Editor workspace
An editor window is permanently bound to one exact *.the project. Pages, flows, Git, AI, and runtime actions all belong to that App. Open separate editor windows when working on several Apps at the same time.
Six areas to know
On Windows and Linux, App Hub, the editor, and system settings share a dedicated top menu bar with File, Edit, View, Run, Window, and Help. Window controls sit at the upper right, and page toolbars sit below the menu bar. Press F10 to focus the menus, use the Left/Right arrow keys to select one, and press Enter to open it. macOS continues to use the system menu bar at the top of the screen.
All desktop platforms have a sidebar show/hide button at the upper left; macOS places it beside the traffic lights. With the App Hub sidebar expanded, the adjacent Back/Forward buttons navigate previously visited conversations and are disabled when no destination is available. Collapsing the sidebar replaces those arrows with New chat in the same row, starting a draft in the current project; expanding it restores Back/Forward.
| Area | What it is for |
|---|---|
| Title bar | Confirm the App and runtime target; use Build, Start, Debug, Continue, and Stop; open AI and Properties |
| Resources | Find Pages, Components, Objects, QG, C# Providers, Vision, Safety, Assets, and Manual by engineering purpose |
| Files | Inspect the actual workspace tree; create, move, rename, upload, or delete files |
| Versions | Save project versions, sync with the team, and maintain standard/customer versions; Advanced exposes full Git operations |
| WorkArea | Open and split tabs; Pages use Design/Preview/Source and QG uses Flow/Source |
| Properties / Problems / Console | Edit the selection; inspect Build problems; read logs and faults from the current runtime target |
System Settings is at the bottom of the Activity Bar. Use it for the current App's Home Page, modules, packages, Variables, Queries, i18n, App users, and related settings.
Enabling the Pulsar module adds the read-only pulsar object to Objects in Resources. Select it to inspect its interface; configure axes and IO in Settings → Axis/IO. This object cannot be manually renamed or deleted.
Choose an entry by task
| Task | Start here |
|---|---|
| Create a Page or Component | Right-click the corresponding group in Resources |
| Create QG or a C# Provider | Right-click Scripts in Resources |
| Create or configure an Object | Objects in Resources |
| Write device documentation | Manual in Resources; files live in the fixed manual/ directory |
| Inspect real paths or ordinary configuration files | Files |
| Adjust Page structure and appearance | Page Design and Properties |
| Test Page interaction | Page Design |
| Inspect or change a QG flow | QG Flow or Source |
| Resolve complete Build problems | Open Problems after Build |
| Read runtime output | Open Console after Start/Debug |
| Ask AI to help with the current App | Title-bar AI button or Cmd/Ctrl+I |
Source is the final source for Pages, Components, and QG. Design and Flow update the same source; they do not create another project format that must be synchronized by hand.
Device documentation lives in the fixed manual/ folder at the App root, with nested folders supported. New Apps include this folder; existing Apps show a separate Manual resource section even before any manual files exist. Right-click the section to create a file such as start.md, then double-click to open it. Markdown opens in a visual editor with formatting controls, lists, tables, and code blocks; type / to insert a block. Switch between Edit / Source at the top, and use Contents to navigate headings. Use Save after making changes; switching views does not save the file. Document text, list markers, formatting controls, and code blocks follow the interface theme.
Pasting, dropping, or uploading an image saves it to an images/ subfolder beside the document and inserts a relative link. Existing images and other manual documents can also use relative links. Ctrl/Cmd+click links in Edit mode. Both Manual entries in App Hub open the same file tabs, displaying formatted read-only content with Preview / Source views; click links directly in Preview. Images, PDFs, and other attachments can live inside the manual directory. Saved manual contents are packaged with Build and delivery; build again after changing the manual to update the delivered contents.
Open, select, and edit
- Double-click a resource in Resources to open it in WorkArea.
- Select the target on the canvas, in Flow, or in Resources.
- Change supported fields in Properties.
- Save, reselect the target, and confirm the displayed value.
- For runtime validation, confirm the title-bar target before selecting Build, Start, or Debug.
The Design grid, selection boxes, and guides are editor-only and never appear on a runtime page. To edit inside an App Component, double-click the instance and open its .qpc file. Do not copy reusable internals back into every Page.
Save and external changes
- Use
Cmd+Son macOS orCtrl+Son Windows/Linux to save the current tab. - Build reads only files saved to disk. If an open document is unsaved, conflicted, or deleted, the editor warns first; continuing still Builds the disk version.
- When AI, Git, or another editor changes a file without a local draft, the open tab refreshes.
- When the same file has both a local draft and an external change, the editor preserves the draft and reports a conflict. Compare before saving or reloading from disk.
- Closing a changed/conflicted tab, closing the editor, or returning to App Hub asks for confirmation.
- Save changes workspace source only. It does not replace the running App.
Design, Build, and runtime actions
| Action | What it verifies | Remember |
|---|---|---|
| Design | Layout, properties, and local interaction; hold Alt to use controls | No Object / Query execution or skipped-call logs |
| Build Debug | Complete diagnostics and QG source breakpoints | Uses saved project files and delivers to the current target |
| Build Release | Optimized delivery candidate | Still requires Start and field acceptance |
| Start | Normal execution of the deployed version | If a Build is missing, the editor asks before Build and continue |
| Debug | Breakpoints, logs, state, and fault paths | Still performs real equipment actions |
Source changes never hot-replace a running instance. Use Stop → Save → Build → Start/Debug to apply new logic.
Problems and Console
- Inline editor diagnostics describe syntax, type, and completion issues in the current open document.
- Problems is the latest complete Build snapshot for all saved project files. Saving a project file clears the old snapshot until the next Build.
- Console shows logs and fault summaries from the selected runtime target during Start/Debug.
Problems and Console can be passed to AI as read-only analysis context. Selecting analysis does not modify the App by itself; review the diagnosis and proposed scope first.
Common shortcuts
| Action | macOS | Windows / Linux |
|---|---|---|
| Save | Cmd+S | Ctrl+S |
| Close current tab | Cmd+W | Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 |
| Next / previous tab | Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Same |
| Tab 1–8 | Cmd+1–8 | Ctrl+1–8 |
| Last tab | Cmd+9 | Ctrl+9 |
| Open or close AI | Cmd+I | Ctrl+I |
Minimum acceptance for one edit
- The tab has no unsaved or conflict state.
- Resources, Source, and Properties agree on the resource and key fields.
- The current document has no live error that blocks progress.
- Problems has no Build error that blocks runtime use.
- The title bar is bound to the intended runtime target.
- Start or Debug covers expected success, failure, and recovery behavior.
- For real equipment, field feedback and independent safety measures are confirmed.