14.1.2 Editing the TOOLS.INI Initialization File

Another way to customize PWB is by editing TOOLS.INI, the initialization file used by PWB and other Microsoft language utilities. This is the most convenient way to perform extensive customizing.

While the Current Assignments and Switch Settings window displays every customizable PWB item, the TOOLS.INI file contains lines only for items you have customized. PWB sets any items you omit from TOOLS.INI to a default value.

Summary: TOOLS.INI is made up of sections that start with tags.

Since TOOLS.INI can initialize a number of Microsoft tools, the file is divided into sections, one for each tool. Each section begins with a tag consisting of the tool's base name enclosed in square brackets: [PWB] for PWB.EXE, [NMAKE] for NMAKE.EXE, and so on.

For example, assume you set the vscroll switch to 3 and saved the change, but you have not customized PWB in any other way. Your TOOLS.INI file will contain this section:

[PWB]

vscroll:3

PWB reads TOOLS.INI at start-up and loads the settings from the [PWB] section.

You can also create sections of TOOLS.INI that configure PWB for specific programming languages or operating systems. For instance, your TOOLS.INI file could contain a section beginning with the tag

[PWB-.C]

for C source files, and

[PWB-.ASM]

Summary: TOOLS.INI sections contain customization information.

for assembly-language (.ASM) source files. Each time you load a file with the designated extension, PWB reads the appropriate section of TOOLS.INI. You can have a different set of macros and other customizations for each file type.

TOOLS.INI can also contain sections specific to an operating system. The following tag introduces a section specific to DOS version 3.31, for instance:

[PWB-3.31]

You can combine tags as needed. For example, the tag

[PWB-3.0 PWB-10.10R]

applies to DOS version 3.0 and OS/2 version 1.1 real mode.