Includes several buttons that add new features and options that make working with macros and applications easier for the programmer when writing Basic code.

The extension is released under the GNU GPLv3 license. Before using the extension, please read the terms of the license.

The extension can be downloaded from the official website of Apache OpenOffice extensions: Basic IDE Tools Vers. 1.0.1

After requesting permission to install, and accept the license terms, the extension will be integrated in OpenOffice.

As for any extension, will have to close all open OpenOffice applications, including Quick Start (in spanish) so; after restarting OpenOffice, it is activated correctly.

This extension uses the text from the clipboard of the operating system to read the selected text, and after processing, replace the selected text with the text processing. Therefore operations do not copy, cut or paste in any application while the extension is performing any process. The text content of the clipboard before using any of your options is stored to be restored after making the selection.

The functions of the buttons are as follows:

To apply these options:

• Select the line or lines you want to add, remove or alternate comments, and...
• Click on the appropriate button, or...
• Use one of these keyboard shortcuts:

- Ctrl + Shift + C Add comments

- Ctrl + Shift + X Removes comments

- Ctrl + Shift + W Toggle comments

Toggle comments add comments to the lines that do not have, and remove comments on the lines that do have.

The following video shows the operation of these three options:

To apply these options:

• Select the line or lines you want to indent, de-indent or re-indent, or...
• Select a function or subroutine, or...
• Select all the code module, and...
• Click on the appropriate button

Re-indent option applies automatically indentation to all code selected by examining the code.

The following video shows the operation of these buttons:

Rules that follow the option Re-indenting

To apply Re-indenting follow these rules:

• All lines beginning with one of the keywords Private, Global, Public, Option, Sub, Function are placed at level zero (no indentation), as the lines that contain the keywords End Sub or End Function.
• All lines beginning with the keywords ', Rem, Dim will be indented to the level used by the previous line.
• The line following a line that begins with the keyword if, which contain the keyword Then after that word, and that contain code, will be indented to the same level, considering that it is an if then else endif on one line sentence.
• It is considered as separator decorative lines of code, and be indented to level zero, all beginning with the following text:

'_____

'-----

'*****

' ****

' ++++

rem --

• Empty lines are not indented. The character used for indentation is the Tab ( Chr(9) )
• If the line ends with the keyword : (label) is indented to level zero.
• All spaces and tabs located at the end of lines processed will be removed.

To apply this option:

• Select the line or lines you want to format, or...
• Select all function or subroutine you want to format, or...
• Select all the code module to be formatted, and...
• Click on the Format Basic code button, or...
• Press the keyboard shortcut Ctrl + Shift + F.

Actions that the Basic code formatter can do

Running this option, can be applied the following actions on the selected code:

• They read the names of the functions and subroutines in the format uppercase / lowercase as written on the declaration line of the function or subroutine.
• They read the names of the variables in the format uppercase / lowercase as written in the declaration line of the function or subroutine by declaring them as arguments, or after sentences Dim, Private, Public, Static or Global.
• They read the names of the constants in the format uppercase / lowercase as written by declaring then sentence Const.
• It replaces all Basic keywords for the same word formatted. For example, if' is replaced by If, select case by Select Case, msgbox by MsgBox, etc.
• Replace all variables that are found in the code after the place in which they are declared, just like then assignation to the name of the function at the point of its declaration, by the same word formatted as was declared. For example, if the function is declared as Function HelloWord, from that line, all calls to the function, such as Helloword or helloword are replaced by the HelloWord.
• Comment lines (with ' or rem) are not modified.
• Strings (all that is written in quotes ") are not modified.
• During the process shows a progress bar.

Formatting takes time, depending on the number of selected lines and the length itself. Do not perform any action while applying the code formatting, as clicking on the code, or select another module, or any other action in the IDE; not copy, cut and / or paste into other applications. Wait until then process finishes.

The following video shows the operation of this button:

Keywords recognized

See at the bottom of this page Keywords recognized by the formatter.

Dose not format some variables, constants or function calls or subroutines

You may notice that the code does not have replaced the names of variables, constants, functions or subroutines with the format they have been declared. The reasons are:

• In order to apply format to the variables and constants in the selected code lines, the lines where it declares must also be selected, otherwise they will not be detected. That is why it is advisable to select all lines between Sub and End Sub or between Function and End Function, or better, select the entire module.
• In order to format the variables and constants in selected lines of code that have been declared at the module level, must also be selected the lines where they are declared. Otherwise, they won't detected. Therefore it is advisable to select the entire module.
• If a function or subroutine is called in the code before its declaration, it can't be identified by its statement format, and therefore, will not be replaced with the declared format. It is therefore necessary that the functions and subroutines are declared before use, although we know that this is not always possible.

In future versions we are hoping to solve these three problems.

To search the selected text:

• Select the word or text you want to search, and...
• Click on the appropriate button, or...
• Press the keyboard shortcut:

• F3 to find the next (forward or down)
• Shift + F3 to find the previous (to back or up)

On computers with MacOS system, the keyboard shortcuts F3 and Shift + F3 are used by the system, so it will not be active. You can customize the keyboard shortcuts to your liking. See Customizing keyboard shortcuts (in Spanish) if you do not know how to do it

The following video shows the operation of these buttons:

Find and Replace

To execute the Find and Replace process, follow this procedure:

1. Select the text to paste, and copy it to the clipboard (eg with Ctrl + C)
2. Select the first search string
3. Press the desired search button or the keyboard shortcut equivalent
4. Paste the clipboard contents (eg with Ctrl + V)
5. To continue searching and replacing, repeat from step 3

To apply these options:

• Select the code you want to convert
• Click on the appropriate button

The following video shows the operation of these buttons:

After pressing the button displays the following dialog:

We observed that the IDE undo button usually fail when trying to undo several steps. This error is not due to Basic IDE Tools. In our trials, the first step to undo has always been made without error, and we consider not secure to undo more steps.