Is there a way to make the VEX editor a little easier to work with in terms of typical text editing conventions?

I'm new to Houdini, but I'm honestly surprised basics like this that exist in every text editor I've ever used are missing in Houdini.

The basics:
1. Ctrl/command-left arrow or right arrow pushing the cursor to the end of the line/selection
2. Select-All and left/right arrow will go to the end
3. Shift-Alt Left/Right arrow usually selects the whole line so you can quickly jump to the beginning/end

Is there a way top add these in the prefs or via the shortcuts editor? I'm on a Mac, so not sure if it's related to that.

Not expecting this, and it's more of request, but extras like holding to do cross hair style vertical multi-cursor selections would be nice too.

My guess is that most like me just hook into our own text editors. I'm using Sublime Text.

I have one line in my Houdini.env file to tell Houdini what editor to refer too:

Then with the cursor active in say a wrangles code window;

Alt+e brings up floating code window which gives you an option to get your text editor up with the “External Editor” button.

Or, with with code window active, another Alt+e key press will too bring up your text editor.

Hi BabaJ,

Thanks for the reply! I haven't been able to get Sublime working with Houdini.

My .env file currently has this as the path (but I've tried other variations)

Sublime post:
https://www.sidefx.com/forum/topic/68821/?page=1#post-293016 [www.sidefx.com]

I guess it's because I'm using Windows (I see on the link you've provided, your using Mac? I guess for Mac you have to do it differently ).

I was able to get Atom running instead of Sublime, but it locks up Houdini (endless wait/beachball icon) when I save.

This worked for Atom

Does Sublime lock up when you save? Or do you have a workaround like just copying the text back into Houdini's editor?

Speaking of Editing VEX on the mac….

The EditExpression keyboard shortcut doesn't seem to work in a Wrangle VEXpression text entry parameter on the mac. (alt+E or cmd+E)

Is there a trick to getting that to work or is it a bug?

http://cgtoolbox.com/houdini-expression-editor/ [cgtoolbox.com]

Wren
Speaking of Editing VEX on the mac….

The EditExpression keyboard shortcut doesn't seem to work in a Wrangle VEXpression text entry parameter on the mac. (alt+E or cmd+E)

Is there a trick to getting that to work or is it a bug?

I saw the exact same issue. Please report it

animatrix_

Wren
Speaking of Editing VEX on the mac….

The EditExpression keyboard shortcut doesn't seem to work in a Wrangle VEXpression text entry parameter on the mac. (alt+E or cmd+E)

Is there a trick to getting that to work or is it a bug?

I saw the exact same issue. Please report it

I reported it a while a go, it is a MacOS problem and they are not able to do anything about it, unfortunately.

This has been an issue since houdini 16.x I was hoping in 17.5 they would fix it. 18.x perhaps?

aekorps
I was able to get Atom running instead of Sublime, but it locks up Houdini (endless wait/beachball icon) when I save.

This worked for Atom

EDITOR = "/Applications/Atom.app/Contents/MacOS/Atom"

Does Sublime lock up when you save? Or do you have a workaround like just copying the text back into Houdini's editor?

i'm on windows, but houdini is locking up when i save my file in my sublimetext as well. but if I close sublimetext so that the file isn't being accessed anymore, it'll stop the houdini lockup and send the updated text over.

Please please use https://cgtoolbox.com/houdini-expression-editor/ [cgtoolbox.com]
It comes with SideFX Labs so you just need to define an editor the first time you use it. Really useful




Should work on Mac too