Using Hyperlinks in DVT - Part I - Open Declaration

Description

Just by holding down the Control key, all the identifiers in your code become hyperlinks. Like in a Web Browser, you can easily navigate your code, going for example to the declaration of classes, modules, functions, signals, macros, etc. A browsing history of the visited locations is also available.

Transcript

When exploring algorithms or the architecture of a design, it often happens that you want to take a quick look around. Suppose you want to see how a function is implemented, or quickly see how a macro is defined.

Using Hyperlinks to Open Declarations

When you place the mouse cursor over an identifier while holding down the Ctrl key, the identifier becomes a hyperlink and a list of navigation options is displayed.

The first option is Open Declaration. This is the default action when you click directly on the identifier. Let's do this for a type declaration.

You can go back and forth between visited locations, just like in a web browser. And you can also go back to the last edited location.

F3 is the keyboard shortcut for Open Declaration. The editor cursor must be placed on the identifier beforehand.

We'll explore some of the other types of hyperlinks in Part II.