4.1. General settings

This configuration section reunites all general-purpose options that don't fit any other sections. In this widget, the user is capable of changing the behavior of some modeling features, some global options, the printing and source code settings.

4.1.1. General & Design

General

Option/Action Description
User interface language Overrides the default user interface language defined by the system. Requires restarting the program.
Configurations directory This read-only field stores the path the to settings folder for the current user.
Source code editor Defines the full path to a program to be used as an external source code editor.
Source code editor args Defines the arguments passed to the source code editor application.
SQL history max. length Defines the maximum length (in lines) of the command history in SQL execution pane at Manage view. Once the limit is reached a portion of the older history is automatically cleared.
Clear history This action clears the entire command history.
Check new versions Controls whether pgModeler should check for updates on startup.
Save dialogs sizes When checked this option causes pgModeler to save the last size and position of almost all dialogs over the application, restoring them every time they are activated. The state of the dialogs is persisted, which means, that their positions and sizes are restored even if the application is closed and open again.
Reset sizes This action reset all dialogs to their default sizes and positions.
Low verbosity for the
export, import, and diff processes
Reduces the verbosity of the export, import, and diff process causing only key info messages and errors to be displayed. This option causes fewer rendering operations to be performed when displaying progress messages and, as a consequence, it makes these processes run faster.

Design

Option/Action Description
Autosave interval (minutes) Defines the period when the opened models will be saved automatically.
Operation history size Defines the maximum amount of elements held in the operation history. Once reached the maximum number the history is automatically cleaned.
Minimum object opacity (%) Defines the minimum opacity percentage applied to the objects when using the fade-out feature. A zero opacity causes the object to be completely hidden not being possible to interact with it in the canvas area.
Attributes per page These spinners define the minimum amount of attributes visible per page in each section of tables and views when the pagination is enabled on them. The first one controls the number of columns per page. The second defines the number of extended attributes (constraints, indexes, trigger, rules, policies) displayed per page.
Grid size Defines the vertical and horizontal grid size. This value affects the spacing of objects when using the feature that aligns the objects on the grid.
Grid line color Defines the color of the grid lines.
Canvas color Defines the background color of the canvas area.
Delimiters color Defines the color of the page delimiter lines.

Behavior

Option/Action Description
Validate before save, export or diff Triggers a dialog asking the user to validate the model before a save, export, or diff operation.
Simplify the creation of graphical objects Graphical objects (table, views, and textboxes) will be created in a single step without the need to click on the canvas.
Use placeholders when moving tables When enabled this option creates a placeholder object at the previous table's position when starting to move it. This will cause graphical updates on relationship lines to be performed only when the drag & drop action is done improving the performance. Disabling placeholders will cause those updates to be executed every time the table's position changes a single pixel (classical behavior).
Move canvas by keep mouse on corners Start moving the canvas when the cursor is on the canvas edges.
Trigger range selection with a single click By default the range selection is triggered with Shift + left click. By checking this option the range selection will be activated only with a single click and move.
Save and restore last position and zoom After loading the model the last zoom and position on canvas will be restored.
Hide table extended attributes Hide the portion of the table which represents triggers, indexes, and rules.
Hide table tags Hide the object which represents the tag assigned to the table.
Hide relationship name Hide the object that represents the relationship name.
Hide schema names of the data types Hide the schema names of the user-defined types referenced by columns. This option affects only the graphical objects, the code generation will keep displaying user-defined types names fully schema-qualified.
Use curved lines for relationships Replaces any straight line in a relationship by curved ones in order to improve the model's visualization.
Enable SQL code completion Toggles the code completion in all fields that accepts the input of SQL commands.
Disable render smoothness Disable the antialiasing for lines and texts improving performance when handling huge models.
Escape objects' comments in SQL code Forces the escaping of line breaks and tabulations in objects' comments during SQL code generation. This option produces a more compact SQL code since all comments will be presented in one line. Despite changing the presentation this option doesn't affect the final semantics of multi-lined comments.

4.1.2. Printing & Code

Printing

Option/Action Description
Print grid Enables pgModeler to print the canvas grid.
Print page numbers Enables pgModeler to print the page delimiter lines.
Paper Configures the paper dimensions for the printing. When this field is configured with Custom value the user needs to configure the paper size using the Page Margins field. Changes in this field directly affect the drawing of the page delimiters on the canvas area.
Orientation Defines the page orientation. This option directly affects the drawing of page delimiters on the canvas area.
Unity Defines the unit of measure to be used when configuring the page margins.
Page Margins Defines the page margins or the distance of the objects from the page borders on the printing. This field also holds the custom paper size when the field Paper is configured with Custom value.

Code

Option/Action Description
Font Defines the default font family to be used in any field that is used to display source code.
Size Defines the default font size for source code fields.
Custom tab width Defines a custom tab width in source code fields.
Colors This group of color pickers is used to configure some attributes of the source code fields. The first color picker defines the color of line numbers, the second one determines the color of the background of the portion where line numbers are exposed. Finally, the last picker is used to set the color of the highlighted line (where the cursor is currently placed).
Display line numbers Toggles the line numbers in the source code fields.
Highlight lines at cursor's position Toggles the color change for currently selected lines.

Jan 14, 2022 at 13:08