PrimalScript 2012: What’s new? (Part 4)

In the last post we completed our look at the Home tab of PrimalScript 2012’s new ribbon interface. In this installment we will examine the File menu.

Located to the left of the Home tab, the “File” tab doesn’t reveal another ribbon tab but rather opens what is commonly called a “backstage view”

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This menu includes full sized views as well as regular menu topic which usually open secondary dialogs if selected.

By default this view opens to the Recent file lists, which offer a new feature in 2012. Users who have used PrimalScript’s start page are familiar with the three-way split we implemented between used files, recognizing that files you just open for reference or examination shouldn’t crowd out scripts you are actually working on. Project files, which include the Windows Script Host’s XML file formats for WSF and WSC types are on a separate list for the same reason.

With PrimalScript 2012 you can now pin files to each list, so that the scripts or files you always work on are sure that stay put.

The next view in this menu is the page enabling you to create a new file from a template.

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Rather than dispersing the templates in different categories and requiring a tree-then-type selection as in previous versions you can now see all templates at a glance.

The print page, as shown below, gives you a preview of the file to be printed as well as the option to select the printer and set a variety of options. If you have ever user Microsoft Office 2010 or above you should feel instantly familiar with this.

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The remaining topics on the File menu should be familiar to seasoned PrimalScript uses, but lets go through them briefly one-by-one anyway:

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  • Open…

    Shows the standard windows File Open dialog to select one or more files to open.

  • Open related file…

    This topic opens a file dialog in the folder of the active document. The base name of the file is used to build a custom search mask.

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    This come in handy if your related files share the same base name.

  • Properties…

    This displays the properties dialog for the active document.

  • Insert…

    This topic opens a file dialog and inserts the select file at the current cursor position in the active document.

  • Close

    Closes the active document.

  • Save

    Saves the active document. The save even occurs if the file has not been modified since the last save, so the last modified date of the file is updated.

  • Save As…

    Saves the current file under a different name.

  • Save open files as group…

    This topic create a group file containing the names of all files open at this moment. Double clicking on this group file allows you to open these files in on action. This comes in handy if you don’t want to bother with projects but still have certain files that belong together when you work on them.

  • Close all

    This closes all currently open documents.

  • Save all

    Saves all modified documents. If a file has not been modified since the last save it is not written to disk.

  • New project…

    Opens the new project dialog. There you can select a new project type as shown here:

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  • Options

    Opens PrimalScript’s options dialog. You can navigate the category tree on the left to switch between a number of pages with a variety of settings.

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  • Exit

    Closes PrimalScript. If any documents are modified but unsaved you will be prompted. Likewise, any pending FTP transfers or debugging sessions will cause prompt to abort these activities or cancel closing the application.

That’s it for today. Join me again next time for a look at the new PowerShell Object Explorer.