Baton Manual

Chapter 2

The window

Baton puts three columns on screen and keeps them there: what you have, what you are editing, and what came back.

The whole window, with a request open and nothing sent yet. — 1: Workspace, environment and new-item menu; 2: Collections and requests; 3: The request: method, URL and Send; 4: The response panel; 5: Sync, worker and license status
  1. Workspace, environment and new-item menu
  2. Collections and requests
  3. The request: method, URL and Send
  4. The response panel
  5. Sync, worker and license status
Figure 2: The whole window, with a request open and nothing sent yet.

1 names the workspace and the active environment, and opens the menu for new collections and imports. 2 is the tree of collections and requests. 3 is the request itself — method, URL, Send, and the tabs under them. 4 is the response panel, which also holds what was actually sent, the console, the history and saved examples. 5 reports three things that are easy to forget: whether the workspace is synced, whether a worker is paired, and whether a license key is present.

2.1The sidebar

The sidebar, top to bottom. — 1: Switch or create a workspace; 2: Active environment; 3: New collection, or import; 4: Command palette; 5: A collection — click to fold
  1. Switch or create a workspace
  2. Active environment
  3. New collection, or import
  4. Command palette
  5. A collection — click to fold
Figure 3: The sidebar, top to bottom.

The workspace name 1 opens the list of workspaces and the way to add one. The chip beside it 2 is the active environment: every {{variable}} in every request resolves against whichever one is selected here. 3 adds a collection or imports one. 4 opens the command palette, which is usually faster than the tree. A collection header 5 folds and unfolds.

2.2The command palette

Ctrl+P — Cmd+P on macOS — opens one list over everything else.

The palette searches requests, and also runs them. — 1: Every request, with its collection; 2: Run a whole collection; 3: Jump to variables
  1. Every request, with its collection
  2. Run a whole collection
  3. Jump to variables
Figure 4: The palette searches requests, and also runs them.

It lists every request with the collection it belongs to 1, including ones inside folded folders. Below them it offers to run a whole collection 2, and to jump straight to the variables and secrets of the active environment 3.

2.3The status rows

Three states, each with the action that changes it. — 1: Connect a repository; 2: Pair a worker; 3: License state
  1. Connect a repository
  2. Pair a worker
  3. License state
Figure 5: Three states, each with the action that changes it.

These are not decoration — each row is a button. 1 opens git sync, 2 opens worker pairing, 3 opens the license dialog. The row shows the state first and the action second, so a glance is enough.