Balanced parentheses

[Glenn_Thorne]

Hi All

I have been developing an app that uses several date and other functions (often nested). One thing I have struggled with is balancing my parentheses. I come from a programming background but have never developed a good strategy for formatting and matching parentheses. Does anyone have a format that they could recommend or point me to a good parentheses checker (matcher) that I could utilize?

Thanks for all comments

[Bahbus]

If the expression is getting really complicated, I start treating them like curly brackets in Java.

LEN(
  INDEX(
    SPLIT("abcde", "c"),
    1
  )
)

[Glenn_Thorne]

Thanks Dave. Similar style to my own,

[Steve]

FREE Chrome Extension that enhances the Expression Assistant [AppSheet Toolbox/QREW Tools] Tips & Tricks 💡

Hi AppSheet Community As someone who is in the App Editor 24/7, I frequently catch myself trying to remember the syntax for a particular expression, re-reading a formula several times to figure out where my missing parentheses are, or searching my mind for some fancy formula I put together ages ago. I know many of you have experienced the same. To make life a little easier on our favorite app making platform, the QREW Technologies team has released the first version of a Chrome Extension, QR…

[Glenn_Thorne]

This is sweet! Thanks so much for this Steve.

[Kirk_Masden]

Hi @Glenn_Thorne! The Chrome extension that @Steve introduced is quite useful. In addition, you may find that some text editors can be quite helpful. We’ve discussed text editors for Windows and Macs here:

Tips for editing expressions more comfortably Tips & Tricks 💡

I couldn’t find a Notepad++ version for Mac. "Is There Notepad++ For Mac? Unfortunately, the exact native Notepad++ Mac alternative doesn’t exist. And there are a few good reasons for it. " https://www.cleverfiles.com/howto/notepad-mac.html However, this page lists some alternatives, as does the following page:

[Kirk_Masden]

By the way, @Glenn_Thorne, the reason I like a good editor is that it will show me what each parenthesis is paired with. All I have to do it put my cursor by one of them. This is very useful to me when I debug.

[Glenn_Thorne]

Silly question… can notepad++ work inside a formula window in the Appsheet editor or would I need to open the notepad++ editor externally and cut and paste?

[Kirk_Masden]

For editing within the AppSheet editor, I think you need the Chrome extension that Steve mentioned.

[Steve]

Glenn_Thorne:

can notepad++ work inside a formula window in the Appsheet editor[?]

No.

Glenn_Thorne:

would I need to open the notepad++ editor externally and cut and paste?

Yes.

[Marc_Dillon]

Whenever you open a parenthesis, always close it immediately, and then fill inside.

[Steve]

Marc_Dillon:

Whenever you open a parenthesis, always close it immediately, and then fill inside.

This is what I do.