There are several shortcuts that you can use to run scripts or code snippets:

• Ctrl+Enter and Ctrl+R are both shortcut keys for Run Script.

• If you highlight just part of the text in the input area, then Groovy runs just that text.

• The result of a script is the the value of the last expression executed.

• You can turn the System.out capture on and off by selecting Capture System.out from the Actions menu

You can open any text file, edit it, run it (as a Groovy Script) and then save it again when you are finished.

• Select File > Open (shortcut key ctrl+O) to open a file

• Select File > Save (shortcut key ctrl+S) to save a file

• Select File > New File (shortcut key ctrl+Q) to start again with a blank input area

• You can pop-up a gui inspector on the last (non-null) result by selecting Inspect Last from the Actions menu. The inspector is a convenient way to view lists and maps.

• The console remembers the last ten script runs. You can scroll back and forth through the history by selecting Next and Previous from the Edit menu. Ctrl-N and ctrl-P are convenient shortcut keys.

• The last (non-null) result is bound to a variable named _ (an underscore).

• The last result (null and non-null) for every run in the history is bound into a list variable named (two underscores). The result of the last run is [-1], the result of the second to last run is __[-2] and so forth.

The Groovy console is a very handy tool to develop scripts. Often, you will find yourself running a script multiple times until it works the way you want it to. However, what if your code takes too long to finish or worse, creates an infinite loop? Interrupting script execution can be achieved by clicking the interrupt button on the small dialog box that pops up when a script is executing or through the interrupt icon in the tool bar.

However, this may not be sufficient to interrupt a script: clicking the button will interrupt the execution thread, but if your code doesn’t handle the interrupt flag, the script is likely to keep running without you being able to effectively stop it. To avoid that, you have to make sure that the Script > Allow interruption menu item is flagged. This will automatically apply an AST transformation to your script which will take care of checking the interrupt flag (@ThreadInterrupt). This way, you guarantee that the script can be interrupted even if you don’t explicitly handle interruption, at the cost of extra execution time.

• You can change the font size by selecting Smaller Font or Larger Font from the Actions menu

• The console can be run as an Applet thanks to groovy.ui.ConsoleApplet

• Code is auto indented when you hit return

• You can drag’n’drop a Groovy script over the text area to open a file

• You can modify the classpath with which the script in the console is being run by adding a new JAR or a directory to the classpath from the Script menu

• Error hyperlinking from the output area when a compilation error is expected or when an exception is thrown

import groovy.ui.Console;

    ...

    Console console = new Console();

    console.setVariable("var1", getValueOfVar1());

    console.setVariable("var2", getValueOfVar2());

    console.run();

    ...

import javax.swing.*

transforms << { result ->

    if (result instanceof Map) {

        def table = new JTable(

            result.collect{ k, v ->

                [k, v?.inspect()] as Object[]

            } as Object[][],

            ['Key', 'Value'] as Object[])

        table.preferredViewportSize = table.preferredSize

        return new JScrollPane(table)

    }

}