Code Editor (Scintilla)

HarbourBuilder's code editor is powered by Scintilla 5.5+, the same editing component used by Notepad++, SciTE, and Code::Blocks. It provides professional code editing features with Harbour-aware syntax highlighting and intelligent code folding.

Platform-Specific Scintilla Setup

Platform	Library Type	Files
Windows	Dynamic libraries	Scintilla.dll, Lexilla.dll
macOS	Static libraries	libscintilla.a, liblexilla.a
Linux	Shared libraries	libscintilla.so, liblexilla.so

Syntax Highlighting

The editor uses a VS Code Dark+ color theme with Harbour-aware syntax highlighting:

Token Type	Color	Style	Example
Keywords	Blue	Bold	function, return, local
Commands	Teal	Normal	DEFINE FORM, BUTTON, LABEL
Comments	Green	Italic	// This is a comment
Strings	Orange	Normal	"Hello World"
Numbers	Light Green	Normal	400, 3.14
Preprocessor	Magenta	Normal	#include, #xcommand

Code Folding

Harbour-aware code folding understands xBase language structures:

• function / return — Function boundaries
• CLASS / ENDCLASS — Class definitions
• if / endif — Conditional blocks
• for / next — For loops
• do while / enddo — While loops
• switch / endswitch — Switch statements
• begin sequence / end sequence — Exception handling
• #pragma begindump / #pragma enddump — C code embedding

Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+F / Cmd+F	Open Find bar
Ctrl+H / Cmd+H	Open Replace bar
Ctrl+Space / Cmd+Space	Auto-completion (150+ keywords)
Ctrl+/ / Cmd+/	Toggle line comment
Ctrl+Shift+D / Cmd+Shift+D	Duplicate current line
Ctrl+Shift+K / Cmd+Shift+K	Delete current line
Ctrl+L / Cmd+L	Select current line
Ctrl+G / Cmd+G	Go to line number
F12	Go to definition (function/procedure/method/class)

Auto-Completion

Press Ctrl+Space / Cmd+Space to trigger auto-completion with 150+ items:

• Harbour keywords — function, return, local, static, class, method, etc.
• Harbour functions — MsgInfo(), MsgStop(), hb_vfExists(), etc.
• xBase commands — DEFINE FORM, BUTTON, LABEL, ACTIVATE, etc.

Bracket Matching

The editor automatically highlights matching brackets:

• Matching pairs — (), [], {} highlighted in yellow
• Unmatched/bad brackets — Highlighted in red

Bookmarks

Set bookmarks to quickly navigate to important code locations:

Shortcut	Action
Ctrl+0..9 / Cmd+0..9	Toggle bookmark at current line
Ctrl+Shift+0..9 / Cmd+Shift+0..9	Jump to bookmark

Code Snippets

Tab expansion for common code patterns:

Snippet	Expands To
forn	for nI := 1 to nCount
iff	if condition
cls	CLASS TClassName FROM TParentClass
func	function FunctionName()
proc	procedure ProcedureName()
whil	do while .T.
swit	switch nValue
tryx	begin sequence ... end sequence

Auto-Indent

When you press Enter, the editor automatically indents the new line to match the previous line's indentation level. This keeps your code properly formatted without manual spacing.

Tabbed Multi-File Editing

The editor supports tabbed editing, allowing you to work on multiple source files simultaneously. Tabs show the filename and an asterisk (*) when the file has unsaved changes.

Build Messages Panel

After building, the Messages panel appears at the bottom showing:

• Errors — Red markers with clickable file/line references
• Warnings — Yellow markers for potential issues
• Jump to source — Click any error to navigate directly to the code line
• Clear button — Clear the messages panel

Status Bar

The status bar at the bottom shows real-time editing information:

Field	Description
Line	Current line number
Column	Current column position
INS/OVR	Insert or Overwrite mode indicator
Line count	Total lines in the file
Char count	Total characters in the file
UTF-8	File encoding