Preferences
Use the
Preferences window to customize the VA Smalltalk browsers.
Tabs
The Database tab appears only when the Database feature is loaded in your image. The Parsers tab appears only when the C Language or Cobol Language feature is loaded. To view the tabs, you might need to click on the arrows at the bottom of the preferences notebook.
Push buttons
OK
Select OK to accept the values and close the window.
Apply
Select Apply to accept the values and keep the window open.
Defaults
Select Defaults to restore default values on a tab.
Opening the Preferences window
To open the Preferences window, do either of the following:
•Select
•From the Options menu, select Preferences.
General
Use options on the General tab to set preferences for the following:
Startup
Use options under Startup to have VA Smalltalk do the following:
Show Quick Start window
Selecting Show Quick Start window opens the Quick Start window upon starting VA Smalltalk. The Quick Start window uses the default values given in the Default application name and Default class name fields.
Deselecting Show Quick Start window opens only the Organizer window and any other windows that you had open when you last saved your image. The Quick Start window does not open.
Open Visual Editors for new parts
Selecting Open Visual Editors for new parts opens a VA Smalltalk editor whenever a new part is made. Deselecting Open Visual Editors for new parts does not open an editor on the new part.
Preferred Settings View
Use options under Preferred Settings View to select which type of properties or settings views you would like to use.
Properties Table
This is the recommended style of settings view. This shows all settable properties or attributes for a part in table format.
Notebook Style
This option shows settable attributes in a notebook view. To use Notebook Style settings views, you must load the Notebook Style Settings Views feature in the Load/Unload Features dialog.
Hover Help
Use options under Hover Help to have VA Smalltalk do the following:
Show hover help
Selecting Show hover help activates hover help for tools in the Organizer tool bar and in the Composition Editor. Deselecting Show hover help keeps the hover help from displaying.
Activation delay (milliseconds)
If Show hover help has a checkmark beside it, Activation delay (milliseconds) sets the number of milliseconds a cursor must hover over a tool before its hover help displays. By default, hover help displays after 750 milliseconds.
Connections
Use options on the Connections tab to change the colors and endpoints of connections shown in the Composition Editor. The options enable you to change the following:
Connection colors
Use options under Connection Colors to specify the color of connections appearing in a Composition Editor.
To change a connection's color, select the color you want for the connection type from its drop-down list.
Endpoint size
Use options under End Point Size to specify the size of endpoints for connections in a Composition Editor.
To change the size of connection endpoints, select the Normal or Large radio button.
Browsers
Use options on the Browsers tab to set the following preferences for browsers of Smalltalk code:
Browser style
Use options under Browser Style to display the standard Smalltalk browsers or the enhanced browsers.
To select and use the enhanced browsers, you must load the Trailblazer feature.
For details on the contents of both styles of browsers, refer to the Smalltalk User Guide.
Options
Use options under Options to set the following preferences for VA Smalltalk browsers:
Refresh when activated
Selecting Refresh when activated refreshes the lists of applications, parts, and scripts in the browsers after a change is made to the content of a list. By default, Refresh when activated is selected. To speed up the performance of a browser, deselect the option.
Confirm on deletion
Selecting Confirm on deletion displays a prompter asking you to confirm a delete operation before the deletion occurs. Deselecting Confirm on deletion deletes the selected application, part, script, or connection without first asking you to confirm the delete operation.
Show horizontal scrollbars
Selecting Show horizontal scrollbars displays horizontal scroll bars on the browsers.
Show categories
Selecting Show categories displays script or method categories in the Script Editor and Smalltalk browsers. If you must know whether a script is in a particular category, such as an API category, display the categories.
Deselecting Show categories removes the categories pane, reducing the amount of information displayed in the browsers and making work with scripts somewhat faster.
Select all categories
Selecting Select all categories selects all categories automatically.
Select all categories
Relative size of method list sets the size, by percent, of a scripts or methods pane in the Script Editor and Smalltalk browsers.
Parsers
Use options under Parsers to change the error message threshold to limit the number of error messages printed to the System Transcript window during parsing. Printing few or no (0) error messages enables the parser to execute more quickly.
The Parsers tab enables you to set the error message threshold for parsers for the following languages:
•COBOL
•C