Editing formulas

To edit a formula, open it in the built-in formula editor. Either:

		Click the Edit button on the Mapping, Formula, Inside, or Outside tabs on the Layer Properties tool window to edit the selected transformation, fractal formula, or coloring algorithm. To edit a plug-in class, hold down the Browse button for the plug-in parameter and then click Edit.
		Click Browse on the File menu to open a new browser, and double-click on a formula to edit it.
		Click Open on the File menu and select a formula file to open it in the formula editor.

The editor works similar to other text editors and supports common text editor features:

		Click Cut on the Edit menu to move the selected text block to the Clipboard.
		Click Copy on the Edit menu to copy the selected text block to the Clipboard.
		Click Paste on the Edit menu to insert the text on the Clipboard into the file at the position of the cursor.
		Click Undo on the Edit menu to undo your last change.
		Click Redo on the Edit menu to cancel the last Undo command.

If you are editing a formula that is being used by an open fractal window, you can easily view your changes:

Click the Reload button on the Mapping, Formula, Inside, or Outside tabs on the Layer Properties tool window to save the formula file, recompile the formula, and recalculate the layer in one step. This will also attach the formula to the Compiler Messages tool window, which will show any errors, warnings, or messages from the formula.

The formula editor makes it easy to navigate through large formula files:

The drop-down input box in the toolbar lists all formulas in the file, sorted by identifier. Simply click on a formula to jump to its first line.
Within a formula, click Next Section or Previous Section on the Edit menu to go to different sections in the formula quickly.
Click Go to Line on the Edit menu to jump to a specific line number in the file.

Notes

Press F1 (Windows) or Cmd+Shift+? (Mac), or click the Reference button on the toolbar to get help on the word at the cursor position. This works for reserved words, built-in functions, predefined symbols, settings, compiler directives, and labels.
Click Check Class Syntax on the File menu to check all classes in the formula file for errors. Errors and warnings are displayed in the Compiler Messages tool window. (To check formulas in a file for errors, just load the file in the browser in thumbnail mode to see which formulas will not load.)
In the status bar, the status of the file and the current row and column are displayed while you type.
You can change the colors for various syntax elements in the formula editor on the Syntax tab of the Preferences dialog.

Next: Finding text and formulas