A .w file opened in the AppBuilder is displayed graphically in the GUI Designer design canvas. In addition, the code within the .w file is displayed in the ABL editor. The ABL editor allows full editing of the valid .w file. The textual and graphical views of the .w file are synchronized.
A modified marker * appears on both the views when you make a change in any of the view. The changes are synchronized when you switch views, and when you save the file. Thus, changes that you make in one view are immediately reflected in the other.
Synchronization is not performed immediately. The synchronization is performed when:
Focus changes from the design window to view source editor.
The ABL Editor loses focus.
It is possible that an analyzer error or a syntax error in the ABL Editor might make synchronization with the AppBuilder impossible. In this case, the window corresponding to the .w file in the AppBuilder closes. It is no longer valid, and cannot be modified. However, you can still use the ABL Editor to edit the .w file.
Once the file in the ABL Code Editor is updated, and synchronization takes place, the AppBuilder tries to load the .w file and the window opens if there are no errors.
The Edit > Undo feature or the local history feature can be used to recover a version of the file that will not cause an error while loading in the AppBuilder.
Focus changes from the design window to view source editor.