Customize the PDI client

The PDI client allows you to customize certain aspects of its behavior, along with the look and feel of the interface. The following table describes each of these options, which can be accessed from the menu bar: Go to Tools > Options, then in the Kettle Options dialog box, select the Look & Feel tab.

Option	Description
Fixed width font	This option customizes the font that is used in the dialog boxes, trees, input fields, and more; click Edit to edit the font or Delete to return the font to its default value.
Font on workspace	This option customizes font that is used in the PDI client interface; click Edit to edit the font or Delete to return the font to its default value.
Font for notes	This option customizes the font used in notes that are displayed in the PDI client; click Edit to edit the font or Delete to return the font to its default value.
Background color	This option sets the background color in the PDI client and affects all dialog boxes; click Edit to edit the color or Delete to return the background color to its default value.
Workspace background color	This option sets the background color in the graphical view of the PDI client; click Edit to edit the background color or Delete to return the background color to its default value.
Tab color	This option customizes the color that is being used to indicate tabs that are active/selected; click Edit to edit the tab color or Delete to return the color to its default value.
Icon size in workspace	Affects the size of the icons in the graph window. The original size of an icon is 32x32 pixels. The best results (graphically) are probably at sizes 16,24,32,48,64 and other multiples of 32.
Line width on workspace	Affects the line width of the hops in the PDI client graphical view and the border around the step.
Shadow size on workspace	If this size is larger than 0, a shadow of the steps, hops, and notes is drawn on the canvas, making it look like the transformation floats above the canvas.
Dialog middle percentage	By default, a parameter is drawn at 35% of the width of the dialog box, counted from the left. You can change using this option in instances where you use unusually large fonts.
Canvas Grid Size	Indicates the size of the grid on the PDI client canvas.
Show Canvas Grid	Enabling this option will show a dotted grid on the PDI client canvas.
Canvas anti-aliasing	Some platforms like Windows, OSX and Linux support anti-aliasing through GDI, Carbon or Cairo. Enable this option for smoother lines and icons in your graph view. If you enable the option and your environment does not work, change the value for option EnableAntiAliasing to N in file *$HOME*/.kettle/.spoonrc (C:\Documents and Settings\<user>\.kettle\.spoonrc on Windows).
Show bottleneck transformation steps	If a step in the transformation is processing slowly, a graphic displays around that step to make the bottleneck visible.
Use look of OS	Enabling this option on Windows allows you to use the default system settings for fonts and colors in the PDI client. On other platforms, the default is always enabled.
Show branding graphics	Enabling this option will draw Pentaho Data Integration branding graphics on the canvas and in the left-hand side "expand bar."
Preferred Language	Specifies the preferred language setting.
Alternative Language	Specifies the alternative language setting. Because the original language in which Pentaho Data Integration was written is English, it is best to set this locale to English.

PDI client options

The PDI client allows you to customize certain aspects of its behavior. To access the options, choose Tools > Options. The following table describes the General tab options for working with transformations and jobs:

Option	Description
Preview data batch size	Sets batch size of the preview data buffer. When you preview data, this option sets the buffer size used for these values.
Max number of lines in the logging windows	Specifies the maximum limit of rows to display in the logging window.
Central log line store timeout in minutes	Indicates the number of minutes before the central log line store times out.
Max number of lines in the log history	Specifies the maximum limit of line to display in the log history views.
Show welcome page at startup	Controls whether or not to display the Welcome page when launching the PDI client.
Use database cache	The PDI client caches information that is stored on the source and target databases. In some instances, caching causes incorrect results when you are making database changes. To prevent errors you can disable the cache altogether instead of clearing the cache every time.
Open last file at startup	Loads the last transformation you used (opened or saved) from XML or repository automatically.
Autosave changed files	Automatically saves a changed transformation before running.
Only show the active file in the main tree	Reduces the number of transformation and job items in the main tree on the left by only showing the currently active file.
Only save used connections to XML	Limits the XML export of a transformation to the used connections in that transformation. This is helpful while exchanging sample transformations to avoid having all defined connections to be included.
Replace existing objects on open/import	Replaces objects, such as existing database connections, during import. If the Ask before replacing objects is also checked, you will be prompted before the import occurs. Requests permission before replacing objects, such as existing database connections during import.
Ask before replacing objects	Requests permission before replacing objects, such as existing database connections during import.
Show Save dialog	Allows you to turn off the confirmation dialogs you receive when a transformation has been changed.
Automatically split hops	Disables the confirmation messages that launch when you want to split a hop.
Show Copy or Distribute dialog	Disables the warning message that appears when you link a step to multiple outputs. This warning message describes the two options for handling multiple outputs:- Distribute rows Destination steps receive the rows in turns (round robin). Copy rows All rows are sent to all destinations.
Show repository dialog at startup	Controls whether or not the Repository dialog box appears at startup.
Ask user when exiting	Controls whether or not to display a confirmation dialog when a user chooses to exit the application.
Clear custom parameters (steps/plugins)	Clears all parameters and flags that were set in the plug-in or step dialog boxes.
Auto collapse palette tree	Indicates whether the palette tree should be collapsed automatically.
Display tooltips	Controls whether or not to display tool tips for the buttons on the main tool bar.
Show help tooltips	Displays help tool tips. A tool tip is a short description that appears when you hover the mouse pointer over an object in the PDI client.