Ninext panel
The Ninext panel helps you understand and fine-tune your databases: see where a field is used, follow a script as it runs, spot errors, measure what slows things down.
The Ninext panel gathers Ninext's development tools. It is reserved for the database's administrators: for any other user, it only shows the version number, and a sentence saying that the administration tools are not available to them.
This page describes the plugin's panel. The classic version of Ninext has its own window, described on the Classic version page.
Opening the panel
In "Edit mode", click Ninox's plugin menu, then select Ninext (see Plugin installation).
The panel opens in Ninox's extensions pane, here docked to the right of the database:
The ⋮ menu of this pane ("More options") sets where the panel goes, with three icons: a floating window ("Open in pop-out"), docked at the bottom ("Dock to bottom") or on the side ("Dock to side"). In the same menu, "Plugin settings" opens the Ninext Settings inside the panel; the "Back to plugin panel" button then takes you back to the tabs.
The panel header
From left to right:
- the navigation history, a footprints icon: the last fields, functions and reports visited through Ninext (see Fields & Formulas);
- the tabs, shown by their icon alone — their name appears on hover;
- the … button ("More tabs"), when the row of tabs is too long for the panel: it lists the hidden tabs, and picking one scrolls the row to it (from 3.2.0 onwards);
- the version number; hovering it reveals the gear of the Ninext Settings, where each tool is switched on or off (from 3.2.0 onwards; see below).
The tabs
| Tab | Icon | Role | Setting |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fields & Formulas | An input field | Gives access to all global functions and to all fields of all tables, to their dependencies across the whole code, and to the dependency tree. | Fields Inspector |
| Debug Tracer | A bug | Displays the content of variables while the program runs. | Debug Tracer |
| Console | A terminal window | Runs Ninox code on the fly, and debugs it step by step. | Console |
| Errors | A warning triangle | Shows the errors and warnings found in the database's code, and takes you to the code involved. | Errors Viewer |
| Profiler | A stopwatch | Measures how long formulas take to evaluate (from 3.2.0 onwards). | Formula profiler |
| Code Finder | A magnifying glass | Searches the entire source code, regular expressions included. | Code Finder |
| Schema Overview | A tree structure | Draws the database schema: its tables and their links. | Schema Overview |
| Function Help | A scroll | Gives the help for Ninox functions and for those that Ninext adds: their syntax and examples. | Interactive Helper |
The Setting column gives the name of the switch that turns the tab on or off in the Ninext Settings: several of them do not bear the name of their tab.
The Ninext Settings
The gear that appears when you hover over the version number opens the Ninext Settings, the plugin's settings page in Ninox. Each tool is turned on or off there. The settings are arranged in sections — "Script Manager", "JavaScript Integration", "UI Enhancements", "Additional Tools" and, in the beta, "Ninext server", grayed out —, which collapse with a click on their title. The first six tabs are set in "Script Manager", the Schema Overview and the Function Help in "Additional Tools".
The settings are saved in the database: they apply to all its users, and only an administrator can change them. The details of each setting: Ninext Settings.