KB Editor

1. Smart Autocomplete (IntelliSense)

KB Editor understands GeneXus at a deep level. Its Language Server provides context-aware suggestions.

Parameter signature help: When calling procedures, KB Editor shows the expected parameters with direction (in:, out:, inout:) and types — extracted directly from the target object's Parm() rule. It also recognizes GeneXus built-in variables (&Mode, &Pgmname, &Today, &RestCode) with their real type.

2. Go to Definition and Navigation

Go to Definition (F12)

Jump to the definition of any object, attribute or domain with one click. Module-qualified names supported.

Go Back (Ctrl+Shift+←)

Reliable backward navigation with a 50-position history. Never lose your place.

Quick Search (Ctrl+Shift+Space)

Fuzzy search across all objects, attributes and domains — results show type and module path.

Find All References

See every file that references a given object — and the reverse, which objects the current file references. Also available from the context menu.

Source ↔ Form in one click

Direct jump between a .gxSource and its .gxForm or .gxLayout, with a clickable link, a title-bar icon and a 'Source' button inside the visual editor.

Informative hover

Type, module, parameter signature and file location on hover, without opening anything.

3. Real-Time Code Validation

Three complementary systems catch errors as you type:

All validation runs in real time with configurable debounce — no need to compile to find errors. The catalog updates incrementally: a new Domain, Attribute, SDT or External Object — created by you, by an AI, or by externalizing a module — is recognized on the next save, with no window reload.

4. Visual Web Form Editor

.gxForm files open in a visual editor that renders the form the way you see it in the IDE, covering all three GeneXus formats: HTML, Abstract Layout and MultiForm.

WYSIWYG rendering

Text fields, combos, checkboxes, radio buttons, calendars, grids with sample data and a clickable breadcrumb — you see the form, you don't imagine it.

Drag & drop and clipboard

Drag controls to reorder them (before, after or inside, with validation), cut/copy/paste entire subtrees and move them from the keyboard.

Toolbox with real User Controls

Installed User Controls are discovered from the project's User Controls/ folder and rendered from their design XSL — including their inner regions — with no GeneXus install needed on the machine.

Visual Responsive Sizes

XS/SM/MD/LG scale editor with live preview: width, offset, order and visibility per cell, following the same cascade the IDE applies.

Multi-layout for Smart Devices

Tabs to switch between a Panel's layouts, with a variant wizard (platform, device kind, size, version, orientation) and the option to copy an existing one.

Show Rows / Show Cells

Overlay that reveals row and cell boundaries with their internal names, so you can understand the structure under the render.

Full Control Info

An attribute drawn as a Dynamic Combo Box shows its 13 real properties (Data Source From, Data Provider, Item Values, Item Descriptions, Conditions, Suggest…), each visible only when its control type applies, exactly as in the designer.

Dynamic forms protected

If a pattern maintains the form, KB Sync marks it as dynamic and the editor locks it: nobody hand-edits something that's about to be regenerated.

5. Visual Win Form EditorNew

GeneXus still supports Work Panels and the Windows Form of a Transaction, but the modern IDE no longer lets you create them. KB Editor externalizes them as .gxWinForm and edits them visually, with a byte-for-byte round-trip back to the Knowledge Base.

Work Panel as a first-class object

A .WorkPanel.gxSource is parsed, validated, indexed and searched exactly like a Web Panel, with its own WK badge, its own icons and 'Work Panel' in the New Object dialog.

The form is drawn, not read as XML

The frame, rectangles and lines, labels, 3D-sunken data fields, buttons, the grid with its column titles and the tab control with clickable pages. Containers nest to any depth. Zoom with Ctrl+wheel, drag to pan, Fit to frame.

Move, resize, align

Drag to move, eight handles to resize, alignment guides that snap (Ctrl to place freely), arrow-key nudge (Shift for ten pixels), and multi-selection with Shift+click or a marquee, dragged as a group in a single undo step.

Toolbox of Windows controls

Button, Text, Attribute/Variable, Rectangle, Line, Image, Grid, Tab and Group Box. The control lands in whatever container is under the cursor — a tab page, a grid column — and inherits the font, colours and border style of its new siblings.

Grid columns and tab pages

Arrange Columns lists every column with its width and buttons to add, delete and move. Adding a column asks for its binding through the shared picker, and binding to an undeclared variable declares it in #Variables.

The properties the designer shows

A Work Panel exposes its full set of 38 properties (Triggers, ConfirmTransactions, BorderStyle, ModalDialog, JoinManagement…) and each control's come from the Sync Engine's catalogue: a button went from 11 properties to 22, a data control from 20 to 64, in the IDE's order and under its headings.

Byte-for-byte round-trip

The XML survives an open/close cycle unchanged: declared encoding, CRLF endings, indentation, empty blocks and property order. Setting a property back to its default removes it from the file instead of writing it, exactly as the Engine stores forms.

Multi-generator and dynamic forms

A form declared for more than one generator shows a tab per variant (Windows / Text / Mobile): Windows is rendered, the others preserved untouched. Forms marked dynamic are read-only with a banner offering to unlock them.

The Win Form editor requires KB Sync Engine v1.7.6 or later (v1.7.6.1+ for the Work Panel's full property set). Why it matters: the screens of a legacy Windows system become text an AI can read and edit — the real starting point for Windows-to-Web migrations with an assistant that understands the original screens.

6. Visual Report Layout Editor

Procedures with printed output externalize their layout as a .gxLayout file, and KB Editor edits it visually, band by band.

PrintBlocks on paper

Each band is drawn with paper-relative positioning, with a ruler, snap-to-grid, band resize and an overflow indicator when a control runs past the right margin.

Copy between bands

Copy, cut and paste controls between PrintBlocks with multi-selection (shift-click and marquee), fresh internal names per pasted control and positions clamped to the destination band.

Properties and keyboard

GX Properties panel for every control in the layout, and fine-grained movement with the arrow keys.

Synced like any source

Saving the .gxLayout registers it as a change and KB Sync internalizes it into the KB, just like a .gxSource or a .gxForm.

7. Visual Pattern Editor

Interactive tree with icons

Expand/collapse pattern nodes in a visual view, each with its real icon. Click any node to see and edit its properties.

Inline editing

Double-click to edit embedded GeneXus code with full IntelliSense, preserving the original indentation. Escape returns to the visual view.

External-change diff

If the .gxPattern changes on disk while you have it open — by an AI, a git pull or a text edit — affected nodes are marked green/amber and a banner summarizes what was added, modified or removed.

Find bar (Ctrl+F)

Search inside the tree by node caption, tag, attribute value or content, with match navigation and automatic expansion of ancestors.

Full synchronization

Visual changes are written back to the underlying XML byte for byte. No data loss between modes.

Extensible

Third-party pattern plugins (e.g. PxTools) can register custom property types, editors and icons.

8. GX Properties Panel

A dedicated side panel showing the real GeneXus properties of the selected element, with hierarchical categories, collapsible groups, per-property visibility rules and type-aware editors. Complex properties are no longer read-only: Values opens the two-column editor, Item Values and Instantiated Attributes the attribute picker, Conditions and a Data Provider's parameters the code editor, and Font the font editor.

9. Specify, Generate and Compile without leaving the editor

With KB Sync Engine running, KB Editor requests the full GeneXus cycle from the context menu of any .gxSource or .gxPattern — even across several objects at once.

Four commands

Specify, Specify + Generate, Build (compile) and Build Called (compile including the tree of called objects).

Builds tab

Live status of each request (sent → queued → running → result) with a per-object badge: OK, WA, ER, SK and NS for objects that aren't specified on their own.

Errors in the Problems panel

Specification errors appear as native VS Code diagnostics at the exact line and column of the .gxSource; compilation errors at file level. They clear themselves when the object comes back clean.

Navigations tab

The current navigation set per environment, filterable by object or by the last N builds. One click opens the Navigation Report with the IDE's own look.

Environment and Build All

Environment selector right in the tab (or locked from the Manager) and a Build All button to specify the whole Knowledge Base.

Automatic builds

Builds the engine triggers after importing your changes appear tagged as automatic and filtered per user: everyone sees the result of their own work.

Reorg pending

When a build is cancelled because the KB needs a database reorganization, the card says so — 'Reorg pending' — with the Engine's explanation of what to reorganize. Apply the reorg from the IDE (Build > Impact Database Tables) and the Retry button re-sends the same request.

The build pipeline requires KB Sync Engine v1.5.6 or later. With an older engine, KB Editor hides these controls and keeps working normally.

10. Professional Icon Theme

Instant visual identification of GeneXus object types in the Explorer:

Icon	Object Type
TR	Transaction
PR	Procedure
WP	WebPanel
WC	WebComponent
DP	DataProvider
DS	DataSelector
SD	Structured Data Type
WK	Work Panel (Win Form)
FL	File (attachment)
A	Attribute
D	Domain
M	Module

11. KB Synchronization Status

Visual panel

Tabbed side view with the status of every change (imported, pending, error, skipped).

Per-developer tracking

Identify which developer made each change, and watch the exports arriving from the KB.

Sibling files included

.gxForm, .gxWinForm, .gxLayout and .gxFile are tracked alongside their .gxSource: the object is flagged as changed no matter which of its files you touched.

Skipped saves, with the reason

Saves the editor intentionally discards (the echo of a re-export, unresolved merge markers, a duplicate within 5 seconds, an unrecognized file) show up with a 'Skipped' badge and a plain-language explanation, instead of vanishing and leaving you with 'I saved and nothing happened'.

Move and rename as one change

Moving or renaming an object on disk is detected as a single 'renamed' change carrying its previous path, instead of a delete plus a create.

Reconciliation

On-demand or periodic scan for external changes, including those made by tools outside the editor or brought in by a git pull.

Conflict detection

Warns about merge conflicts in tracked files before they reach the Knowledge Base.

Discard a failed import

If an object couldn't be internalized, the panel flags it as blocked and offers to discard the local changes and re-export it from the KB with one click.

Configurable

Configurable retention and automatic cleanup rules (default: 7 days or 500 entries).