Options Dialog Box

The Options dialog box provides settings that let you tailor your development environment.

PowerBuilder .NET options are set in the the Options dialog box from the Visual Studio shell, instead of the System Options dialog box that PowerBuilder Classic uses. The two dialog boxes are different in several ways:

Unlike the System Options dialog box, the Options dialog box is not tabbed. Instead, options are contained in pages. Pages are grouped into categories in a single navigation pane.
The Options dialog box includes some pages contributed by Visual Studio. The Visual Studio shell provides help for those pages.
Some options are not implemented in the Options dialog box, because they are not applicable in . For example, there is no Automatically Clear Output Window option, because that function is implemented elsewhere by the Visual Studio shell.
Options available in both IDEs might be organized differently. For example, options in the System Font tab of the System Options dialog box appear in the Font and Colors page of the Options dialog box.

The following sections describe only the pages and options that PowerBuilder adds to the Options dialog box. Press F1 for Microsoft online help on the Visual Studio options and pages that are not documented here.

Environment > Documents

The options in this page control the display of documents in PowerBuilder .NET, and enable you to manage external changes to documents and files:

Detect when file is changed outside the environment - a message immediately notifies you of changes to an open file that have been made by an editor outside the IDE. The message allows you to reload the file from storage. Unselected by default.
Auto-load changes, if saved - if Detect when file is changed outside the environment is checked and an open file in the IDE changes outside the IDE, a warning message is generated by default. If this option is enabled, no warning will appear and the document will be reloaded in the IDE to pick up the external changes.
Allow scripts with syntax errors to be saved - selected by default.

Environment > Firewall

The options on this page control proxy server settings when you add a Web service at design time and your development machine is behind a firewall.

Host - Name of the proxy server that you use to access Web pages
Port - Port used for connecting to the proxy server
UserName - User name for accessing the proxy server
Password - Password for the user accessing the proxy server
Use above values as system defaults

See About Web services in the PowerBuilder Classic online help for more information about using a proxy server behind a firewall.

Environment > Startup and Shutdown

The Startup and Shutdown page in the Environment category contains these options:

Initialization path – specifies the initialization path for PowerBuilder. By default, the initialization path is either c:\documents and settings\userName\local settings\application data\sybase\powerbuilder version (Windows XP) or c:\users\userName\AppData\Local\Sybase\PowerBuilder version (Vista and later), where userName is the user name for the currently logged in user.
Notes: If you change the initialization path, be sure to copy all INI, property, and license files from the original initialization path to the path that you enter.
The Initialization path setting is shared between PowerBuilder .NET and PowerBuilder Classic.
Load last loaded solution – at start-up, opens the last saved solution in its previous state. Any files that were open in the solution when it was last closed are opened and appear when you start . If no solution is loaded when you exit the product, no solution is loaded when you return.
Show Start Page – displays the Start Page when you open PowerBuilder .NET.
Open Home Page – at start-up, displays the default Web page specified by the Home page option in the Environment > Web Browser page.
Start Page news channel – specifies the RSS feed for the Start Page.
Download content every n minutes – specifies how often the IDE checks for new RSS feed content and product headlines for the Start Page. If you do not select this option, the Start Page does not display RSS feed content and product headlines.
Free database driver libraries on disconnect – releases libraries that are held in memory after PowerBuilder disconnects from a database in the development environment.
Notes: Selecting this option reduces memory use, but at the cost of performance loss and possible problems with some database management systems associated with the freeing and subsequent reloading of libraries. To free libraries held in memory at runtime, set the FreeDBLibraries property to true on the General category of the application's Properties view in the Application painter.
The Free database setting is shared between PowerBuilder .NET and PowerBuilder Classic.

Solutions > General

The Solutions General page has these options:

Show layout item for visual objects in Solution Explorer - displays the XAML layout file node for any SRW and visual standard user object files.
Track active item in Solution Explorer - tracks the object (not necessarily an individual event or function) that currently has focus in an editor.
Automatically set the current target - automatically changes the current target as you change focus in the Solution Explorer and open painters. The current target establishes context for some PowerBuilder .NET operations, and is displayed in bold in the Solution Explorer.
Save the open document state to facilitate reloading the open documents when next opening the solution - opens documents from the previous session that were in read-write mode and does not open documents that were in read-only mode.

Solutions > Build and Run

Most of the options on this page are described in the Visual Studio help that is displayed when you press F1. PowerBuilder .NET adds the following options, both selected by default:

Always show Error List if build finishes with errors
Show Output window when build starts

Note: Output verbosity for .NET build corresponds to the MSBuild project build output verbosity option in the Visual Studio help.

Solutions > Show Folders

The options in this page show or hide specific folders within objects in the Solution Explorer. By default, all folders are shown. For example, selecting the Indexers option makes the Indexers folder visible after you reload the solution.

Solutions > Show Objects

The options in this page specify the types of PowerBuilder objects and other resources to show in the Solution Explorer. By default, all object types are shown. For example, you can set the DataWindows option to hide DataWindows when you reload the solution.

Text Editor > PowerScript

The options in this page apply to the PowerScript editor. They do not apply to editors for other languages.

General – for information about these options, see the Visual Studio help for the Text Editor > All Languages page.
Tabs – for information about these options, see the Visual Studio help for the Text Editor > All Languages > Tabs page.
Formatting – specify the text case that is used for PowerScript keywords:
- lower case
- UPPER CASE
- Title Case –
Miscellaneous – specify whether PowerBuilder .NET opens scripts in the current script view, or in a new script view.

DataWindow Painter > General

These options control the layout of DataWindows:

Snap to Grid – makes controls snap to a grid position when you place them or move them.
Show Grid – displays a grid in the painter.
Show Ruler – displays a ruler. The ruler uses the unit of measurement specified in the DataWindow object's Unit property.
X – specifies the width of the grid cells.
Y – specifies the height of the grid cells.
Show Edges – displays the boundaries of each control in the DataWindow object.
Retrieve on Preview – retrieves all the rows from the connected data source when a DataWindow object opens in the Preview view.

DataWindow Painter > Prefixes

The options on this page set a default prefix for each type of DataWindow object you create.

Menu Painter

This page contains a single option that sets the default prefix for menu objects.

Object Prefixes

The options on this page set the default prefixes for window and user objects.

Property Editors

The options on this page enable you to control the display of images in the property drop-down lists.

Script Lists

The filter and sort options on this page enable you to configure the script lists in the PB Object Outline, Script Editor, or Solution Explorer.

The filter options specify types of scripts to include or exclude in lists:

Show inherited scripts and controls – includes events, functions, controls, and nonvisual objects in the list that are referenced only in ancestors.
Show unscripted system events – includes events that are defined as system-supplied, like Activate. Scripted versions are listed regardless of this setting.
Show unscripted system functions – includes functions that are defined as system-supplied, like ArrangeSheets. Scripted versions are listed regardless of this setting.
Show unscripted .NET events and functions – includes .NET events and functions that are built-in, like the Equals method. Scripted versions are listed regardless of this setting.

The sort options specify how to group and sort list items:

Alphabetically – sorts scripts by event or function name.
Scripted local first – groups all locally scripted events or functions first, sorted alphabetically within each group.
Scripted local, scripted ancestor, unscripted – groups all locally scripted events or functions first, followed by events or functions scripted in an ancestor, followed by events or functions that are not scripted.
Scripted anywhere, unscripted – sorts all scripted events or functions together, regardless of where they are scripted.