New Repeat Tool boosts productivity

The new Repeat Tool is a window that remembers certain actions a programmer takes in TPF/GI. It then allows the programmer to repeat any single action with a simple double click.

The Repeat Tool not only aids the productivity of programmers, it also demonstrates the power of TPF/GI’s plug-in tools Application Programming Interface (API), since the Repeat Tool was written as a plug-in tool.

Using the Repeat Tool

Programmers first need to install the Repeat Tool (select Help>What’s New from the TPF/GI menubar to learn how to do this). They can then select Tools>Repeat from the menubar to display the Repeat Tool window.

To repeat any action, the programmer simply double clicks it.

The Repeat Tool remembers the following actions:

• GI Console messages
• Adding of a Source View control file
• Setting of a Source View breakpoint
• Removal of a Source View breakpoint
• Loading a program

Every time one of these actions is performed, the action appears at the top of the Recent page of the Repeat Tool window (Figure 1).

Figure 1: The Recent page of the Repeat Tool window.

To repeat any action, the programmer simply double clicks it (or selects it and presses Enter). To remove the action, the programmer presses the Delete key.

Organizing and Saving

In order to organize and permanently save actions, programmers can transfer them to folders on the Favorites page of the Repeat Tool window.

Figure 2: The Favorites page of the Repeat Tool window.

To save the action to Favorites, the programmer can right click the action and select Move to Folder from the right click menu.

Works with Scripting

It’s true that TPF/GI has added scripting to let programmers automate their work with TPF/GI, but some frequently repeated actions may not seem important enough to script. The Repeat Tool lets even these less important actions be automated to some degree.

And the Repeat Tool does work with scripting. Once a programmer has transferred a set of actions to a folder on the Favorites page, he or she can create a script by simply right clicking the folder and selecting Export to Script... from the right click menu. A VBScript file is produced which can be executed from TPF/GI’s Script Window.