Balanced parentheses

AppSheet AppSheet Q&A
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1

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

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

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

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Thanks Dave. Similar style to my own,

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This is sweet! Thanks so much for this Steve.

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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](https://community.appsheet.com/t/tips-for-editing-expressions-more-comfortably/11981/6) 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:

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

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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.

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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?

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

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Marc_Dillon:

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

This is what I do.

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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.