How your PowerBuilder environment is managed
Your PowerBuilder configuration information is stored in both
the PB.INI file and the registry. When you start PowerBuilder, it
looks in the registry and the PowerBuilder initialization file to
set up your environment.
About the registry
Some PowerBuilder features require the use of the PB.INI file,
but many features now use the registry for getting and storing configuration
information. Normally, you should not need to access or modify items
in the registry.
About UNIX and the registry The registry is not normally part of the UNIX operating system.
However, on UNIX, PowerBuilder uses a registry and includes a Registry
Editor like the Windows Registry Editor.
Information related to your preferences (such as the applications
you’ve created, the way you’ve arranged your views
in the painters, and the shortcut keys you’ve defined for PowerBuilder menu
items) is stored in
Hkey_Current_User/Software/Sybase/PowerBuilder/7.0
.
Installation-related information is stored in Hkey_Local_Machine/Software/Sybase/PowerBuilder/7.0
.
About the initialization file
The initialization file is a text file that contains variables
that specify your PowerBuilder preferences. These preferences include
information such as the last database you connected to and the PBL
you are using. When you perform certain actions in PowerBuilder, PowerBuilder writes
your preferences to the initialization file automatically.
Specifying preferences
Normally, you don’t need to edit the initialization
file. 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. But sometimes
a variable doesn’t appear by default in the options sheet
for the painter. In this case, you can use a text editor to modify
the variable in the appropriate section of the initialization file.
Editing the initialization file Do not use a text editor to edit the PowerBuilder initialization
file 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 PowerBuilder initialization
file when it exits, ignoring changes.
Format of INI files
The PowerBuilder initialization file uses the Windows INI file
format on all platforms. 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.
Where the initialization file is kept
The default PowerBuilder initialization file has different names
and is stored in different locations on each platform:
| Platform | Name | Default location of the initialization file |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | PB.INI | The directory where PowerBuilder is installed |
| UNIX | .pb.ini | Your home directory. You also need a copy of the .WindU initialization file in your home directory |
Telling PowerBuilder where your initialization
file is
On Windows and UNIX, you can keep your initialization file
in another location and tell PowerBuilder where it can 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 Window>System Options from
the menu bar. -
On the General tab page, enter the path of your
initialization file in the Initialization Path textbox.On Windows, PowerBuilder records the path in the Windows registry. On UNIX,
it records it in a file called reg.dat in your home directory.
How PowerBuilder finds the initialization file
On Windows, 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 the initialization file using
the path in the Registry, it clears the path value.
On UNIX, PowerBuilder looks in the reg.dat file in your home
directory for a path to the file. If it doesn’t find one,
it looks for the file in your home directory and then in the directory
where PowerBuilder is installed.
If the initialization file is missing
If PowerBuilder doesn’t find the initialization file
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 your initialization file. The recreated file has
the default preferences.
Using the .WindU initialization file on UNIX
The .WindU file is an initialization file that is unique to PowerBuilder for UNIX.
This file contains settings for Wind/U,
a product from Bristol Technology used to implement PowerBuilder in
the UNIX Motif environment. Like .pb.ini, .WindU resides in your
home directory.
The organization and content of the .WindU file correspond
closely to the WIN.INI file in Microsoft Windows. You’ll
find many of the same sections, such as [devices] and [ports].
Each section has one or more entries with appropriate settings assigned
to them. The .WindU file also contains some unique sections of its
own.
Changing .WindU settings
For most of the sections in the .WindU file, the default settings
provided should meet your needs. If you do want to change any of
them, use any text editor.
Making changes in .WindU can give you control over such things
as:
- Printer configuration Alternative If you don’t want to edit the .WindU file directly,
you can use the File>Printer Setup menu command in PowerBuilder to
specify your printer configuration settings. This displays dialog
boxes you can fill in and updates .WindU automatically.
- Font mapping and performance
- Common dialog style
For details on what you should change in the .WindU file to
meet your particular requirements, look in the online Help file
named windu.hlp (by opening it from HyperHelp).