<type>documentation</type>
<domain>edit</domain>
<id>transient</id>
<title>Transient, Sticky, and Locked Editors</title>
<date>$Date$</date>
<version>$Revision$</version>
<product>all</product>

In order to prevent accumulation of many briefly-visited open files, Wing can open files 
in several modes that control how and when they are closed.

~~~if WING101:
**Transient Mode** -- Wing opens some files in a non-sticky transient mode that will automatically
close the file again when unused and unedited.  This is done for files opened when 
debugging, or when navigating to a symbol's point of definition.

**Sticky Mode** -- Files opened from the ``File`` menu (including ``Open from Keyboard``)
or from the keyboard file selector will be opened in sticky mode, and are kept open until
they are explicitly closed, even if they are not edited. 
~~~

~~~if not WING101:
**Transient Mode** -- Wing opens some files in a non-sticky transient mode that will automatically
close the file again when unused and unedited.  This is done for files opened when 
searching, debugging, navigating to a symbol's point of definition or points of use,
and when using the ``Project`` or ``Source Browser`` tools  with the ``Follow Selection`` 
checkbox enabled.

The maximum number of non-visible transient files to keep open at any given time can be
set with the `Editor > Advanced > Maximum Non-Sticky Editors
<script:show_preferences_gui#prefname="gui.max-non-sticky-editors">`__ preference. By
default, Wing keeps five transient editors open at a time, and closes the least recently
used ones as new transient files are opened.

**Sticky Mode** -- Files opened from the ``File`` menu (including ``Open from Project`` and
``Open from Keyboard``), by `File Set <ref:edit/file-sets>`__ or by double
clicking on items in the ``Project`` or ``Source Browser`` tools will be opened in sticky
mode, and are kept open until they are explicitly closed, even if they are not edited.

**Locked Mode** -- In Wing Pro and Wing Personal, when multiple splits are visible, 
a third mode is available, where the file is locked into the editor split.  In this case, 
the split is not reused to display any newly opened or visited files, except when 
no other unlocked splits are present.
~~~

A file can be switched between these modes by clicking on the stick pin icon in
the upper right of the editor area.  Transient files that are edited are 
immediately converted to sticky mode and cannot be set back to transient mode
until the changes are saved.

Right-click on the stick pin icon for a menu of files that were recently
visited in the associated editor or editor split.  Each item in the menu indicates
whether it was last visited in transient or sticky mode.

