# Introduction to Using PxPlus

Development Tools |

The PxPlus development environment is equipped with a variety of tools for creating, modifying and maintaining PxPlus program code:

> PxPlus IDE

> NOMADS Graphical Application (Panel Designer)

> iNomads

> *IT - Integrated Toolkit

> Ed+ Program Editor

> Data Dictionary

## PxPlus IDE

The PxPlus IDE (Integrated Development Environment) is a project-based development environment that combines all the features of PxPlus and presents them in a modern interface. It is designed to provide application developers with convenient accessibility to all the development, installation and setup tools available in the PxPlus Development Suite.

The PxPlus IDE can be accessed from a Windows platform and from a Web browser.

When PxPlus is installed, two new shortcuts are created:

PxPlus IDE | Launches PxPlus IDE on a Windows platform. See IDE Main Launcher (Windows).
PxPlus Web IDE | Launches PxPlus IDE from a Web browser. See IDE Main Launcher (Web).

The PxPlus IDE Main Launcher includes the following:

- Menu, History and Project buttons for selecting what tasks to display in the list
- IDE toolbar customization
- HTML folder tab customization
- Integrated Help display
- Enhanced or standard view

For information about the PxPlus IDE and its components, see PxPlus IDE.

## NOMADS Graphical Application (Panel Designer)

NOMADS (Non-procedural Object Module Application Development System) is a graphical application development toolset installed with the Windows version of PxPlus. It provides an interactive, visually oriented framework for building the components needed to develop graphical user interfaces. Using NOMADS, you can create panels (forms, windows or dialogues), populate them with controls and associate logic with these controls.

For information about NOMADS and how it can be used for the development and implementation of PxPlus graphical user interface applications, see NOMADS Graphical Application.

## iNomads

iNomads provides a Web-based environment that allows NOMADS screens and panels to be run over the Web from any industry standard Web browser. Your application can be easily customized by using Templates and Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), allowing you to control the look and feel of many of the controls.

For information about iNomads and its components, see iNomads.

## IT - Integrated Toolkit

The *IT - Integrated Toolkit™ provides the features needed for the development and debugging of a PxPlus application. A core component of the Integrated Toolkit™ is a graphical program editor that provides the ability to directly enter and edit your application programs.

Additional components that make up the Integrated Toolkit™ elements are:

- Integrated Toolkit Screen Layout
- Debug Facility (including Client Server applications)
- Built-in Program Version Control interfaces
- Program Synopsis
- Projects Manager
- Library Manager for NOMADS Object, Program and Text Macro libraries

All of these components work together within the Windows environment or can be used remotely using the Client Server interfaces within PxPlus.

For information about *IT and its components, see *IT - Integrated Toolkit™.

## Ed+ Program Editor

The Ed+ Program Editor is a Web-based program editor that is easily accessible from the PxPlus Web IDE, as well as from the Windows-based IDE Main Launcher. Like the *IT Program Editor, Ed+ provides some of the more common functionality used to create and modify your application programs.

For information about Ed+, see Ed+ Program Editor.

(The Ed+ Program Editor was added in PxPlus 2016.)

## Data Dictionary

The Data Dictionary is a collection of data definitions used by applications to describe and access a database. These definitions do not contain actual data; they comprise standardized "bookkeeping" information about the data (metadata). This includes details on the types, names and structures of all data elements, as well as their interrelationships within the larger context of the database.

PxPlus includes several facilities for building and accessing a data dictionary. The primary method for creating and modifying data definitions is by using Data Dictionary Maintenance in the NOMADS toolset.

For information about building a data dictionary, see Data Dictionary.