TextPad has a way of capturing output from a command-line tool, and parsing it to locate where the compiler said the error occurred.
Unfortunately, MapBasic thwarts this capability, because the compiler always writes compilation errors to a file with an extension of .err, even when MapBasic is run from the command line. If there are no errors, there is no .err file. If the MapBasic compiler had a way to send errors to standard output instead of the .err file, you could capture the output in TextPad. But it doesn't, and MapInfo is unlikely to add this functionality. The best you can do is to open the .err file in TextPad after compilation is finished. Unfortunately, there doesn't appear to be a way to make a TextPad "tool" perform two actions. TextPad's macro functionality appears to be limited to editing. So you'll have to make a DOS batch file like the following: @echo off if %1 == %2 goto link mapbasic -Nosplash -D %1 goto ckerr :link mapbasic -Nosplash -L %1 :ckerr if exist %3 "C:\Program Files\TextPad 4\textpad" %3 Save this in a file named MBTextPad.bat in the same directory as Mapbasic.exe. Then add a tool to TextPad (Configure->Preferences... Select "tools" on the right-hand side, then Add->Program...) that runs MBTextPad.bat. The parameters should be "$FileName" "$BaseName.mbp" "$BaseName.err" including all of the quotes. Make sure you have "allow multiple instances" unchecked in Configure->Preferences General or it will open the .err file in a separate instance. This method will even work for MapBasic source files whose names have spaces in them (TextPad is a little too helpful putting quotes around parameter values with spaces in them). Perhaps someone is willing to write a VBScript to make this a bit less clunky. HTH Spencer -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Richard Greenwood Sent: Wednesday, July 26, 2006 8:59 AM To: Manson, Tom, VF UK - Technology (TS) Cc: [email protected] Subject: Re: [MI-L] TextPad as editor for MapBasic On 7/26/06, Manson, Tom, VF UK - Technology (TS) <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > Keen MapBasic folk, > > We are investigating the use of TextPad as our editor for MapBasic. Does > anyone have experience of this? I know that there is an add-on (on TextPad's > website) containing all the key words etc, but does someone have a new > version of this? Also, how can we get the error messages to appear, as they > would in MapBasic? > > Thanks in advance, > > Tom I use Textpad all the time for MapBasic and numerous other languages. It's an excellent editor. I have not figured out how to get the error messages back. It has a mechanism for doing it with Java compilers, so it should be do-able. -- Richard Greenwood [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.greenwoodmap.com _______________________________________________ MapInfo-L mailing list [email protected] http://www.directionsmag.com/mailman/listinfo/mapinfo-l
