Suggestion for correcting the IDE's script editor

[Bob Warren]

I am not the first to suggest that debugging the script editor is
fundamental. Personally, it drives me nuts every time I use it. I can never
get the indents quite where I want them, and the editor quite easily gets
confused. In my opinion, this is because it tries to be too clever by
analysing the actual content of what we are typing. For example, if a type
an "IF - THEN" statement, it will indent the next line because it expects me
to type the next part. But I prefer to make the next line blank and then
type "End If" before I forget it. This simple act is enough for the editor
to get confused.

Here is my suggestion:

1) An "indent", actioned when I press the TAB key a single time, really
consists of 4 blank characters. If I press TAB continuously, I get 4, 8, 12,
16... blanks on the left hand side. If I press BACKSPACE, a single indent (4
blank characters) is removed. However, if I press the LEFT ARROW key, the
cursor will be positioned backwards one character at a time, including
through the spaces that constitute the indents. In contrast, while the RIGHT
ARROW key moves the cursor one character to the right, the DELETE key
also removes a single character in front of the cursor, including the spaces
constituting an indent.

2) From the cursor position in the middle or at the end of a line I have
already typed, if I press ENTER to go to the next line, the indentation is
exactly the same as the line above it (but I can change this by using the
TAB or BACKSPACE keys on the indent(s) afterwards if I want).

3) If I position the cursor on the left of a line I have already typed and
then press ENTER, a new apparently blank line is created above it. However,
if I click the mouse on this new line way out on the right, or I press the
UP ARROW key to navigate to it, the cursor is placed in the DEFAULT cursor
position, which corresponds to the indentation of the original line where
ENTER was typed.

In a nutshell, the indentation of lines created above or below an existing
line have the same initial indentation(s) as the existing line. The editor
does not attempt to analyse what I am typing. However, that said, perhaps
the way of creating a new handler could be left as it is, i.e., after typing
"on whatever", the next line is indented and "end whatever" is added
automatically.

That's it. I hope it will not put MAC users off if I tell you that I have
simply tried to describe the way the VB6 editor works, so for an example of
how well this simple system functions, I suggest taking a look at VB6. I
think it was Picasso who once said, "Good artists copy, but great artists
steal!"