Maintaining Browser Options

In JADE Class Browser, Primitive Types Browser, and Interface Browser windows, you can specify the display and order of objects and the components of the window. For example, by default, the objects are displayed in hierarchical order.

To change your default browser options

  1. In the Preferences or JADE Installation Preferences dialog, click the Browser sheet.

  2. If you want the browser windows to display properties, methods, and constants inherited from superclasses, check the Show Inherited check box in the Inheritance group box. As this setting is a default only, you can override it by selecting the Show Inherited command from the View menu when a browser window is open.

  3. If you want classes in the browser window displayed in alphabetical order, click the Alphabetical option button in the Order group box. As this setting is only a default, you can override it by selecting the Sorted Order command from the View menu when a browser window is open. See also "Changing the Sort Order of Displayed Classes", in Chapter 3.

  4. If you do not want the browser windows to display an integrated editor pane, uncheck the Integrated Editor check box in the Window group box.

  5. If you do not want the browser windows to display the Properties List, uncheck the Show Properties check box in the Window group box.

  6. If you do not want the browser windows to display the Methods List, uncheck the Show Methods check box in the Window group box.

  7. If you do not want the properties, constants, and methods that have public access displayed in the appropriate list of browser windows, uncheck the Show Public check box in the Access group box.

  8. If you do not want protected access properties and methods displayed in the appropriate list of browser windows, uncheck the Show Protected check box in the Access group box.

  9. If you do not want read-only access properties displayed in the Properties List of the Class Browser, uncheck the Show Read Only (Properties) check box in the Access group box.

  10. If you do not want to display any of the icon symbols that indicate the access type or status of constants, properties, and methods in the Methods List, Properties List, and Constants List of the Class Browser, Primitive Types Browser, and Interface Browser, check the Do not show Icons in Browser Window check box.

    Icons are displayed in browser list windows by default. For details, see "Toggling Property, Method, and Constant Access Type Display", in Chapter 3.

  11. If you do not want to display the most-recently accessed property and types entities in the history list, check the Consolidate History to show methods only check box. Type, property, and method entities are still added to the history list but accessing a method removes any existing type and property entities for a type. Subsequent type and property entries are added but a method entry again removes them.

    Method, property, and type entities are displayed in the history list windows by default. For details, see "Displaying or Clearing a History of Accessed Entities", earlier in this chapter.

  12. If you want to display the navigation bar in hierarchy browsers (for example, the Class Browser), check the Show Navigation Bar check box. The navigation bar contains three check boxes, to enable you to select a schema, class, and method and refresh the display. For example, selecting a schema refreshes the display to that schema (as though a new browser was opened) and selecting a class selects the class (as though a class was selected using F4).

    The navigation bar is not displayed in browsers, by default. For details, see "Using the Navigation Bar in Hierarchy Browsers", earlier in this chapter.

  13. If you do not want forms to be displayed in the default standard Multiple-Document Interface (MDI) style, select the required option button in the Mdi group box. When you select:

    • Use Mdi, standard MDI forms are displayed (the default value).

    • Use Mdi With Tabs, a line of tabs is displayed above the MDI client window.

      Each tab is associated with a displayed MDI child form and displays the form’s caption. Clicking on that tab brings the associated form to the front. The MDI child forms can still be maximized, restored, and minimized within the MDI client area.

    • Use Tabs Only, a line of tabs is displayed above the MDI client window.

      Each tab is associated with a displayed form and displays the form’s caption. Clicking on that tab brings the associated form to the front. The forms are always maximized and cannot be restored or minimized. The parent of these forms is the associated tab sheet; not the MDI client window.

    For the MDI with tabs and the tabs-only styles:

    • Each tab displays a close button unless the Form class allowClose property is set to false (as is always the case for the Schema Browser). Clicking on the close button at the right of the tab closes the form.

    • The width of each tab is restricted. If the caption is too large to be displayed, the left and right parts of the caption are displayed, separated by points of ellipsis (…).

    • Class Browser tabs exclude the Class Browser part of the tab’s caption, and display only the schema‑name: class-name part.

    • Moving the mouse over the tab displays a bubble help window containing the full form caption.

    • Only those tabs that fit within a single line are displayed.

    • The right of the tab strip displays a down arrow, which when clicked, displays a menu list of the MDI child forms in alphabetic caption text order with the currently active MDI child form checked. Clicking on a list entry brings that form to the top.

    • You can alter the order of the tabs by clicking the tab of the active child form and dragging it left or right.

    • Right-clicking on a tab displays a menu that provides the following commands.

      • Close, which provides the ability to close the form, and which is available only when the value of the allowClose property is set to true.

      • Close All But This, which closes all MDI child forms that have the allowClose property set to true except for the form associated with the tab.

      • Close All But Pinned, which closes all MDI child forms that have the allowClose property set to true except for those that have been pinned.

      • Dock, which docks a floating MDI child form back into the MDI frame. The docked position will be the saved position prior to the form being floated, unless the form was floated as part of the development environment restore process, in which case it will be docked at position 0,0.

      • Float, which floats an MDI child form; that is, it takes an MDI child form out of the MDI frame and allows it to be moved independently from the MDI frame (for example, on to another monitor on the PC).

        The floated MDI child form is made a Window’s child of the frame and will then always be above the MDI frame in z-order. The menus associated with the form when active remain in the MDI frame.

      • Pin, which pins a tab by placing it to the left of all unpinned tabs in the tab list. The tab has a pinned icon drawn on the left of the tab. Clicking on the checked Pin command in the popup menu or clicking on the pinned icon unpins the tab.

        Pinned tabs can be dragged only to a position within the pinned tab list. Similarly, an unpinned tab can be dragged only to a position within the unpinned tab list.

      For those MDI styles with tabs, right-clicking on the caption of an MDI child form displays the same menu as the one displayed when the tab is right-clicked. For the default standard MDI style, right-clicking the MDI child form caption displays a similar menu that provides all commands other than Pin. Standard MDI-style child forms can still be floated and docked. (For details about programmatically providing the functionality to float, dock, and pin MDI child forms in your own application logic, see "Floating and Docking MDI Child Forms", in Volume 3 of the JADE Encyclopaedia of Classes.)

      The current MDI style is saved when the development environment is closed and restored when it is next initiated. In addition, when the Save Windows check box on the Exit sheet of the Preferences dialog is checked, the current order and pinned statuses of the saved MDI child forms is saved and will be restored when the development environment is next initiated. If a saved MDI child form is floating, it will be restored in its float state and position.

  14. If you want the Window menu to list MDI windows in the order in which the MDI child forms were last used (that is, the most‑recent use through to the oldest use), select the Last Use Order option button in the Mdi Window List Order group box.

    By default, windows are listed in creation order; that is, the order in which open MDI child forms were created (the oldest through to the most recent).

    The MDI child form order is not affected by the MDI style setting, specified in step 12 of this instruction.

    (For details about programmatically providing the functionality in your own application logic for tabs on MDI child forms and specifying the list order, see "MDI Child Form Tabs", in Volume 3 of the JADE Encyclopaedia of Classes.)

  15. If you want to change the toolbar icon size, in the Toolbar Icon Sizes group box, select the size of icons on JADE development environment toolbars. The size options are Small (16x16 pixels), Medium (32x32 pixels), and Large (48x48 pixels).

    The toolbar icon size affects the following toolbar icons.

    • Development environment toolbar

    • Painter toolbars

    • Painter Properties dialog

    • Painter Hierarchy for Form dialog

    • Debugger toolbar

    When you change the icon size and click the OK button, the new icon size is immediately applied to all open relevant windows except for the JADE Debugger, where the option is loaded only at debugger initiation.

    You can also change the toolbar icon size from a Hierarchy Browser View menu, by selecting the Icon Sizes command, which displays the submenu containing the Small Icons, Medium Icons, and Large Icons commands. A checkmark indicates the size that is currently selected. For details, see "Changing the Size of Toolbar Icons", earlier in this chapter.

  16. Click the OK button. Alternatively, click the Cancel button to abandon your selections.

As the settings in the Inheritance, Window, and Access group boxes are only default values, you can override them for the current browser by selecting the appropriate command from the View menu.

The current window then has focus. Your selected preferences are displayed by default when you next open a browser window.