Tools
If you create celx scripts, or even plain lua scripts for that matter, you can do with some tools that support you in doing so. Like a syntax highlighting source code editor for instance. On this page I list some tools that I use. PicPick is not realy needed for celx scripting but could come in handy anyway.
Notepad++
Notepad++ and I are old friends. It is a multi lingual tabbed source code editor and notepad for the windows platform, that supports syntax highlighting for a great number of programming and scripting languages. This includes lua and therefore also celx
.
Screenprint: A celx script with syntax highlighting in Notepad++ (version 5.8.3: English)
On the menu bar choose: 'Settings / Style Configurator ...'. In the dialog box that is shown in response to this (see the screen print below), select 'lua' in the 'Language' list and then type "celx" in the field 'User ext.'. Click the 'Save & Close' button and from then on Notepad++ will activate lua syntax highlighting for celx scripts by default.
Screenprint: The Notepad++ Style Configurator dialog (version 5.8.3: English).
Notepad++ is freeware governed by GPL license; it's available for download here:
Lua console
The lua console or 'standalone lua interpreter' allows to run lua scripts without running an embedding application like Celestia. It is available for the Windows, Mac and Unix platforms. It can be used to run standalone lua scripts but also to try and test lua stuff without having to have Celestia running. The console is a lót smaller than Celestia (and uses a lót less resources) and does not shut down when an error occurs, like is the case with Celestia. It goes without saying that the Celestia extentions - like celestia:print(.....) - are not available in the console.
Screenprint: Executing lua scripts in the lua console (lua5.1.exe win64).
To execute a script, use the 'dofile()' function with the full path of the script file as the parameter.
Lua console is open source software and can be obtained here:
- http://luabinaries.sourceforge.net/ as part of the lua binaries.
PicPick
For programming and other purposes I used to have separate programs for things like:
- Screen capture
- Color picking
- Magnifier
- etc.
But last december (2010) I discovered PicPick and since then I used nothing else. PickPick is all the separate tools and múch much more. I realy wish I would have discovered it much earlier, that would have saved me a lot of time doing things like designing windows "forms", writing Help stuf, etc. PickPick's icon will sit in your system tray until you need one of it's tool's and/or use one of it's hot keys. It is only available for Windows.
Screenprint: The PicPick icon and menu in the system tray (version 3.0.1 English).
PicPick is provided as freeware but for personal use only. It can be obtained here: