Several ABL Editor and Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge features are available to help you enter database schema references in your code:

  • DB Structure view - Provides a tree-view outline of the schema, with drag-and-drop functionality to enter table and column references in the source code. This feature requires a SQL connection to the database.
  • Expansion of schema element names - Optionally completes the abbreviated names of tables and columns when you press the space bar. You can turn this feature on or off at the Editor preferences page.
  • Prefixing of database names - Optionally adds the database name when you type a table name. You can turn this feature on or off at the Editor preferences page.
  • Schema descriptions in code-completion assistance - Optionally displays the description for each table or column proposed as a completion phrase. Enabling schema descriptions can have a noticeable performance impact in certain situations, such as the use of a large remote database. You can turn this feature on or off at the Editor Assistance preferences page.
  • Hover help - Optionally shows syntax help when you pause the cursor over a schema reference. You can turn this feature on or off at the Editor Assistance preferences page.