Working with tools

PowerBuilder provides a variety of tools to help you with your development work. There are several ways to open tools:

Click a button in the PowerBar for the tool you want
Select the tool from the Tools menu
Open the New dialog box and select the tool you want on the Tool tab page

Table 1-5 lists the tools available in the PowerBar. Some of these tools are also listed on the Tools menu.

**Table 1-5: Tools available in the PowerBar**
Tool	What you use the tool for
To-Do List	Keep track of development tasks you need to do for the current target and create links to get you quickly to the place where you need to complete the tasks. For information, see “Using the To-Do List”.
Browser	View information about system objects and objects in your target, such as properties, events, functions, and global variables, and copy, export, or print the information. For information, see “Browsing the class hierarchy”.
Library painter	Manage libraries, create a new library, build dynamic libraries, and use source control.
Database profiles	Define and use named sets of parameters to connect to a particular database. For information, see Connecting to Your Database.
Application Server profiles	Define and use named sets of parameters to connect to a particular application server. For information, see Connecting to Your Database.
Database painter	For information, see Chapter 16, “Managing the Database.”
File Editor	Edit text files such as source, resource, and initialization files. For information, see “Using the file editor”.
Debugger	Set breakpoints and watch expressions, step through your application, examine and change variables during execution, and view the call stack and objects in memory. For information, see Chapter 32, “Debugging and Running Applications.”

Table 1-6 lists the tools you can launch from the Tool tab page in the New dialog box. You can also launch the Library painter and File Editor from this dialog box.

**Table 1-6: Additional tools available in the New dialog box**
Tool	What you use the tool for
Migration Assistant	Scans PowerBuilder libraries and highlights usage of obsolete functions and events. For information, see the Migration Assistant online help.
DataWindow Syntax	Helps construct the syntax required by Modify, Describe, and SyntaxFromSQL functions. For information, see DataWindow Syntax online help.
Profiling Class View, Profiling Routine View, and Profiling Trace View	Use trace information to create a profile of your application. For information, see Chapter 33, “Tracing and Profiling Applications.”
Web DataWindow JavaScript Generator	Generate a JavaScript file that contains DataWindow methods you want to associate with a specific DataWindow object. For information, see the DataWindow Programmers Guide.