Several aspects of the editor window behaviour can be set in this dialog. The editor
preferences dialog is shown in figure (6.35). Note that some of these options affect only
newly opened windows, not already opened windows (e.g. Vertical Blocks, Highlight
Column/Row).
The following elements can be set in the editor preferences dialog:
-
Create backup files
- Whenever an editor file is saved, a backup is made of the old file. On
by default.
-
Insert mode
- Start with insert mode.
-
Auto indent mode
- Smart indenting is on. This means that pressing Enter will position
the cursor on the next line in the same column where text starts on the current line.
On by default.
-
Use tab characters
- When the tab key is pressed, use a tab character. Normally, when the
tab key is pressed, spaces are inserted. When this option is checked, tab characters will
be inserted instead. Off by default.
-
Backspace unindents
- Pressing the Bksp key will unindent if the beginning of the text
on the current line is reached, instead of deleting just the previous character. On by
default.
-
Persistent blocks
- When a selection is made, and the cursor is moved, the selection is not
destroyed, i.e. the selected block stays selected. On by default.
-
Syntax highlight
- Use syntax highlighting on the files that have an extension which appears
in the list of highlight extensions. On by default.
-
Block insert cursor
- The insert cursor is a block instead of an underscore character. By
default the overwrite cursor is a block. This option reverses that behaviour. Off by
default.
-
Vertical blocks
- When selecting blocks spanning several lines, the selection doesn’t contain
the entirety of the lines within the block; instead, it contains the lines as far as the
column on which the cursor is located. Off by default.
-
Highlight column
- When checked, the current column (i.e. the column where the cursor
is) is highlighted. Off by default.
-
Highlight row
- When checked, the current row (i.e. the row where the cursor is) is
highlighted. Off by default.
-
Auto closing brackets
- When an opening bracket character is typed, the closing bracket
is also inserted at once. Off by default.
-
Keep trailing spaces
- When saving a file, the spaces at the end of lines are stripped off.
This option disables that behaviour; i.e. any trailing spaces are also saved to file. Off
by default.
-
Codecomplete enabled
- Enable code completion. On by default.
-
Enable folds
- Enable code folding. Off by default.
-
Tab size
- The number of spaces that are inserted when the Tab key is pressed. The default
value is 8.
-
Indent size
- The number of spaces a block is indented when calling the block indent
function. The default value is 2.
-
Highlight extensions
- When syntax highlighting is on, the list of file masks entered here
will be used to determine which files are highlighted. File masks should be separated
with semicolon (;) characters. The default is *.pas;*.pp;*.inc.
-
File patterns needing tabs
- Some files (such as makefiles) need actual tab characters
instead of spaces. Here a series of file masks can be entered to indicate files for which
tab characters will always be used. Default is make*;make*.*.
Remark: These options will not be applied to already opened windows; only newly opened windows will
have these options.
