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Chapter Six

Setting Preferences

Changing Your Tango Editor Preferences

The default preferences for Tango Editor are automatically set during installation. If you want to change the various settings required by the application, you can do so using the Preferences dialog box.

This chapter describes each of the following preference settings:

  • editor, data source, and online help dialog box options
  • HTML and text options
  • objects options.
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Using the Preferences Dialog Box

To use the Preferences dialog box
  1. From the Edit menu, choose Preferences.

    The Preferences dialog box appears. See General.

  2. Set Tango preferences using the three tabs in this dialog box: the first for general preferences, the second for options affecting text editing windows, and the third for objects. Switch among preference sections by clicking the appropriate tab to display the options available.

    For more information, see "Selecting Options".

  3. After setting your preferences, click OK to save your changes and close the Preferences dialog box.

    Any open editing windows are automatically updated with any new settings.

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Selecting Options

General

To display the General section of the Preferences dialog box, if not already displayed, click the General tab.

  • Editor options

    Check the Make last Builder page format settings the default for new Builders option to save and reuse page formatting settings for the Search Builder and New Record Builder. Page formatting settings are saved independently for each type of builder.

For more information, see "Open Selected <@INCLUDE>".

Check the Auto-open file when HTML contains a single <@INCLUDE> option to automatically launch the application associated with HTML files to edit the file referenced with the <@INCLUDE> tag, when opening an HTML window containing only an <@INCLUDE> tag.
  • Open text files using

    There are three options for opening text files. The default is to use Tango Editor. The other options are to use the application that created each text file, or an external editor of your choice.

    Click the appropriate radio button to select the option you prefer. If you select an external editor, click Choose... to locate it. The name of the external editor is listed in the text field.

  • Data source options

    Select the Include system tables option to include a data source's system tables in the Data Sources Workspace. This option is disabled by default. System tables contain meta-data; that is, information about the database itself, users, and so on.

    Set the maximum number of tables you want to appear. The default is 25. If a data source has more than the specified number of tables, the Select Tables dialog box appears, allowing you to work with a more manageable subset of tables.

  • Help options

    Select the Show help dialog option to show the Help Information dialog box, which tells you about associating a Web browser with the HTML help system when you choose an item from the Help menu.

    Selecting this option is the only way to show the help dialog again if you have previously selected Don't show this dialog again in the Help Information dialog box.

For more information, see "Working With Project Dependencies".

  • Dependencies

    Check the Warn me about unresolved data sources and objects option to show a warning about missing data sources or objects referenced by Tango application files and Tango class files.

Text

When you click the Text tab in the Preferences dialog box, the following text options appear:

  • HTML/SQL Editing Options

    Select the basic text attributes for the text that appears in the editing windows:

    • Font. Select from the fonts installed on your machine.
    • Size. Select from the point sizes available for the selected font, such as 9, 10, 11, 12, 14, 16.
    • Tab Size. Type the number of characters you want to equal one tab character.
    • Auto indent. This option, enabled by default, inserts a tab character automatically at the start of a new line at the same indent level as the previous line.
  • Background Color

    Color refers to the background color of the HTML editing window.

    You can specify the background color by clicking the color and choosing the color you want from the Color Picker dialog box that appears.

  • Syntax Coloring

    In addition to setting a default font and size for text appearing in the HTML editing window, you can also add color to the selected font for certain categories of text.

    Coloring your text can make editing of your text, HTML, and meta tags much faster and easier, and reduce the chances of making syntax errors. Only valid HTML and meta tags appear in the specified color.

    ! Note: Meta tag attribute names are not currently checked for validity.

    The default is to show the editing window text with syntax coloring enabled. If you deselect the Show syntax coloring option, all text in an editing window appears black on a white background.

    The following table describes each category and the default color for the text in the category:

    Category

    Text Affected by the Setting

    Default Color

    Text

    Text that is neither a meta tag nor HTML.

    Black

    HTML Tag

    HTML tag names, for example, <BODY> and </BODY>

    Blue

    Meta Tag

    Meta tag names without any attributes, for example, <@POSTARG>

    Green

    Attribute Name

    Meta tag attribute name, for example, NAME= in <@POSTARG NAME="Fred">

    Purple

    Attribute Values

    Meta tag attribute value, for example, "Fred" in <@POSTARG NAME="Fred">

    Red

    Comment

    Any text enclosed within the <@COMMENT> <@/COMMENT> meta tag pair, including the <@COMMENT>
    <@/COMMENT>     meta tags. This category also includes the <@!> meta tag and HTML comments.

    Gray

    To assign a different color to a category, click the color representing the category and choose the color you want from the Color Picker dialog box that appears.

  • Use Defaults

    If you change text preferences and want to return to the defaults, click Use Defaults.

Objects

When you click the Objects tab in the Preferences dialog box, the following objects options appear:

The Objects section allows you to view and edit search paths for Tango class files. Tango Editor keeps track of Tango class files that are listed in the Objects Workspace. If you want Tango Editor to automatically find Tango class files that are not in the Objects Workspace, add them to this list. Doing so can be useful if you create a library of Tango class files and you do not want them open in the Tango Editor Object Workspace, or if you are sharing Tango application files or projects between users, and those application files or projects reference Tango class files you do not normally use.

For more information, see "Setting Search Paths for Tango Class Files".

The main area of the Objects section displays the list of search paths that Tango uses to find Tango class files whenever a Tango application file refers to them. You can add or delete paths in this list, using the following buttons:

  • Add. If the path you want Tango to search is not in the list, click Add. The Choose a Folder dialog box appears. Select the folder where the Tango class files you want to use are located, and click Choose.
  • Change.... If you want to change the path to search, select the path and click Change. The Choose a Folder dialog box appears, allowing you to select a different folder.
  • Remove. If there is a path that you no longer need, you can delete it by selecting it and clicking Remove.

When Tango searches for a Tango class file, it starts from the first path specified in this list and continues from there. If two Tango class files in different folders have the same name, Tango uses the Tango class file in the first listed path.


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