To enter some often used macro commands, you can use dialogs from the floating toolbar. If the toolbar is unavailable, click the "Check extensions" button in Options and follow instructions.
However, Quick Macros does not provide dialogs for all commands and functions. You will have to type them directly in the editor. You can find all intrinsic commands and functions through the reference topic. There are several features that can help in finding right commands and getting help.
When you type a period (.) somewhere in text (for example, at the beginning of a line), appears list of functions and other identifiers that you can use. Various type kinds (functions, types, constants, variables, etc) have different icons. To insert an identifier, double click it. Or, use navigation keys to select, and Tab or Enter to insert. Press Ctrl+, to view only types, or Ctrl+. to view only functions, or Ctrl+/ to view only constants and global variables. Check "Members: sort by type kind" in Options to have it sorted by type kind.
At the top of the list are listed categories (collections of related functions). Type a period after a category name to view the functions that are added to the category. At the bottom of the list are listed various libraries. Type a period after library name to view the classes and other identifiers it contains.
Beside the functions that are displayed when you type a period, there are many other functions (member functions) that are displayed when you type a period after a variable of a certain type. Such types are str, ARRAY, some other intrinsic types, user-defined classes (Acc, Dde and other), COM classes and interfaces. To use such functions, declare a variable of that type, and call functions with that variable. Example:
Ftp f f.Connect("ftp.myserver.com" "user" "passw") f.DirSet("public_html")
In the list of members, names of hidden and restricted members are gray.
If you want that an user-defined function would not be displayed in the list, place it in a private folder. The list also does not include anything that begins with __ (two underscores). To show them, press Ctrl+Shift+. or use menu Edit -> Members -> Show Hidden. Dll functions and type library items are always shown.
To show the list when you already partially typed an identifier, choose the Completion command (Ctrl+Space). In most cases it shows only identifiers that begin with the same letter.
When the text insertion point is on a QM keyword or other identifier (function, type, etc, except variables), the status bar shows the type info for it. Ctrl+click to view the type info in the QM output. String arguments are preceded with $ or ~; optional parts are enclosed in brackets; | means or; some functions have comments below. To add comments for a function or a dll function, write comments after function declaration in the same line (e.g., function $s flags ;;flags: 1 - bold, 2 - italic ).
The type info for intrinsic commands and functions and for user-defined functions is always available. For other user-defined identifiers, it is available only if the identifier is already declared (the macro or function with the declaration is already compiled, or the identifier is from a type library or reference file). QM also automatically declares identifiers from type libraries and reference files when using syntax typelib.identifier. QM also may look in reference files to show type info in the QM status bar.
To show help for a function or other identifier, type (or click) it and press F1.