

To insert text at the cursor, there is this very simple way. I use it a lot to make Snippet toolbars:

editor.trigger('keyboard', 'type', {text: "test"});
It will replace the text if text is selected.

And you can also add multiple line text this way:

editor.trigger('keyboard', 'type', {text: `text on
multiple
line`});

I know the current editor integration was a user's contribution, and there is quite some skill needed and work involved to make it work.

Maybe some day, when you have no open tasks 😉 or someone sponsors this integration.

gabriel

There are currently no plans for external DB connectors. Many organizations do data exchange via REST calls - but DB access is another topic.

Python support is very unlikely, as it does not run natively in browsers - which is our environment in the frontend. Python can be used in the backend, if the RDBMS has it enabled. I´ve never done it myself, but others reported success using it with r3.

lsw-fabian

@Martin even the ACE editor does provide features like a 'Syntax checker'. As you already mentioned, the limiting factor is time 😃 If i'm right, VSCode integration takes also much more space - but i could be wrong here.

Maybe such things can be improved, but it is not on our prio list. R3.10 will enter public beta state soon and will bring a lot of new features and improvements, even to the GUI.

Maybe some day, when you have no open tasks

I don't think that day will come anytime soon 😃