User Interface

Toolbar buttons

(Format)
Function (listed from left to right), [shortcut command, ]menu [,description if not present on menu]
  • New, Ctrl+N, File
  • Open, Ctrl+O, File
  • Save, Ctrl+S, File
  • Save All, Shift+Ctrl+S, File
  • Cut, Ctrl+X, Edit
  • Copy, Ctrl+C, Edit
  • Paste, Ctrl+V, Edit
  • Run, F9, Script
  • Pause, Script
  • Stop, F2, Script
  • Add Tab, Ctrl+T, File
  • Close Tab, Ctrl+W, File
  • Clear debug, no menu, Removes all lines in the debug box
  • Colour picker, no shortcut (accessible from View->Colour History), Freezes screen and allows use to pick a colour while displaying extra information
  • Select target, no menu, Allows user to choose an area they would like Simba to perform all actions on (must be held then released over target to select it)
  • Reload plugins, no menu, (Currently unavailable) Allows user to reload plugins after updating them without requiring Simba to be restarted
  • Minimize to tray, no menu, Removes Simba from visible screen and start bar allowing it to only be accessed via the Simba tray icon
  • Toggle console, no menu, Either displays or removes the output console

SyncEdit

Multiple references to an identifier in a section of text can be altered at once using SyncEdit. Select the text in which you wish to alter an identifiers name and press Ctrl+J. The highlighted area should turn from a blue colour to a green colour with identifiers displayed with grey boxes around them, except for the currently selected identifier (which should be in a blue box) and other references to the same identifier (which should be in a purple /pink box). To change to a different identifier, click in a different box. To edit the identifier, simply edit one of the boxes. When finished, press Esc. This can be used to change variable names, procedure/function names (and calls to them), custom type names (and declarations that use them). It can also be used to change references to a type as well as any uses of that type. Trying to edit something not in a box causes SyncEdit to exit, as it would when pressing Esc.

Function list

It can be undocked or moved from one side to the other. To reset it to its default position, restart Simba. As of now, it doesn’t remember where it was last. If it doesn’t correctly display Script functions/procedures, it may be that there is a problem with the script before the declaration. Items are not currently sorted alphabetically at any level, however Script and Includes items are added in the order they appear in the relevant scripts. If you close it, it can be displayed again from the View menu.

Extensions

The Extensions form is launched from the View menu via the Extensions item. To enable or disable an extensions, select it from the list and tick or untick the box in the bottom left hand corner appropriately (ticked for enabled, unticked for disabled). Listed extensions are, by default, located in the Extensions folder where the Simba executable is. The file extensions .sex is short for Simba EXtension. Extensions focus more on the Simba form or similar, general area where as plugins focus more on the scripting aspect.

For a list of all Simba extensions, have a look here.

Note

The above sentence will link to a list of Simba extensions, but that list stills needs to be created.

Colour Picker History

The colour picker history form is launched from the View menu via the Colour History item. It lists all colours that have been picked since launching Simba, unless they have been deleted, as well as information on where they were picked and RGB values. Names can be given to colours, to help relate it to what it represents, by selecting a colour item from the left and changing the top field on the right. It is, by default, displayed after picking a colour using the button on the main Simba toolbar.

Update Form

The update form is launched from Tools menu via the Update item. Informs user if no update is currently available before displaying the form. Gives the option of updating when the current version is not the latest.

Settings Form

The Simba settings form is launched from the Tools menu via the Settings item. The main tree consists of 3 sections: one for the functionality of Simba (Settings), one for the appearance of Simba (LastConfig) and one for holding settings relevant to extensions (Extensions).

The following information applies for the main Settings branch and not LastConfig or Extensions.

The Settings section allows toggling of:

  • Loading fonts on startup (Fonts->LoadOnStartUp)
  • Showing the function list on startup (FunctionList->ShowOnStart)
  • Using Lazarus syntax highlighting (SourceEditor->LazColors) [Requires restarting Simba]
  • Using CPascal or PascalScript interpreter (Interpreter->UseCPascal)
  • Automatically checking for Simba updates (Updater->CheckForUpdates)
  • Opening next tab upon closing current (Tabs->OpenNextOnClose) [Unsure on what it exactly does]
  • Open new scripts in current or new tab (Tabs->OpenScriptInNewTab) [Does prompt for saving if current script is unsaved]
  • Automatically showing code hints (CodeHints->ShowAutomatically)
  • Automatically show code completion (CodeCompletion->ShowAutomatically)
  • Automatically open colour picker history form after picking a colour (ColourPicker->ShowHistoryOnPick)

The Settings section allows changing the path of:

  • Where to load includes from (Includes->Path)
  • Where to load fonts from (Fonts->Path)
  • Where to check latest fonts version (Fonts->VersionLink)
  • Where to download latest fonts from (Fonts->UpdateLink)
  • Path to the default script (SourceEditor->DefScriptPath)
  • Where to load extensions from (Extensions->Path) [The file extension for Simba extensions can also be changed]
  • Where to load plugins from (Plugins->Path)
  • Where to load the news from (News->URL)
  • Where to check latest Simba version (Updater->RemoteVersionLink)
  • Where to download latest Simba from (Updater->RemoteLink)

The Settings section has further settings which do not fall into the above two categories of sorts. These are:

  • Version of local fonts (Fonts->Version)
  • How often to check for new version of Simba (Updater->CheckEveryXMinutes)
  • Number of recent files to be remembered (General->MaxRecentFiles)
  • The file extension for Simba Extensions (Extensions->FileExtension)

It is highly suggested that the large majority of settings should not be altered unless you know what you are doing.

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