About this task
Use the Remote Systems LPEX editor to edit your source members.
This editor has many exciting and popular features offered for RPG,
COBOL, CL, and DDS source, such as syntax checking, automatic uppercasing,
program verification, and so on.
Note: To graphically design and modify
DDS display files, you can also use Screen Designer, for DDS printer
files you can use
Report Designer.
For more information on this, see
Designing screens and reports.
In
the help contents, expand LPEX editor for information on how to use
all the features that are now also available in the Remote Systems
LPEX editor, such as Editor
commands, actions, and parameters and Entering
and editing text.
Tip: You can switch between
files you have open in the Editor view by pressing Ctrl+F6.
Restriction: The Remote Systems LPEX editor
does not support the editing of source members from the QTEMP library.
To open a member in the Remote Systems LPEX editor:
What to do next
Tip: To open
IBM® i members
quickly, you can use the keyboard shortcut
Ctrl+Shift+A,
or right-click
Objects and select
Open
Member, without the need to drill down through your Objects
subsystem to find the member. For more information, see
Fast Open for IBM i members.
See the instructions
below, and the links to preference page information, for information
on common tasks you can perform with the Remote Systems LPEX editor,
such as compiling and verification. Many of these options are available
from the pop-up menu in the editor, or from the Source, Compile,
and Edit workbench menu items.
Frequent
tasks you can perform with the Remote Systems LPEX editor:
To save a source member in the Remote
Systems LPEX editor:
Autosave
while editing: To enable or disable autosave while editing in
the Remote Systems LPEX editor, you need to change an editor preference.
From the Remote Systems view, click the drop-down menu
and select . In the preference window, select the Autosave check
box. The default value for Minutes between saves is
set to 5. You can specify a value between 1 and 60 minutes.
If the workbench closes unexpectedly while you are editing a file,
restart the workbench and reopen the file you were editing. If there
is a backup of that file, you will be prompted to open it for editing.
If you select Save All in the
LPEX Remote Systems Editor, all open source members are saved sequentially,
saving each source member at a time.
If you select Save
As in the LPEX Remote Systems Editor, you can save the
open source member to a different remote source member. You can either
save as a new source member and the newly created source member is
created or save to an existing source member and overwrite its content.
New member saving preferences have been added
to the existing Objects Subsystem preference page. Select . The new member
save behavior preferences allow you to define what save behavior to
use:
- Save directly to original member: Indicates that a member
should be saved directly back to the original member.
- Save to a temporary member and then copy to original member:
Indicates that a member should be saved first to a temporary member
on the remote server and then copied on top of the original member.
A temporary file member will be created to store the uploaded content
and then deleted immediately after the uploaded content is copied
successfully to the original source member. The temporary file member
will be created in the same library and source physical file as the
original source member. Each temporary file member will be given a
random name which consists of a prefix "RSE" and 7 random digits,
such as RSE3670981. This protects the original source member from
being corrupted in cases where the network connection drops during
the save operation.
Source prompting: If you are using
the Remote Systems LPEX editor, you might find editing easier with
the source prompter. To invoke the source prompter, click anywhere
inside your file and press F4. You can also
click from the workbench menu.
Refreshing the editor: To remove error messages
from your source, you can perform a Refresh from the workbench menu
by clicking . You can also press Ctrl+F5 to refresh the editor.
Comparing files: To compare a currently opened member
to another member, click from the menu bar. You can also select two items in
the Remote Systems view by holding down the Ctrl key
and clicking the two items. Right-click and select . Both members will be invoked side by side, with changes
highlighted.
Keyboard shortcuts: Use the following keyboard shortcuts
while editing text.
- Alt+L: to select a single line or block
of lines
- Alt+C: to copy
- Alt+M: to move
- Alt+D: to delete selected lines
- Alt+U: to deselect all lines
- F1: to invoke language sensitive help
- F3: to open an ILE RPG subroutine or procedure
declaration
- F4: to invoke source prompting
- Ctrl+Shift+C: to compile
- Ctrl+Shift+D: to select Find other menu
and Find date
- Ctrl+F5: to refresh the source and remove
the show line error messages
- Ctrl+Shift+F5: to refresh the Outline view
- Ctrl+/: to comment the selected block of
source
- Ctrl+\: to uncomment the selected block
of source
- Ctrl+M: to select a block of source
- Ctrl+Shift+M: to jump to the other end
of a block of source
- Ctrl+Shift+O: to show block nesting
- Ctrl+Shift+V: to verify
- After verification, select Ctrl+. to go
to the next problem, and Ctrl+, to go to the
previous problem.
Tip: The editor findNext and findPrevious actions,
menu items, and keys will be "smart" so that if the last find was
for a date, then the next will be for a date. If the find was for
text, then the next find will be for text.
See also
Editor profiles for more information on LPEX editor
key combinations.
Opening a declaration: To open a declaration
in an ILE RPG file, place your cursor in a selected word or piece
of text and press F3. The editor will search
for a declaration with that name in your current source, and reposition
the cursor to its location. You can also select on the popup
menu to invoke the action.
Notes: - Searches are based on the position of the cursor. For example,
if selected text spans more than one reference, the search is based
on the cursor position.
- If the search does not find a declaration, the cursor is not repositioned
and you can continue editing as normal.
Retrieving content from a remote file: To
insert the contents of a remote member into the currently opened member,
click . In the dialog box, browse through your directories
using the tree view structure. Select the file you want to insert
and click OK.
Launching context-sensitive help: While
you are editing your source, you can press F1 at
any time, with your cursor on a keyword, for context-sensitive help
on the keyword.
Line selection: To select a line of
source, place your cursor at the location of the line you want to
select. Then, right-click and select
Select line.
You can then right-click again and perform actions such as
Syntax
Check Selection,
Convert Selection To Free-Form,
Cut,
Copy,
and so on.
Note: The
Highlight Current Line option
is located on the
Controls page for the LPEX Editor preferences.
To open the Preferences window select the menu item. On the
Preferences window, select . The
Highlight
Current Line option is selected by default. To change
the highlight color for the current line, select
Appearance under
LPEX
Editor, click
currentLine under
Styles,
and click the button beside
Background to open
the Color palette. After you select a new color click
OK to
close the Color palette, then click
OK in the
Preferences window to apply the change. For more information about
the highlightCurrentLine option, see
Editor
parameters and click
highlightCurrentLine in the list
of parameter names.
Showing the date area: To make the
Remote Systems LPEX editor display the date area in your source, you
need to change an editor preference. From the Remote Systems view,
click the drop-down menu
and
select . In the preference window,
select the Show date area check box. You can
also right-click while the cursor is in your source and select in the popup menu.
Syntax checking:
To
perform syntax checking, from the Source menu or the pop-up menu (with
your cursor in the source), select
Syntax Check Line or
Syntax
Check All. Syntax checking is enabled to run automatically
every time you move off an edited or inserted line. To view the details
of syntax error messages, place the cursor on the message and press
F1.
- To disable or re-enable automatic syntax checking, click the drop-down
menu from the Remote Systems view
and select . In the preference window, on the left side, there
are entries for CL, COBOL, DDS, ILE RPG, and RPG/400®.
For each type of source member, you can specify whether or not you
want to enable automatic syntax checking. For example, click CL on
the left side of the window, and select or clear the Automatic
syntax checking check box in the preferences area.
- Syntax checking is also performed for SQLRPGLE and SQLCBLLE file
types with embedded SQL statements. This kind of syntax checking,
however, requires a live connection to a remote IBM i server,
since the SQL statements are syntax checked on the host. To disable
automatic syntax checking of SQL statements, click the drop-down menu
from the Remote Systems view
and select , and note the entries for COBOL and ILE
RPG. Click either of these entries and clear the check
box for Automatic syntax checking of SQL statements (performed
on the server).
Prefix commands: To use prefix commands
such as P, I, DD/DD,
and so on, click inside the left-most column that displays numbers
such as 000014, type the command, and press Enter.
See the related links, and language reference documents for a list
of the prefix commands available for each language. See also SEU base profile for more information of SEU prefix
commands.
Automatic uppercasing: To make the
Remote Systems LPEX editor automatically convert your source from
lowercase to uppercase while you are editing, you need to change an
editor preference. From the Remote Systems view, click the drop-down
menu
and select . In the preference window, on the left side, there
are entries for CL, COBOL, DDS, ILE
RPG, and RPG/400. For each type
of source member, you can specify whether or not you want to enable
automatic uppercasing. For example, click CL on
the left side of the window, and select the Automatic uppercasing check
box in the preferences area.
Automatic indenting: To make the
Remote Systems LPEX editor automatically indent your source while
you are editing, you need to change an editor preference. From the
Remote Systems view, click the drop-down menu
and select . In the preference window, on the left side, there
are entries for CL, COBOL, DDS, ILE
RPG, and RPG/400. For ILE
RPG and CL, you can specify whether
or not you want to enable automatic indenting, and how many spaces
you want the source to be indented (when you press Enter).
For example, click ILE RPG on the left side
of the window, and select the Automatic indent check
box on the right side of the window. Then, you can also specify the
number of spaces to indent in the Blanks (1-20) field.
User-defined tabbing: You
can adjust how your source is tabbed while you are editing, by customizing
the user-defined tabbing. This option is available as a
Remote
Systems LPEX Editor parser preference. To customize user-defined
tabbing:
- From the Remote Systems view, click the drop-down menu
and select . In the preference window, on the left side, there
are entries for CL, COBOL, DDS, ILE
RPG, and RPG/400. You can specify
user-defined tabbing for all of these types of source except DDS.
- Select one of the applicable types of source, and select the User
defined tabs check box.
- If applicable, change the tabbing schema from the drop-down box.
- Position your mouse in the tabbing area (with the ^ marks)
and double-click to add or remove a tab. In the And every field,
you can also specify the frequency to add tabs after the last selection.
Customizing the Enter key: When
editing ILE or non-ILE (OPM) RPG source, you can control the behavior
of the Enter key, in that you can change the action that results when
you press Enter. By default, pressing Enter repeats
the previous specification type in your source. However, you can change
this behavior to repeat the previous operation code if you are editing
a C-specification, or to move the cursor to a specific column, and
so on. To control this behavior, you need to access the editor preferences.
From the Remote Systems view, click the drop-down menu
and select . Select ILE RPG and then modify
any of the entries on the right side of the window underneath Enter
key behavior.
Opening /COPY and copy book members;
Opening /INCLUDE for CL members: Your source might contain /copy,
copy book statements, or /include which indicate that code from another
source member is to be included when the current member is compiled.
For example, a /copy or /include statement could point to a procedure
that exists in another source member. These /copy members and /include
members enable you to share code among your source members. In the
Remote Systems LPEX editor, you can open the /copy, copy book members,
or /include CL member for browsing or editing.
- For RPG source, with your source member open in the editor, place
your cursor at the location of the /copy statement. From the workbench
menu, select , to edit
the source member (and lock it on the IBM i server)
or just to open the source
member for viewing.
- For COBOL source, place your cursor at the location of the copy
book statement. From the workbench menu, select , to edit the source member (and lock it on the IBM i server)
or just to open the source
member for viewing.
- For CL source, with your source member open in the editor, place
your cursor at the location of the /include statement. From the workbench
menu, select just
to open the source member for viewing.
- If the referenced member cannot be found and no library name was
specified, add the library that contains the member to the library
list for the host connection.
To modify the library list for the current
session, go to the Remote System Explorer view. Under the Objects subsystem
for the connection, select the Library List node
and right-click to open the context menu. Select the Add
Library List action.
The initial library list for the
connection can also be set for subsequent sessions by opening the
properties for the connection or Object subsystem and modifying the Initial
Library List settings.
Filtering by line types: Your source
might contain many different kinds of line types, such as error lines,
procedure lines, and so on. You can subset by these line types, in
that, you filter out all other types of lines except for the one selected.
In the example of ILE RPG source, to subset by line type, right-click
while the cursor is inside your source, select
Filter view and
then select from one of the following choices:
- Date
- Code
- Comments
- Control
- Procedures
- SQL statements (are shown only if the source type is associated
with the SQL parser)
- Subroutines
- Errors
(For different types of source, such as CL or DDS, these options
are different.) Your source will now only show the lines of the type
selected. To display all of your source again, select
Show
all from popup menu, or press
Ctrl+W.
You can also use the plus signs to the left of the filtered source
to re-expand the source that is filtered out. The option to filter
dates is available for any source with sequence numbers.
Showing externally described data information: If
you have an externally described file in your source, you can display
the fields for this file. Place your cursor at the location of the
externally described file. From the workbench menu, click . You can also right-click inside your source and select
Show
fields. The Field Table view then opens and displays the
fields from the externally described file.
Tip: You can
drag and drop an IBM i database
or display file field from the Remote System Explorer's Field Table
view onto an HTML or JSP file in page designer to create an IBM i Web
Component Text Entry field. The new Text Entry field's name and data
attributes will be inherited from the selected field.
Column-sensitive editing: You can enable
column-sensitive editing for all RPG and DDS source. This means that
your tabs are set up to move you to the defined columns, and as you
type into one column, data in other columns is not shifted. To enable
this preference, from the Remote Systems view, click the drop-down
menu
and select . In the preferences window, select the check box for Column
sensitive editing.
Breakpoint support: You can set breakpoints
in a section of executable code. To set a breakpoint, right-click
and select Add breakpoint. When you debug your
code, the debugger will stop at the breakpoints and let either step
over or step into your code at that point, if there are any errors.
See Breakpoints for more information.
File re-sequencing: File re-sequencing
is a preference you can set for the Remote Systems LPEX editor. Your
source members contain sequence numbers, similar to line numbers.
If you have added or deleted lines of code while editing, you might
want your files to be re-sequenced upon Save, so that there is no
gap in the sequence numbers. To set this preference:
- From the Remote Systems view, click the drop-down menu
and select .
- In the preferences window, select the check box for Resequence
lines at save.
- If applicable, alter the field for Resequence start at (1-9999) to
specify what sequence number to begin with, and Resequence increment
at (1-9999) to specify the increment of the sequence numbers from
line to line, for example, if you enter 10 in this field, the sequence
numbers could be as follows: 100, 110, 120, and so on.
To access the LPEX editor preference page, from the Remote Systems
view, click the drop-down menu

and select . See
Editor
profiles for more information.
The asterisk (
*) in the following table
indicates supported features in the editor: