Using the Script Editor

This page gives an introduction to using the script editor.

The Script Editor is a simple text editor that permits you to write Lua scripts and GLSL code. To open the Script Editor, click on the Virtalis button at the top-left of the Toolbar and select Windows > Script Editor. Alternatively, click and hold left mouse button over the Windows menu of the Toolbar and select Script Editor. It can also be shown or hidden with Ctrl + L.

Tab Bar

The tab bar permits multiple scripts to be opened at once (alongside the Console, which is always open). The title of a tab is the name of the parent node that the script is attached to followed by the type of script. The icon may be one of the following:

Icon	Description
	A script with no unsaved changes or compile errors.
	A script with unsaved changes.
	A script with compile errors.

Text Editor

The text editor is the main panel of the window. It permits code to be created and edited and supports typical programming aids like syntax highlighting and autocomplete.

Syntax Highlighting

The Script Editor supports the following syntax highlighting:

Colour	Description
White	Default text like user variables, functions, and operators, etc.
Red	Lua keywords. These are reserved and cannot be used for variable and function names, etc. The reserved keywords are: and, break, do, else, elseif, end, false, for, function, if, in, local, nil, not, or, repeat, return, then, true, until, and while.
Blue	Literal strings (i.e. text wrapped in quotes).
Green	Comments.

Autocomplete

The autocomplete list appears for Visionary Render Lua functions (which are prefixed by vr) and registers (which are prefixed by __). It appears automatically as you type. Double-click on one of the options to insert its text into the editor. Alternatively, use the Up and Down arrow keys to navigate the list and press Enter to select an option.

Drag-and-drop

The text editor can accept nodes dragged from one of the tree views or Browser. In response, it creates a variable in the current Script that links to the dropped node. When dragging and dropping from the 3D view, a combination of Ctrl and/or Shift can be used to select which node to add to the script. The following modifier keys can be used:

Modifier Key	Action
None	Add the Assembly that was dragged.
Ctrl	Add the Model of the part that was dragged.
Shift	Add the GeoGroup of the part that was dragged.
Ctrl + Shift	Add the Material of the part that was dragged.

Output Panel

The Output panel displays any compile errors and text printed by Lua scripts. Click and drag the bar above it to adjust its vertical size. Right-click in the text area to open the context menu.

Console

The Console tab can be used to create and execute simple scripts. First, enter your script into the Script Editor (it can be multiple lines). Now right-click in the text area and select Execute from the context menu, or press Ctrl + E.

The Output panel will display any errors if the script failed to compile. If the script is okay, the Output panel will show any output from Lua's print function. Any script that is executed in the Console will start by printing Running... to the Output panel. When execution of the script is complete, it prints Ended.. It does this because of the sleeping behaviour that is available in Visionary Render 2.0.0 and above, in which a script may pause its execution and resume after a specified time period.

Example Code

The following example shows how to print the Visionary Render version number:

-- Get the Visionary Render version number.
local version = vrGetVisRenVersion()

-- Print it to the Output panel.
print(version)

Running...
2020.1.0
Ended.

Find and Replace

Click on the button to show or hide the Find and Replace bar. It can also be shown from the Script Editor with Ctrl + F.

Find

The Find drop-down has the following options:

Option	Description
Find	Search for text in the current tab (default option).
Find (All Tabs)	Search for text in all open tabs.
Find (Entire Scene)	Search for text in all Scripts in the scene. New tabs will be created for any Scripts that contain the text but aren’t already open.

Replace

The Replace drop-down has the following options:

Option	Description
Replace	Replace the next instance of the text in the Find box with the text in the Replace box (default option).
Replace All	Replace all instances of the text in the Find box with the text in the Replace box.

Filters

The following filters can be applied to the search:

Filter	Description
Match case	Perform a case-sensitive search (i.e. a search for lower case a would ignore any capital A’s in the text).
Match whole word	Ignore any words that contain the search text in them but have other characters.