This is a pattern I find myself using frequently when I need to duplicate the logic found in an "if" or other block statement.
Suppose you have some very contrived code like this:
void generateDocComment(const string &author,
const string &since,
const string &brief_description,
const vector<string> &details,
const bool just_the_essentials /*= false*/)
{
cout << "/**" << endl;
cout << " * @brief" << endl;
cout << " * " << brief_description << endl;
if (just_the_essentials && author != "") {
cout << " *" << endl;
cout << " * @author " << author << endl;
}
cout << " *" << endl;
cout << " * @details" << endl;
for (const auto &line : details) {
cout << " * " << line << endl;
}
cout << " *" << endl;
cout << " * @since " << since << endl;
cout << " */" << endl;
}
And you realize that the "since" information shouldn't be there if it was blank or if they wanted just the essentials.
You can do this:
- put the cursor on the existing if statement and use cut-line (Ctrl+Backspace)
- You will get a dialog asking if you want to just delete the line, the entire block, or unsurround.
- Pick unsurround.
- Then hit Undo (Ctrl+Z)
- Then move down to the lines where the "since" block is printed.
- Paste (Ctrl+V)
- Because the clipboard is recognized as a statement shell, SlickEdit enters dynamic surround mode.
- Hit cursor-down twice to surround the next two statements.
- Fix the condition to check for (since != ""), and you are done.
It sounds more complicated than it is, but once you grow accustomed to it, it can be a time-saver. In newer releases of SlickEdit, the first four steps can be compressed down to one step by using copy_to_clipboard (Ctrl+C) on the first line of the "if" statement and then selecting to copy the surrounding statement.
