Looking for tips with the PowerBuilder IDE

[Statey603]

Hello,

A new work assignment has me teaching myself Powerbuilder. I have spent the last week going through tutorials, etc. My development background is mostly with Visual Studio and I have grown used to certain dev environment behaviors. I am sure that I am going to need to adjust the way I do things but not sure to what extent.

I would be really interested to hear from other developers concerning Helpful Hints, Tips & Tricks for using the PowerBuilder IDE (v11.0 if that matters).....especially if you have switched from Visual Studio or use both environments and might understand my situation.

For Example, what is the easiest way to get to the definition of a function that is referenced in another function?
In Visual Studio you can right click in the code on a function or variable name and select Go to Definition and it jumps you to where it is declared. I use this feature all the time and am looking for a way to do this in PowerBuilder.

thanks......

 

[miguelleeuwe]

Hi,

I've not been using the higher versions of pb for some time and don't know anything about v11, but with versión 10 you can active 'autoscript': once you're editing a script, go to menu 'Design', 'options' and take a look at the tab 'autoscript'.

with the last 2 options you can activate some options for showing functions, etc. after x mseconds. I agree the ideal option would be not having to wait, but to have a keycombination instead to make it come up (only when you want it).

For version 10:
--------------
If you go to the menu: 'tools', 'keyboard shortcuts', you take a look at the available options ('Edit' seems to be very interesting to customize):
for example: I added a shortcut (alt+F) for the option: 'Edit', 'Paste Special', 'Function', 'User defined' and now when I'm in a script and use alt+F, a listbox comes up with all my added functions to a window.

Another usefull thing might be to always have an instance of your library painter: You can select for example your window object in the tree on the left and then doubleclick on the folder 'functions' (for example). That way you'll have them all listed and you can copy them using right mouse button and 'properties'.

hope it helps


regards,
Miguel L.

 

[Statey603]

Miguel,
Thanks. That is exactly the type of information that I am looking for. I wikll try those options out.

 

[Statey603]

Hey Miguel,

I just took a look at the Tools - Keyboard Shortcuts and can't figure out how you added shortcuts for the items thart you listed (Edit, Paste Special, Function). I do not see them in any of the items available to select from. Here is the list that I have to choose from in Keyboard shortcuts.

- File
- Run
- Tools
- Window
- Help
- Additional Global

I have opened each of these and can't find the items that you mention. Am I missing something?

Thanks

 

[miguelleeuwe]

I just installed the evaluation versión and see what you mean. The diference though is not caused by this.
To see the options I told you about, you first have to edit some script. So open any object in it's painter, edit any event and then try again the 'shortcuts' in the same way I told you before. (the options seem to be sensitive to 'where' you are).



regards,
Miguel L.

 

[Statey603]

Yes.....that did the trick.
Thank you so much for the cool tips!!!

 

[miguelleeuwe]

no thanks at all, to be honest I've not been using them sofar myself in the last versions, but you made me realize that they really make life easy once you get used to them.

regards,
Miguel L.