Customizing the IDE

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Added by Barbara Weinstein, last edited by Barbara Weinstein on Aug 11, 2009

General Interface Builder offers a fully customizable integrated development environment (IDE). You can modify IDE settings in the IDE Settings dialog. You can also customize the position of the General Interface Builder palettes.

Specifying IDE Settings

In the IDE Settings dialog, you can modify General Interface Builder IDE preferences for the visual authoring environment. The options in this dialog allow you to customize the IDE, modify and add keyboard shortcuts for menus, and set paths. Settings in this dialog are saved to workspace/settings/builder.xml.

To open the IDE Settings dialog, choose Tools > IDE Settings.

The IDE Settings dialog has several panels:

IDE Settings Panel
IDE Hot Keys Panel
Paths Panel
GIPP and GITAK Panel

This section discusses some but not all of the available options. For more information, see IDE Settings Dialog.

IDE Settings Panel

On the IDE Settings panel, you can modify options for character encoding, set warnings, modify the snap-to spacing, and so on.

Character Encoding

General Interface Builder provides support for writing files in a specified character encoding, such as UTF-8 or UTF-16. The ability to choose a character encoding is particularly useful for developing and localizing applications for multilingual environments.

General Interface Builder allows you to specify an encoding for all project files, as well as separately specify an encoding for XML files.

General Interface Builder settings in the IDE Settings dialog allow you to:

Specify character encoding for all project files
Specify character encoding for XML files
Specify whether to add character encodings to XML declarations
Specify the output line separator

Test the specified encodings to verify they can be written

For applications loaded from the local disk, such as General Interface Builder, Firefox reads non-XML files that are encoded in a standard 8-bit encoding. Firefox can read local XML files in any encoding supported by the host system only if the encoding is included in the XML declaration.

Modifying encoding options

To modify encoding options, complete the following steps:

Enter an encoding in the Output character encoding field. Click the Test button to verify that the specified encoding is available on the system and can be written. If this field is empty, the default is used. This default is system-dependent.
Select an output line separator. If this field is empty, the default is used. This default is system-dependent.
Check the Instead encode XML file as checkbox if you want to use a different encoding for XML files. Enter an encoding. Click the Test button to verify that the specified encoding can be written and that it's available on the system.
If this option is unchecked, XML files are written in the same encoding as specified in the Output character encoding field or the default system encoding if that field is empty.
Check the Add character encoding to XML declaration if you want the encoding in the XML declaration.

Click Save or Apply to save your changes.

For Internet Explorer, encoding behavior varies according to Microsoft Windows updates and security settings, which might need to be modified. UTF-16 and the default system encoding should be supported regardless. If the test fails for other encodings, you might need to enable the ADODB.Stream object. See "How to disable the ADODB.Stream object from Internet Explorer" at http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=870669 and reverse the instructions to enable it.

For descriptions of options on this panel, see IDE Settings Panel.

IDE Hot Keys Panel

On the IDE Hot Keys panel, you can add new hot keys and modify existing hot keys for General Interface Builder menus. Hot keys are keyboard shortcut commands that activate menus. For example, pressing Ctrl+N executes this menu command, File > New > GUI Component.

To add or modify a hot key,

Double-click a row in the Menu list.
Press the keys you want for the hot key, such as Ctrl+Alt+m.
Click Set.
Click Save to save the changes and close the dialog or click Apply.
Use the browser reload button to restart General Interface Builder for the changes to take effect.

To revert to the default hot key, double-click a row and choose Use Default.

Paths Panel

On the Paths panel, you can set the workspace path for your projects and the HTTP base path for running applications from a local HTTP server.

Workspace

The workspace is the directory that contains your projects, custom add-ins and prototypes, and your user settings for General Interface Builder.

To modify the workspace path,

Open the IDE Settings dialog and click the Paths button.
Click the Browse button next to the Workspace field to open the Choose Folder dialog.
Navigate to a folder, select it, and click Choose. Click Choose again to close the Choose Folder dialog. You can also use the New Folder button to create a new folder.
Click Save to save the changes and close the IDE Settings dialog or click Apply.
Click OK at the Restart Required prompt and use the browser reload button to restart General Interface Builder.

HTTP Base

The path in the HTTP Base field is used when you select Project > Run Project From HTTP. To use this feature, you must have an HTTP web server, such as Apache, hosting both the General Interface installation directory and your workspace directory.

To add an HTTP base, enter the base URI for the General Interface directory on a local HTTP server. If this field is empty and you choose Project > Run Project From HTTP, you are prompted to enter a path.

If the relative path between the workspace directory and the General Interface directory isn't the same on the HTTP server as on disk, you must enter the relative path to the workspace directory in the WS Path field.

GIPP and GITAK Panel

On the GIPP and GITAK panel, you can specify the installation paths for the General Interface Performance Profiler (GIPP) and General Interface Test Automation Kit (GITAK). GIPP is a JavaScript profiling tool for benchmarking the performance of General Interface applications, and GITAK is a functional testing tool for testing General Interface applications. For more information, see the General Interface Performance Profiler Guide and the General Interface Test Automation Kit User Guide.

Chat Panel

On the Chat panel, you can specify server and login settings for the Jabber client in General Interface Builder. See Jabber Support.

Setting Palette Docking Options

Most palettes have a Docking Options button for customizing the palette. The options include moving the palette to a different quadrant of the General Interface Builder user interface, floating the palette, and closing the palette. The System Log palette, which has slightly different docking options, can be displayed at the bottom of the IDE, floated, opened in a separate browser window, or closed.