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The CalcpadCE Panel

The panel described here is the same in the VS Code extension and desktop app — it is built from one shared set of components. Where a host behaves differently, it is called out below.

The CalcpadCE panel is the tabbed sidebar that sits beside the editor. It shows what your document defines, lets you insert symbols and snippets, controls the calculation and plot settings, and drives export. Because every CalcpadCE frontend embeds the same panel, the tabs and settings are identical everywhere; only how you open it differs:

  • VS Code — click the CalcpadCE icon in the activity bar. The view title bar has buttons to refresh and stop the background calculation engine.
  • Desktop app — View → Toggle Sidebar.

Panel tabs

The CalcpadCE view is organized into tabs:

Tab What it does
Insert Searchable palette of symbols, built-in functions, and snippets. Click an item to insert it at the cursor. Includes an Insert Image button and a Symbol Palette.
TOC Live table of contents built from your document headings. Click a heading to jump to that line.
Settings All calculation, plot, unit, PDF export, theme, editor, and linter settings, plus named configurations. See Settings Documentation.
Variables Everything defined in the document — macros, variables, functions, and custom units — with types and signatures. Click an entry to insert it; each is searchable.
Properties Form-based editor for the metadata comment at the cursor — descriptions, parameter/return types, per-file settings, lint-ignore, and per-document PDF export settings. Also allows editing #UI JSON, #settings JSON, and the UI Overrides line.
Formatting Prettify options and the Prettify Document button.
Export PDF / HTML / Word save actions, grouped by which rendering they capture, plus per-plot and ZIP image exports and the portable formats. See Exports Documentation.
Errors Full list of calculation errors from the engine, each linking to its source line.

While a #UI input form (or a compiled .cpdz worksheet) is the active document, Insert, Variables, Formatting, Errors, and Properties go inactive — they act on the document source, which the form doesn't edit. TOC, Settings, and Export stay available.

Insert

A searchable palette grouped by category. Typing filters the list; clicking an item inserts it at the cursor. Function entries insert with placeholders. The Symbol Palette section is a condensed version of the symbols dropdown that allows inserting symbols by how they appear in the text. An Insert Image button opens a file picker and inserts an <img> tag with the selected path.

Variables

Lists everything the current document defines, grouped and counted:

  • Macros — with parameters and defaults
  • Variables — with inferred type
  • Functions — with signature and return type
  • Custom Units — with their definition

Entries are from the active document (and its #include files).
Click any entry to insert its name at the cursor.

Properties

A form-based editor for the metadata comment, #settings directive JSON, and #UI directive JSON.
Put the cursor on a JSON line, and the tab shows exactly the fields that apply. Apply writes the comment (creating one above the definition if none exists); Reset re-reads the current one.
See Metadata Comments, Settings, and UI Mode for the full format.

TOC

A live outline of the headings in your document. Define headings with \<h1>, \<h2>, etc. HTML or #, ##, etc. in Markdown. Selecting a heading scrolls the editor to that line. While a #UI input form is open and there is no editor to scroll, it scrolls the form and the report.

Formatting (Prettify)

Controls the Prettify Document command, which reformats the active file:

  • Indent style — Tab or Space
  • Spaces per level — used when the indent style is Space
  • Trim trailing whitespace

Set your options, then click Prettify Document.

Export

Allows saving results from the CalcpadCE file into various formats. The tab is four collapsible sections — HTML / PDF / Word, Write / Append, Plots and Portable Exports — and remembers which ones you left open.

Section Buttons
HTML / PDF / Word Save PDF… · Save Word… · Save HTML…, grouped by which rendering they capture — Report, Preview, Input form, Unwrapped
Write / Append Write files (when #write/#append run) and Write to Disk
Plots Refresh, a Save… per plot, and Download all (ZIP)
Portable Exports Save Compiled… (a .cpdz compiled worksheet) and Export Portable… (a .zip bundled with everything it reads)

See Exports for what each rendering captures, which formats it offers, how PDF page setup is resolved, and what the two portable formats produce.

Errors

Lists every error the calculation engine reports, each with its source line and a link that jumps there.
This is the reliable place to see errors that occur inside #hide blocks, which are omitted from the rendered preview.

Settings

The Settings tab is the single place to control the calculation engine and the editor — Math, Plot, Units, Server, themes, Editor features, Linter, Diagnostics, and named configurations.
See Settings for the full reference.

See also