# 3.1 Setting Preferences

The Boa Constructor tool provides a number of features which can be customised by you. These are customised through files. The syntax of these files is either completely or partially in the Python language. Be careful when editing these files. If you put syntax errors into these files, Boa Constructor will not load. The files are straight forward. The following are the files:

- Explorer.msw.cfg (windows)
- Explorer.gtk.cfg (unix)
- Preferences.py
- PrefsMSW.py (windows)
- PrefsGTK.py (unix)

### Explorer Configuration

The files 'Explorer.msw.cfg' and 'Explorer.gtk.cfg' are used to configure the Editor Explorer window on Windows and Unix respectively. There are a number of items which can be configured in this file.

The following is an example of an Explorer configuration file from a windows installation.

            [explorer]
            filesystem : ['A:\\', 'C:\\', 'D:\\']
            bookmarks : {'Root': 'C:\\', 'Development': 'D:\\dev'}
            defaultbookmark : Root
            zope : {'Localhost':
             {'host': '127.0.0.1',
              'httpport': 8080,
              'ftpport': 8021,
              'username': '',
              'passwd': '',
              'path': '/',
              'name': '',
              'localpath': ''} }

- The Filesystems are stored in a sequence. Note the list is interpreted by the python interpreter. The backslashes used for windows directories must therefore the escaped (i.e. preceded by a backslash). You can set up as many filesystems as you want. These appear in the Explorer screen under filesystems.
- The Bookmarks are stored as a python dictionary. Again there is no limit to the number of directories which can be named. Each directory is stored with a logical name. The defaultbookmark selects the default bookmark. The named bookmark must be defined in the previous 'bookmarks' line.
- The Zope information defines how to connect to Zope. If this information is correctly displayed, the Explorer will be able to located and display files from your Zope development environment.

### Preferences

The preferences.py file contains general preferences. This file is accessible from the Palette toolbar with the following icon . The following are items which can be configured through this file.

- Help File Paths
- Whether to use the built in wxFileDialog or to use the Boa Constructor one
- Titles for Tabs on Inspector
- Your Name and details which will be automatically put in modules when you used the 'Module Info' Editor button.

### Windowing System Preferences

The files PrefsMSW.py and PrefsGTK.py are the window system specific preference files. These files are provided as a convenience. The values for some settings, e.g. Paths, are significantly different between UNIX and Windows. These files are imported by Preferences.py depending on the platform. The following items are configured in these files:

- Help File Paths
- Enable Editor brace matching functionality
- Fonts and Pixel positions which differ between the two systems