Feature Showcases
The Komodo Toolbox stores components that are frequently used. The Toolbox is similar to a persistent project; however, rather than storing components that are specific to a particular project, it stores components that are used for a variety of tasks.
The Projects Manager and the Toolbox share a common set of components. Components are of two types: Komodo-specific components (such as macros, run commands and custom menus) and filesystem-based components (such as files and dialog projects).
Components within the Projects sidebar and the Toolbox are manipulated using an intuitive drag-and-drop interface, by context menus, or via the Project and Toolbox drop-down menus. Component options are accessed via the drop-down menus, or via right-click context menus.
The Toolbox is displayed on a "tab" in the Right Pane of the Komodo workspace. It is displayed or hidden via any of the following methods:
The Toolbox is an organizational container for frequently used "components". Components are items like files, folders, snippets, macros, etc. For information about individual components, refer to the relevant section of the documentation.
Filesystem-based components consists of items that exist as entities on the disk: files and templates. Komodo-specific components exist only in Komodo, and are not stored as external disk entities. Komodo-specific components include open shortcuts, folders, snippets, run commands, URL shortcuts, macros and custom menus and toolbars.
Within the toolbox, filesytem-based components are merely references; they cannot be moved or deleted from within Komodo; moving them between projects and the Toolbox, or deleting them from projects or the Toolbox, has no effect on their actual disk-based location or their contents. On the other hand, Komodo-specific components do not exist outside of Komodo; therefore, they can be moved and copied (for example, from the Toolbox to the Projects sidebar) and deleted independently of the filesystem.
For example, when a snippet (a Komodo-specific component) is copied from the Projects sidebar to the Toolbox, a new copy of the snippet is created; the original version still exists in the original location. Subsequent modifications of the snippet in the Toolbox do not change the version of the snippet stored in the Projects sidebar. On the other hand, when the contents of a file (a filesystem-based component) are changed, the changes apply regardless of the location from which the file is invoked.
To add a component to the Toolbox:
Some components have special component-specific mechanisms for being added to projects. For example, snippets can be created and added to the Toolbox in one step by selecting a block of text in the Editor Pane and dragging it into the Toolbox. URL shortcuts are created by dragging and dropping a URL from a browser address bar or from the Editor Pane into the Toolbox. Refer to the specific component sections for more information about these options.
To remove a component from the Toolbox, right-click the desired item and select Delete. Alternatively, click the desired component and press 'Delete', or right-click the component and select Delete.
Komodo-specific components (run commands, macros, etc) are permanently deleted. Filesystem-based components (files, dialog boxes) are not; only the reference to the component within the project is removed.
The Toolbox has commands for exporting and importing the
contents of the Toolbox as a package. Packages, which are stored
with a ".kpz" extension, are compressed archive files, and can be
opened by any archiving utility that supports libz
(for example WinZip). The Export Package option
differs from the Export as Project File option
in that copies of filesystem-based components (such as files and
dialog projects) are included in the archive. Conversely,
Export as Project File creates a project with a
reference to the component's original location and does not
create copies of the components.
Both Komodo-specific components (such as run commands and snippets) and filesystem-based components (such as files and dialog projects) can be included. The exported file can subsequently be loaded as a project or imported into the Toolbox. This provides a mechanism for sharing a Toolbox among multiple Komodo users; another mechanism is described in the "Shared Toolbox" section below.
To export the contents of the Toolbox to a project file:
To import a previously exported Toolbox:
A Shared Toolbox is a single Toolbox shared by multiple Komodo
users. When a Shared Toolbox is enabled, a second sidebar called
Shared Toolbox is available in the Right Pane. This
sidebar displays the contents of the toolbox.kpf
file,
located in the Common Data Directory specified in Komodo's Shared Toolbox preference.
The functionality of the Shared Toolbox is determined by the
user's access rights to the toolbox.kpf
file. All
users with "read" rights to the file are able to use items from
the Toolbox. To prevent users from altering the shared toolbox,
ensure that they only have "read" (and not "write") access to the
file.
The Shared Toolbox is populated by the same methods described in Adding Components to the Toolbox.