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CliffyP
Ketchup Master

56 Posts

Posted - Mar 27 2017 :  12:38:35 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
How-about a view akin to the outline view, but including everything accessible (like globals for example) in the current scope (wherever the caret is). This view should be filterable like the navigation bar (actually why isn't the va outline view filterable?).

feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19014 Posts

Posted - Mar 27 2017 :  2:19:20 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Aren't you just asking for a listbox? This shows you all symbols that you can call at the current position.

By the navigation bar, do you mean the Alt-M list of methods in the file? This is filterable to help you jump to a given function in the file.

What is the advantage of making VA Outline filterable? You would loose the overview of the file, and loose the ability to drag and drop while the filter was active.

Am I missing something here?

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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CliffyP
Ketchup Master

56 Posts

Posted - Mar 27 2017 :  3:32:06 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
quote:
Aren't you just asking for a listbox? This shows you all symbols that you can call at the current position.


The listbox only shows what it thinks you want based on what you type. I am talking about a view window that shows ya all of it so that you can peruse it.

quote:
By the navigation bar, do you mean the Alt-M list of methods in the file? This is filterable to help you jump to a given function in the file.


yes

quote:
What is the advantage of making VA Outline filterable? You would loose the overview of the file, and loose the ability to drag and drop while the filter was active.


that makes sense.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19014 Posts

Posted - Mar 28 2017 :  06:07:02 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Are you thinking about all global symbols? One of the classes in your solution? Local variables?

One thought is to type "::", since this will give you a much larger listbox of items to consider, but this may not be what you are looking for here.

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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CliffyP
Ketchup Master

56 Posts

Posted - Mar 28 2017 :  10:18:10 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
yes, everything visible from the current scope. Whatever the scope is 'aware' of.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19014 Posts

Posted - Mar 29 2017 :  08:55:20 AM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
What are you looking for here? What are you trying to achieve?

You say you want the list to be filterable, but listboxes are already filterable. Since you want the ability to filter, I assume you have some vague idea of the symbol name you are interested in. If so, why not turn on both:

VA Options -> Enhanced Listboxes -> Shrink as you type
VA Options -> Enhanced Listboxes -> Allow Acronyms and Shorthand

then type the text you would filter on, and press CTRL-SPACE if you only get a suggestion listbox, to get the full list of valid suggestions at this point. This will include local symbols that match your filter, and will give you a LOT of symbols to consider, especially if you only have 1 or 2 characters as your filter.

I am not sure why looking at such a long list of symbols is going to be helpful though. Without some idea of the symbol name, how are you going to find what you want?

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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CliffyP
Ketchup Master

56 Posts

Posted - Mar 29 2017 :  12:27:26 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Ok I get the impression you want a detailed description, I'll flesh out what I'm thinking then.

The listbox suggestions are not that peruse-able, they are but a porthole into an ocean.

Listboxes assume you know when you want for the most part. I'm asking for a view unto the whole shebang, so that I can browse thru it. Basically take the list box functionality to start with and make it into its own persistent window like the va outline. When no text filter is specified it shows everything. It should have the same filtering options as the listbox plus it should have filter by project, and filter by externals. The way it displays types should ideally be similar to the va outline where types our expandable/collapseable to reveal/hide their fields and methods. In terms of interaction, also similar to va outline, double click to sync editor, etc. In terms of updating, updating should be explicit, i.e. have a button to do it, that way its not constantly trying to update every time the caret changes positions, and plus it would help keep it consistent until your ready to change scope/context.

Basically its purpose is not so much to find something specific, but is to help build awareness/understanding/comprehension of the code-base, and as a kind of reference tool.

I feel like if ya combine va outline with va listboxes into one feature, your 90% there.
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feline
Whole Tomato Software

United Kingdom
19014 Posts

Posted - Mar 29 2017 :  3:34:39 PM  Show Profile  Reply with Quote
Are you aware of the Find Symbol dialog:

https://wholetomato.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W194

which gives you an overview of symbols / classes and their members, that are defined in the current solution? If you want to focus more on the members of a single class or structure, the HCB, bottom half of VA View, should be helpful here:

https://wholetomato.fogbugz.com/default.asp?W222#hcb

zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness
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