Workspace
Byte opens on its code workspace: in the suite from Byte in the workspace
sidebar, and in the standalone plugin from SleekWP > Byte. Settings and
License sit below Byte in the sidebar.
The file tree and the editor
The file tree lists every file of every source.
Before the first snippet exists, the editor area says so and offers
Create snippet.
With one source its files sit at the top level; with more, each source is a
top-level folder named after it. A folder that holds a snippet.json carries
a mark: Snippet, Snippet (disabled) when its enabled is false, or
Snippet (invalid snippet.json) when the file is not a valid JSON object,
which also stops the snippet from running.
Files open in tabs inside the editor, with PHP errors, per-file change marks and search and replace across files. Every Byte tab in the workspace keeps its own set of open files.
Create snippet and Export snippets sit beside Snippets above the file tree: the first opens the create dialog, the second builds a plugin from snippets; see Export to a plugin. The toolbar above the editor holds, from the left:
| Button | What it does |
|---|---|
| Snippet configuration | Edits the selected file’s snippet.json; see Configuration. |
| Runtime errors | Opens the snippet’s error log; see Errors and safe mode. |
| Delete snippet, or Delete file | Removes the snippet the selected file belongs to, or the selected file when it belongs to none. |
| Turn off safe mode, while it is on | Ends safe mode for you. |
| Discard | Drops every unsaved change. |
| Save | Saves every change; see below. |
The configuration and error buttons act on the snippet the selected file belongs to, and are unavailable while the selected file belongs to none. When the toolbar is too narrow for the button labels, as on a phone, Delete and Turn off safe mode show their icon alone, with the name as their tooltip. History, beside Snippets above the file tree, lists the snippet’s commits in its place; see History. The preview control sits in the workspace header; see Preview.
Right-clicking the tree offers Add file and Add folder on a folder, Create snippet on a folder that is not inside a snippet, Fix error on a file with a PHP error, which selects it, and a delete named for what it removes. Delete snippet on a file or folder inside a snippet removes that whole snippet from the draft, Delete folder removes any other folder with everything in it, and Delete file a file outside every snippet.
Every delete asks first, naming what it removes. It only changes the draft: until you save, Discard brings it back, and after that it cannot be undone. While the draft holds unsaved changes, the browser asks before you reload or close the page.
Creating
Create in Byte creates a snippet, a file or a folder in the source listed
first in the tree; its button names the type you chose, such as Create
file. For a snippet, the path becomes its folder, and Byte writes
a snippet.json with the name, description and version 1.0.0, plus one
starter file of the type you choose: index.php, style.css, style.scss or
script.js. Path segments are lowercased and reduced to letters, digits and
hyphens.
Saving
Everything you change, create or delete is a draft until you choose Save.
About a second after you stop typing, the workspace sends the changed PHP
files to Actions_testPhpCode, which parses them and refuses shell execution
(exec, shell_exec, system, passthru, proc_open, popen and the
backtick operator) and variable function calls such as $callback(). A
rejected file is marked in the tree and the editor, and Save refuses to run
while one is. The check does not run the code, so an error that only happens
at run time, such as a call to an undefined function, passes it.
Save then writes the changed files and deletes the removed ones through
Actions_updateFiles, which only writes inside a source, records a
Git commit for every snippet the save touched
when history is on, and refreshes an open preview. A saved PHP file runs on
the next request, so check it in the preview
first.
Settings
Byte’s Settings page has one card, Editor, saved with the page’s Save and confirmed as “Settings saved.”:
- Show line numbers, on by default, shows the numbered gutter.
- Wrap long lines, off by default, wraps lines instead of scrolling them.
They apply to every administrator of the site, and the suite and the standalone plugin read the same values. AI provider keys are not set here: they live in the AI section of the settings panel that the settings button beside the light and dark mode control opens, shared by every SleekWP product, and in the standalone plugin in its Settings; see Assistant.
Links
The workspace keeps its state in the admin page’s query, before the hash, so a link can open it in that state:
file=<path>selects that file, such asfile=demo/style.csson the workspace’s query, before#/byte, in the suite, oradmin.php?page=sleek-byte&file=demo/style.cssin the standalone plugin.dialog=createopens the create dialog, withkind=snippet,kind=fileorkind=folderandparent=<folder>to preset it.dialog=configanddialog=errorsopen the configuration and runtime error dialogs of the selected file’s snippet, anddialog=exportopens the export dialog. A dialog the selected file cannot serve is dropped from the address.view=historyshows the History view in the left bar; an older link’sdialog=historyshows it too.