Console

The easiest way of getting started with SCL is to use SCL console that is normally included in Simantics-based products. You can open the console by pressing ALT-SHIFT-q and s or from menu Window/Show View/SCL Console.

Related views

Several other views complement the console during development:

• SCL Issues View — displays compilation errors for all SCL modules and updates automatically whenever a module is saved. Open it from Window → Show View → Other → SCL → SCL Issues.
• SCL Expressions View — lists all attribute expressions currently active in the open model. Useful for auditing which model attributes are driven by SCL formulas.
• SCL Editor View — a syntax-highlighting editor for SCL modules. It opens automatically when you double-click an SCL module in the Model Browser.

Executing commands

SCL console works by executing commands you write into the input box in the bottom of the view. After the command has been written, it can be executed by pressing ENTER. If the command contains syntax errors they are written to the console in red text and indication for the error position.

Multi-line commands can be written by creating a new line with CTRL-ENTER. The command history can be browsed with CTRL-UP and CTRL-DOWN. Also the standard keybindings CTRL-c (Copy), CTRL-v (Paste), CTRL-x (Cut), CTRL-a (Select all) work as expected both in the input and output area of the console depending on which of them has a focus. You can also write (or paste) multiple commands at the same time.

If the command you write into console results as an ordinary value, it is printed to the console. Here are couple of examples you can try:

> 13
13
> 1+2
3
> sin 1
0.8414709848078965
> "Hello " + "world!"
Hello world!
> [1,3,5]
[1, 3, 5]

The console remembers the variables you declare, but they are forgotten when the console (or the whole application) is closed.

> x = 35
> y = 40
> x + y
75
> x * y
1400

If you write a command that prints something as a side-effect, the prints are shown in the console:

> print "Hello" ; print "world!"
Hello
world!

The currently running command can be interrupted with Interrupt current command button in the top right corner of the console. All commands don't support interruption. The output area of the console can be cleared with Clear console button.

Importing modules

The rightmost button in the console opens a dialog for managing modules that are available for the console. It shows currently imported modules and contains buttons for importing modules from different sources. The imported modules are remembered even when the console is closed if the import is marked persistent. Non-persistent imports are forgotten when the console (or the whole application) is closed.

The another way to import modules is run import command from the console, for example

import "Simantics/DB"

The button with two arrows reloads the modules that are imported to the console. It is useful if you develop your own module and want to test modified definitions.

Running script files

A script file (a plain text file containing SCL statements) can be executed directly from the console with:

runFromFile "c:/path/to/script.scl"

Output from the script appears in the SCL Script Output window. See also 1.17 SCL Scripts for how to create and run scripts from within the Simantics model browser.

Code navigation shortcuts

When the SCL Editor View is focused, the following keyboard shortcuts aid navigation: