The Object Browser: Objects Pane
Keyboard: CTRL + ALT + J
Menu: View –> Object Browser
Command: View.ObjectBrowser
Versions: 2008,2010
Published: 8/31/2010
Code: vstipTool0082
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When working with the Object Browser you will find yourself working in the Objects Pane quite a bit:
The Objects Pane displays an expandable list of symbols whose top-level nodes represent components or namespaces (based on your choice in the settings) available in the current browsing scope. These top-level nodes typically contain symbols that contain other symbols. To expand or collapse a node selected in the list, click its arrow sign or press the ENTER key on the keypad.
When you RIGHT CLICK in the Objects Pane you will see a list of options. What you see depends on the item chosen but it will generally be this list:
Here is a description of the possible options and what they do:
Go To Definition—will take you to the line of code where the item is defined:
Browse Definition--takes you to the primary node (typically top level) for the selected symbol in the Object Browser:
Find All References—performs a search on the currently selected object symbol using the current browsing scope with results shown in the Find Symbol dialog:
Filter To Type—shows only the selected type in the Objects pane. Essentially, it makes the selected item the top level item in the pane. It is particularly useful for focusing on a single namespace or component:
This is just a search on the item selected and you can take the filter off by clicking on the Clear Search button to the right of the Search box:
Copy—copies a symbol reference that can be pasted into a designer; also copies the full path and name of the selected item to the Clipboard.
View Namespaces—sets the highest-level items in the Objects pane are logical namespaces. Namespaces stored in multiple physical containers are merged.
View Containers (default)—set the highest-level items in the Objects pane to physical containers, such as projects, components, assemblies, source browser (.bsc) files, and output type libraries (.tlb). These can be expanded to show the namespaces they contain:
Sort Alphabetically (default)—items are listed alphabetically by their names in ascending order:
Sort by Object Type—items are listed in order of their type, such as base classes, followed by derived classes, interfaces, methods, and so forth:
Sort by Object Access—items are listed in order of their access type, such as public or private:
Group by Object Type—items are sorted into groups by type, such as classes, interfaces, properties, methods, etc. This is a pretty cool organization feature that you can use:
Go To Declaration—takes you to the declaration of the symbol in the code, if available. This is available only in Visual C++ projects.