PRB: Modifying TOOLS.INI May Have No Effect on PWB Environment

MS-DOS    | OS/2

The information in this article applies to:

• Microsoft Programmer's Workbench for MS-DOS, versions 1.0 and 1.1
• Microsoft Programmer's Workbench for OS/2, versions 1.0 and 1.1

SYMPTOMS

Changing settings in the TOOLS.INI file to modify the behavior of the Programmer's WorkBench (PWB) may not work under certain circumstances. For example, if you decide to change the PWB to 50-line mode by setting "height:50" in the TOOLS.INI file, it will not work if the PWB was previously used in the 25- or 43-line mode.

CAUSE

This is because some environment information is also recorded in the CURRENT.STS file, which is read in after the TOOLS.INI file -- overriding the TOOLS.INI settings.

RESOLUTION

The following are three workarounds for this problem:

1. Use the /DS switch when invoking the PWB. This will ignore the CURRENT.STS file. However, this option also causes the current file history (of files being edited) to be ignored.

2. Delete the CURRENT.STS file. This also causes the current list of programs being edited to be ignored.

3. The better option is to select Editor Settings from the Options menu. When the list of editor switch settings appears, it can be changed and saved to the TOOLS.INI file by pressing SHIFT+F2. This will save the settings and cause the selection to take effect.