User Interface Elements

Last modified: January 24, 2025

This topic provides you basic information about managing your environment workspace. Environment workspace consists of toolbars, tool windows, menus, and document area. To personalize menus and toolbars and to adjust their behavior to your needs, go to View > Toolbars and select Customize.

Toolbars

A toolbar is a container for a group of commands or controls that are typically related in their function.

dbForge Studio supports dockable toolbars. A dockable toolbar can be attached, or docked, to any side of its parent window, or it can be detached, or floated, in its own mini-frame window. This article explains how to use dockable toolbars in your applications.

Note

If you drag a toolbar to the right or left side of the window, toolbar drop-down lists or combo boxes will not be available. For example, if you drag the Connection toolbar to the right or left side of the window, the Connection box will not be available.

Menus

The environment has a set of toolbars where reside buttons, using which you can accomplish most frequent tasks. The toolbar you can access depends on kind of document currently active. If it is not visible, right-click on toolbars area and choose one from the shortcut menu.

You can control which toolbars are allowed to appear, and which must be always visible. By default, when you switch between views or documents, corresponding toolbars appear and disappear. When a toolbar is visible, right-click on toolbar area and deselect its item in the shortcut menu to prevent it from showing even if corresponding view is active. If you want to make a toolbar always visible, select it in the shortcut menu, when corresponding document or view is not active. To return a toolbar to its default state select it in the shortcut menu when corresponding document or view is active. You can edit any toolbar, delete, or add your own in the Customization dialog box. To open it, select Customize on a toolbar shortcut menu.

Tool Windows

dbForge Studio tool windows are, in general, read-only windows that are not file-based. In this they differ from document windows, which display files in read-write mode. The Toolbox, Database Explorer, and Properties windows are examples of tool windows. Tool windows can be docked, floating, or tabbed in the document frame. The tool windows are used to display information. The default size and location apply only when the tool window is first opened; after that the tool window state is persisted.

To activate a tool window, use its shortcut key.

To place a tool window to the document area, activate it and select Tabbed Document from the Window menu, or right-click its title and select Tabbed Document from the shortcut menu. To make it dockable again, activate it and select Dockable from the Window menu, or right-click its title and select Dockable from the shortcut menu.

Document Area

Document area typically displays SQL code or diagrams. Document area size can be manipulated by resizing docked tool windows. To free more space for documents, you can put docked tool windows to auto-hide mode by clicking the pushpin icon on the title bar of the window.

You can arrange documents in tab groups in document area. To create a tab group or move document to another tab group just drag a document to a drop point. Dragging a document to an arrow drop point will create new tab group; dragging it to the tab group central drop point will move the document to this tab group.

Multiple documents can be organized into horizontal or vertical tab groups for organizing a workspace for working with several documents at the same time. New document tab group can be created either by dragging document to the required place or by selecting New Horizontal Tab Group or New Vertical Tab Group on the document header shortcut menu.

Documents can be moved between tab groups by dragging-n-dropping or by selecting required command from the shortcut menu. You can expand a tab group to the whole document area and restore document tab groups’ sizes by selecting Prominent on the document header shortcut menu.

Switching Between Tabs

To go to another open tab (document), use the following key combinations:

Ctrl+Tab: Switches to a previously used tab. Pressing Ctrl+Tab again returns you to the current tab. If you press Tab while holding Ctrl, you can select which tab to open by cycling through the recent tabs.
Ctrl+Shift+Tab: Cycles through the recent tabs. If you press Tab while holding Ctrl+Shift, you can select which tab to open by cycling through the recent tabs in reverse order.
Ctrl+Alt+Page Up: Moves to the next tab (right).
Ctrl+Alt+Page Down: Moves to the previous tab (left).

Note

You can change the shortcut for switching between tabs:

Go to Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard.

In the Show commands containing field, enter Window.NextTab or Window.PreviousTab.

Click inside the Press shortcut keys field, press the desired keys on your keyboard, and click Assign.

Other ways to switch between tabs:

Click a tab title.
Click the down arrow in the upper-right corner of the document area and select a tab name from the list.
Select a tab from the Window menu.
Select a tab from the Windows dialog and click Activate.