Scripting - backwards compatability

[bcd]

Working on a VS or Python script in VW2026 that needs to also work in VW2021 ?

Do I need to avoid certain functions etc. to be successful?

[Pat Stanford]

Is this just a script or is this a PIO?

 

If it is just a script, then there is a section in the function reference that gives the procedures/functions that were added in each version and on each procedure/function page there is a Version section that tells you what version of VW it has been available since.

 

If you are doing PIOs, then you probably want to develop in VW2021 as the PIO "wrapper" information is not backwards compatible. Meaning that VW2026 can (probably) use a VW2021 PIO, but if you write it in 2026, you can move the script portion back to 2021, but you will have to define all of the Plugin Parameters again in 2021.

 

HTH

[Jesse Cogswell]

The function reference contains a section explaining which version the function was first implemented in.  Any version matching or newer than that is completely fine.  In my experience, Vectorscript has changed very little over the years, with relatively few "critical" changes.  The bigger thing that you will need to be concerned with is that the scripts themselves will be locked to the version or newer that they are written in.  This means that you will need to have VW2021 installed on your machine and be the copy that you write the script in the editor.  If you edit that script in a later version, that script will be locked to that version.  It's why I still have a copy of VW2019 installed on my machine.

 

For menu commands or document scripts, this isn't a huge deal since you can copy and paste the script from one version's editor to the other, but it becomes a bummer for Plug-in Objects since you'll need to redefine all of the parameters each time, as @Pat Stanford pointed out.

[bcd]

Thanks @Pat Stanford @Jesse CogswellYikes. I don't have an earlier version available. (well except an old 12.5 somewhere in a museum display 🙂)

I can make it either a PIO or a Menu Item so Menu command it is!

 

[Pat Stanford]

Check your Customer Portal. You may be surprised at how many older versions you can download installer for.

 

Having the right version for testing will make everyone’s life much better.

[SamIWas]

I write most of my stuff in 2026, then re-create it in 2021.   2021 has two things in the script editor that drive me crazy:  compiling returns to line 1, and there's no search function.   So, I've found it easier to do all of my writing in 2026, then just copy/paste back to 2021 and re-enter all the parameters.  Thus far, I have not found any procedures that don't work in 2021, but I'm not doing anything really crazy.  However, I have found some ways in which the script functions slightly differently depending on 2021 vs. 2026.