Because PowerBuilder .NET is built on the Visual Studio 2010 platform, some of its features are different from those in PowerBuilder Classic.
The features in the following table are supplied with the Microsoft Visual Studio shell. You can use the F1 key from a Visual Studio shell feature to open the H2 help, and in Visual Studio shell dialog boxes, you can click the question mark icon in the title bar for the H2 help. The help for these features is also supplied by Microsoft.
| Visual Studio shell feature | Description or comment |
|---|---|
| XAML editor | The eXtensible Application Markup Language (XAML) allows you to code presentation aspects of your applications separately from the business logic that you code in the PowerBuilder .NET painter Script views. Changes that you make in a painter Layout view (Design pane) are reflected in the XAML editor code, and changes you make in the XAML editor can be seen in the Design pane. You can view the XAML editor for a painter only when the Design pane is also open, although you can collapse either of these panes and alternately display the XAML editor or the Design pane by selecting the corresponding tab. |
| Object Browser | The Object Browser allows you to view all .NET Framework classes. It is accessible from the View menu. The PowerBuilder Classic Browser is not currently available in PowerBuilder .NET. |
| Source control | Source control functionality is available from the menu of PowerBuilder .NET. PBG files are no longer required, because exported objects are not compiled into a binary PBL file as in PowerBuilder Classic. The Visual Studio shell source control functionality also does not use PBC files. |
| Code Snippets Manager | The Code Snippets Manager replaces the PowerBuilder Classic Clip window, and allows you to add XML snippets as well as PowerScript snippets. You can insert snippets from the context menu in painter Script views. The Code Snippet Manager is available from the Tools menu. |
| Command window | Open the Command window from the menu. It allows you to execute commands from the design time environment. IntelliSense is active in the Command window to assist you in entering commands for your targets. |
| Document Outline | The Document Outline view enables you to see a list of controls available in the current painter. It replaces the Control List in PowerBuilder Classic, but it also shows the control hierarchy. You can open the Document Outline from the cascading menu. |
| Toolbox | Replaces the tool selection facility in the painter toolbars and Insert menu in PowerBuilder Classic. Open the toolbox from the PowerBuilder .NET View menu. Add or remove toolbox items from the menu. |
| IntelliSense | Replaces PowerBuilder Classic autoscript, but also provides selections for classes, methods, and members of all assemblies included in target references. IntelliSense is available in painter Script views, in the XAML editor, and from the Edit menu. |
| Properties window | The Properties window replaces the Properties view in PowerBuilder Classic painters. It allows you to sort properties by category or alphabetically, and depending on the active painter, can include a search filter or a status line that provides descriptions for certain selected properties. You open the Properties window from the menu. |
| Find and Replace | The PowerBuilder .NET Find and Replace dialog box has tabs for Quick Find, Quick Replace, Find in Files, and Replace in Files. It is available from the menu. |
| Layout view | The painter Layout views use the Visual Studio designer and are closely associated with the XAML editor. A magnifier bar in the upper-left corner of each Layout view allows you to change the magnification of objects and controls at design time without changing their size at runtime. |
| Options dialog box | The Options dialog box replaces the System Options dialog box in PowerBuilder Classic. Instead of tabs, it uses a single navigation pane to navigate pages, which are organized in groups. It is available from the Tools menu. |
| File editor | The Open With dialog box replaces the File Editor in PowerBuilder Classic. It allows you to select an editor for selected items in the Solution Explorer. It also allows you to add editors that you want to use to view these files, and set a different editor as the default file viewing selection. Use Solution Explorer context menus to open this dialog box. |
| Text formatting | In PowerBuilder .NET, you can format text in painter Script views and in the XAML editor with the cascading menu items. |
| Task list | Replaces the PowerBuilder Classic To-Do List. Open the Task list by selecting the menu item. |
Other features, such as the Start page, were inspired by similar features in Visual Studio 2008. The Start page opens in the painter area of the PowerBuilder .NET IDE and can remain open while you work in object painters and editors. It displays a news channel (that you can set on the Startup and Shutdown page of the Options dialog box) and a list of recentPowerBuilder .NET solutions. You can open the Start page at any time by selecting from the menu.