Viewing your work

While building a window, you can preview it and print its definition.

Previewing a window

As you develop a window, you can preview its appearance from the Window painter. By previewing the window, you get a good idea of how it will look during execution.

Preview button on the PainterBar and the PowerBar

You can preview a window from the Window painter using the Preview button on the PainterBar or by clicking the Preview button on the PowerBar. When you use the Preview button on the PainterBar, you do not have to save the window first, but you cannot trigger events as described below. For information about previewing using the PowerBar button, see Running a window.

To preview a window

  • Click the Preview button in the PainterBar (not the PowerBar), or select Design>Preview from the menu bar.

    PowerBuilder minimizes and the window displays with the properties you have defined, such as title bar, menu, Minimize box, and so on.

What you can do

While previewing the window, you can get a sense of its look and feel. You can:

  • Move the window

  • Resize it (if it is resizable)

  • Maximize, minimize, and restore it (if these properties were enabled)

  • Tab from control to control

  • Select controls

What you cannot do

You cannot:

  • Change properties of the window

  • Changes you make while previewing the window, such as resizing it, are not saved.

  • Trigger events

    For example, clicking a CommandButton while previewing a window does not trigger its Clicked event.

  • Connect to a database

To return to the Window painter

  • Do one of the following:

    • If the Window has a control menu, select Close from the control menu or click the Close button in the upper right corner of the window.

    • If the window is visible, shut down the process.

    • If the window is not visible, click PowerBuilder on the task bar and then click the Terminate button.

Printing a window's definition

You can print a window's definition for documentation purposes.

To print information about the current window

  • Select File>Print from the menu bar.

    Information about the current window is sent to the printer specified in Printer Setup. The information sent to the printer depends on variables specified in the [Library] section of the PowerBuilder initialization file.

Print settings

You can view and change the print settings in the Library painter. Select any PowerBuilder object, then select Entry>Library Item>Print from the menu bar.