Genero Studio Overview: Studio and Project Manager

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Related video: Genero Studio Overview: Studio and Project Manager

This is a brief overview of Genero Studio, the graphical, integrated development environment for Genero. Genero Studio is comprised of these integrated components:

  1. Project Manager
  2. Form Designer
  3. Code Editor
  4. Report Writer
  5. Application Generator
  6. The Graphical Debugger
  7. Code Analyzer
  8. as well as other tools such as Graphical Differential, Search and Replace, and File Browser

These components help create and manage applications and projects. Genero Studio can be used locally for single or multiple users or setup remotely, facilitating working in teams.

The Genero Studio user interface is organized into panels or “views”. These views display information about the current component being used.

The menus and toolbars across the top provide easy access to common tasks. The toolbars can be moved around and customized with Tools>>Preferences to manage the toolbar and menu actions displayed.

The Projects view on the left shows the current project. Opening a project file (a 4pw) automatically launches Project Manager.  This view displays the files, such as source and schema files, organized into groups within the project. From Project Manager, source code files are opened and compiled, programs and libraries built, code debugged with the Graphical Debugger, and programs executed.

Source Code Management is integrated into Genero Studio. If a project is under source code control, icons on the Project nodes indicate the status of the files. Files can be checked out and managed in the Subversion repository.

Additional tabs in the Project Manager allow you to view the database schema file associated with the project, or navigate the file system using the File Browser.

The central Documents view displays the current document, while other opened documents are accessible by the tabs across the top of this view.

Much of the work is done in the Documents view. Create a user interface using Form Designer, create a report using a drag-and-drop Report Designer, or automatically generate the source code for an application using Business Application Modeling.

The Structure view displays the structure of the current document. For code files, it shows the code structure – variables, functions, etc. For form files it shows the structure of the form and its elements such as containers and data fields. For database schema files it displays the schema’s tables, columns, and data types. For reports, it displays the structure of the report.

Selecting a node in the Structure view will populate the Properties view below it with the values of the properties specific to that node.

The Search and Replace view is also, by default, available as a tab in this location.

The views can be reorganized or closed to suit your needs. Double clicking on a panel undocks it. Double clicking again will dock it back to its last docked location. Toggle to and from a document editing view with ALT-F11. Select or deselect which panels to display with the Window >> Views menu.

All messages are displayed in the Output view. Note the tabs for Document Errors and the display of Search Results. The eraser can be used to clear the output messages.

The task manager to the right shows the tasks in progress. Abort a task with the abort button.

The configurations list allows you to display your program as either a desktop application or via one of the many web browser theme options including HTML5. Modify or add new configurations by selecting the wrench icon.

Press the F1 key or click the ‘Help’ button to display Genero Studio’s online, context-sensitive help.  In the Help browser, documentation sets are available for all of the Genero components.

Genero Studio allows you to visually design, develop, view, and manage your Genero applications.