How the PowerBuilder environment is managed
PowerBuilder configuration information is stored in both the
PowerBuilder initialization file (PB.INI) and
the registry. When you start PowerBuilder, it looks in the registry
and PB.INI to set up your environment.
About the registry
Some PowerBuilder features require the use of the PB.INI file,
but many features use the registry for getting and storing configuration
information. Normally, you should not need to access or modify items
in the registry directly.
Information related to your preferences (such as the applications
you have created, the way you have arranged your views in the painters,
and the shortcut keys you have defined for PowerBuilder menu items)
is stored in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Sybase/PowerBuilder/10.0.
Installation-related information is stored in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE/Software/Sybase/PowerBuilder/10.0.
About the initialization file
PB.INI is a text file that contains variables
that specify your PowerBuilder preferences. These preferences include
information such as the last workspace you used and your startup
preferences. When you perform certain actions in PowerBuilder, PowerBuilder
writes your preferences to PB.INI automatically.
Format of INI files
PB.INI uses the Windows INI file format.
It has three types of elements:
- Section names, which are enclosed in square brackets
- Keywords, which are the names of preference settings
- Values, which are numeric or text strings, assigned
as the value of the associated keyword
A variable can be listed with no value specified, in which
case the default is used.
Some sections are always present by default, but others are
created only when you specify different preferences. If you specify
preferences for another painter or tool, PowerBuilder creates a
new section for it at the end of the file.
Specifying preferences
Normally, you do not need to edit PB.INI. You
can specify all your preferences by taking an action, such as resizing
a window or opening a new application, or by selecting Design>Options
from one of the painters. If a variable does not appear by default
in the options sheet for the painter, you can use a text editor to
modify the variable in the appropriate section of PB.INI.
Editing the initialization file Do not use a text editor to edit PB.INI or
any preferences file accessed by Profile functions while PowerBuilder
or your application is running. PowerBuilder caches the contents
of initialization files in memory and overwrites your edited PB.INI when
it exits, ignoring changes.
Where the initialization file is kept
PB.INI is installed in the same directory
as the PowerBuilder executable file.
Telling PowerBuilder where your initialization
file is
You can keep PB.INI in another location
and tell PowerBuilder where to find it by specifying the location
in the System Options dialog box. You may want to do this if you
use more than one version of PowerBuilder or if you are running
PowerBuilder over a network.
To record your initialization path:
-
Select Tools>System Options from
the menu bar. -
On the General tab page, enter the path of your
initialization file in the Initialization Path textbox.PowerBuilder records the path in the Windows registry.
How PowerBuilder finds the initialization file
PowerBuilder looks in the Windows Registry for a path to the
file, and then looks for the file in the directory where PowerBuilder
is installed. If PowerBuilder cannot find PB.INI using
the path in the Registry, it clears the path value.
If the initialization file is missing
If PowerBuilder does not find PB.INI when
it starts up, it recreates it. However, if you want to retain any
preferences you have set, such as database profiles, keep a backup
copy of PB.INI. The recreated file has the
default preferences.