## Using an External Editor

You can use an editor other than the one provided with Understand for Ada for viewing and editing your source code. The editor you select is used whenever you open source code. This provides convenient source navigation while using a familiar editor. For example, you can use Microsoft Visual C++ or Emacs as your editor.

You should choose an editor that accepts command line parameters that specify the file to open, and a line and column number to go to.

To change the editor, follow these steps:

1. Choose Options->Editor Selection.
2. In the Choose an Editor dialog, select the editor you want to use. The default is “Understand”. On Windows, you can select Msdev for the Microsoft Visual C++ editor. Other standard editors may be available in the drop-down list.
3. If your editor is not in the Use as editor drop-down list, choose “User defined editor”. Then click the “...” button and browse for the editor’s executable file. In the Parameters field, type the command line parameters you want to use when opening the editor. Use the following $File, $Line, and $Col variables to allow Understand for Ada to open source files to the correct location.

For example, for the GVIM editor on UNIX, the Editor is “gvim”, and the Parameters should be as follows (for GVIM 6.0 or later):

    --servername UNDC --remote +$line $file

    For the TextPad editor on Windows, the Editor is most likely c:\Program Files\textpad4\textpad.exe, and the Parameters should be as follows:

    $file($line,$col)

4. On Windows, we recommend that you remove the checkmark from the Application to use MDI box if you are using an external editor or using Understand for Ada in server mode. If possible, turn off the Multiple Document Interface in your external editor.

When this box is unchecked, Understand for Ada runs in Single Document Interface (SDI) mode. In SDI mode, there is no single application window to contain the Understand for Ada windows. Instead, each window is separate.

See Setting General Preferences for details on MDI and SDI modes.

Checking or unchecking this box has the same effect as checking or unchecking the box for this option in the General tab of the Software Preferences dialog, which is opened by choosing Options->Preferences.

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