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### 6.12 Customizing the IDE

The IDE is configurable in a wide range: Colors can be changed, screen resolution. The configuration setting can reached via the sub-menu Environment in the Options menu.

#### Preferences

The preferences dialog is called by the menu item ”Options--Environment--Preferences”. The preferences dialog is shown in figure (6.32).

Figure 6.32: | The preferences dialog

Video modes
  The drop down list at the top of the dialog allows to select a video mode. The available video modes depend on the system on which the IDE is running.

  Remark:

  1. The video mode must be selected by pressing space or clicking on it. If the drop down list is opened while leaving the dialog, the new video mode will not be applied.
  2. For the D O S version of the IDE, the following should be noted: When using VESA modes, the display refresh rate may be very low. On older graphics card (1998 and before), it is possible to use the UniVBE driver of SciTech 5
Desktop File
  Specifies where the desktop file is saved: the current directory, or the directory where the config file was found;
Auto save
  Here it is possible to set which files are saved when a program is run or when the IDE is exited:
  Editor files
    The contents of all open edit windows will be saved.
  Environment
    The current environment settings will be saved
  Desktop
    The desktop file with all desktop settings (open windows, history lists, breakpoints etc.) will be saved.
Options
  Some special behaviour of the IDE can be specified here:
  Auto track source
  Close on go to source
    When checked, the messages window is closed when the ’go to source line’ action is executed.
  Change dir on open
    When a file is opened, the directory of that file is made the current working directory.

#### The desktop

The desktop preferences dialog allows to specify what elements of the desktop are saved across sessions, i.e. they are saved when the IDE is left, and they are again restored when the IDE is started the next time. They are saved in a file fp.dsk. The desktop preferences dialog is shown in figure (6.33).

Figure 6.33: | The desktop preferences dialog

The following elements can be saved and restored across IDE sessions:

History lists
  Most entry boxes have a history list where previous entries are saved and can be selected. When this option is saved, these entries are saved in the desktop file. On by default.
Clipboard content
  When checked, the contents of the clipboard is also saved to disk. Off by default.
Watch expressions
  When checked, all watch expressions are saved in the desktop file. Off by default.
Breakpoints
  When checked, all break points with their properties are saved in the desktop file. Off by default.
Open windows
  When checked, the list of files in open editor windows is saved in the desktop file, and the windows will be restored the next time the IDE is run. On by default.
Symbol information
  When checked, the information for the symbol browser is saved in the desktop file. Off by default.
CodeComplete wordlist
  When checked, the list of code-completion words is saved. On by default.
CodeTemplates
  When checked, the defined code-templates are saved. On by default.

#### The Editor

Several aspects of the editor window behaviour can be set in this dialog. The editor preferences dialog is shown in figure (6.34).

Figure 6.34: | The editor preferences dialog

The following elements can be set in the editor preferences dialog:

Create backup files
  Whenever an editor file is saved, a backup is made of the old file. On by default.
Auto indent mode
  Smart indenting is on. This means that pressing EN T E R will position the cursor on the next line in the same column where text starts on the current line. On by default.
Use tab characters
  When the tab key is pressed, use a tab character. Normally, when the tab key is pressed, spaces are inserted. When this option is checked, tab characters will be inserted instead. Off by default.
Backspace unindents
  Pressing the BK S P key will unindent if the beginning of the text on the current line is reached, instead of deleting just the previous character. On by default.
Persistent blocks
  When a selection is made, and the cursor is moved, the selection is not destroyed, i.e. the selected block stays selected. On by default.
Syntax highlight
  Use syntax highlighting on the files that have an extension which appears in the list of highlight extensions. On by default.
Block insert cursor
  The insert cursor is a block instead of an underscore character. By default the overwrite cursor is a block. This option reverses that behaviour. Off by default.
Vertical blocks
  When selecting blocks over several lines, the block doesn’t select the whole lines in the block, it selects the lines till the column on which the cursor is located. Off by default.
Highlight column
  When checked, the current column (i.e. the column where the cursor is) is highlighted. Off by default.
Highlight row
  When checked, the current row (i.e. the row where the cursor is) is highlighted. Off by default.
Auto closing brackets
  When an opening bracket character is typed, the closing bracket is also inserted at once. Off by default.
Keep trailing spaces
  When saving a file, the spaces at the end of lines are stripped off. This behaviour disables that behaviour, i.e. any trailing spaces are also saved to file. Off by default.
Codecomplete enabled
  Enable code completion. On by default.
enable folds
  ???. Off by default.
Tab size
  The number of spaces that are inserted when the TA B key is pressed. The default value is 8.
Indent size
  The number of spaces a block is indented when calling the block indent function. The default value is 2.
Highlight extensions
  When syntax highlighting is on, the list of file masks entered here will be used to determine which files are highlighted. File masks should be separated with semicolon (;) characters. The default is *.pas;*.pp;*.inc.
File patterns needing tabs
  Some files (such as makefiles) need actual tab characters instead of spaces. Here a series of file masks can be entered for which tab characters will always be used. Default is make*;make*.*.

Remark: These options will not be applied to already opened windows, only newly opened windows will have these options.

#### Mouse

The mouse options dialog is called by the menu item ”Options--Environment--Mouse”. It allows to adjust the behaviour of the mouse as well as the sensitivity of the mouse. The mouse options dialog is shown in figure (6.35).

Figure 6.35: | The mouse options dialog

Mouse double click
  The slider can be used to adjust the double click speed. Fast means that the time between two clicks is very short, slow means that the time between two mouse clicks can be quite long.
Reverse mouse buttons
  the behaviour of the left and right mouse buttons can be changed by by checking the checkbox; this is especially useful for left-handed people.
Ctrl+Right mouse button
  Assigns an action to a right mouse button click while holding the CT R L key pressed.
Ctrl+Left mouse button
  Assigns an action to a left mouse button click while holding the CT R L key pressed.

The following actions can be assigned to CT R L-right mouse button or AL T-right mouse button:

Topic search
  The keyword at the mouse cursor is searched in the help index.
Go to cursor
  The program is executed until the line where the mouse cursor is located.
Breakpoint
  Set a breakpoint at the mouse cursor position.
Evaluate
  Evaluate the value of the variable at the mouse cursor.
Add watch
  Add the variable at the mouse cursor to the watch list.
Browse symbol
  The symbol at the mouse cursor is displayed in the browser.

#### Colors

Almost all elements of the IDE such as borders input fields, buttons and so on can have their color set in this dialog. The dialog sets the colors for all elements at once, i.e. it is not so that the color of one particular button can be set.

The syntax highlighting colors for the editor windows of the IDE can also be set in this dialog. The colors dialog is shown in figure (6.36).

Figure 6.36: | The colors dialog

The following elements are visible in the color dialog:

Group
  Here the group to be customized is displayed; A group is a specific window or series of windows in the editor. A special group is Syntax which sets the colors for syntax highlighting.
  Browser
    Sets the colors for the symbol browser window.
  Clock
    Sets the colors for the clock in the menu.
  Desktop
    Sets the colors for the desktop.
  Dialogs
    Sets the colors for the dialog windows.
  Editor
    Sets the colors for the editor windows.
  Help
    Sets the colors for the help windows.
  Menus
    Sets the colors used in the menus.
  Syntax
    Sets the colors used when performing syntax highlighting in the editor windows.
item
  Here the item for the current group can be selected. The foreground and background of this item can be set using the color selectors on the right of the dialog.
Foreground
  Sets the foreground color of the selected item.
background
  Sets the background color of the selected item.
Sample text
  This shows the colors of the selected item in a sample text.

Setting a good color scheme is important especially for syntax highlighting; a good syntax highlighting scheme helps in eliminating errors when typing, without needing to compile the sources.

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