It would be nice to be able to use an external IDE to edit the function code outside the node red IDE.
What do you think would be the advantage of doing that?
Not quite an ide but a good alternative is to use the Monaco editor (much richer editor with code completion & snippets etc - the same editor that vscode is built on)
4 Likes
@ghayne - Productivity & tooling, developers will work better / faster if they can keep using the IDE and environment they are used to.
1 Like
If they are already JavaScript developers, Node-RED may not be the best platform. The whole point of Node-RED is to be a low-code environment. If you have people writing lots of code ...
Also, switching to the Monaco editor has already been mentioned. This IS VScode - the core of it anyway. VSCode is an Electron app that wraps Monaco.
@TotallyInformation - Agreed Node-Red is a low-code environment and that is why we are moving a lot of our bots (repetitive procedure automation) & ETLs into it. None-the-less there are times you have to use the function node and we are finding it more productive to write the functions in our IDE even for a hand full of lines but it causes us to do a lot of copy and pasting between the two. Yes the built in editor and Monoco Editor are nice tools but to have the third proposed option would be very handy and not stop anyone from using the built in options.
I'm sure it's not going to happen but it would be marvellous to be able to click a button to open the current editor window in vi.
remember - the editor is running in the browser - opening a local executable is generally not a good security thing and rightly blocked.
I guess you could write another alternative editor option that used a plugin like Vim-like Editing inside Browser - jdhao's blog - feel free to knock yourself out.
You are right, I do forget the distinction between browser and server.
Might as well make it just a hex editor 
I wrote my first space invaders game using a hex editor as I couldn't afford an assembler so i hand compiled to hex and typed it all in... definitely a a different meaning of the word "low" code.
4 Likes
Haha, and I wrote a "3d" maze game on the BBC micro using some 6502 assembler I even started learning IBM 370 mainframe assembler at one point, I could read it but was hopeless at writing it.
But the thought of using a low-code programming environment and then having to use Vi is enough to give me nightmares for a week!
During development we are working on a local copy of Node Red with full file access hence the ability to work with our own IDE would be advantageous.
1 Like
The editor is still “in” the browser even when local.
+1 for Nano!
1 Like
I rarely use even that now - only if I need to edit something on a remote server with sudo. Otherwise remote VScode editing is much better.
However, I think we need to draw a line under this now. There used to be a contributed function node that ran like a function node but from a file - I think it may be abandoned but that would be the way to go for this request.
Otherwise, the function code only really exists in an editable form in the browser so editing from an OS executable is never going to be possible for the core function node.
1 Like
@TotallyInformation - I figured we might have to write it ourselves but did not hurt to ask. Thanks for the info on the contributed function node that should save some development time.
Julian, my post was totally "Tongue in cheek", Welsh irony.
1 Like
and that's how low-code and low-level-code are different.
I did some assembler programming myself too and had the same thought!
I thought Welsh was the definition of irony!
Sadly my welsh isn't up to much these days though - and it was never all that good at best.
1 Like
