How to Use Quick Views in the DVT Eclipse IDE

Overview

Many of the views provided by DVT have a "Quick" pop-up version, which can be opened with just a keyboard shortcut.

While editing, you might find it more convenient to work with the editor maximized, since it allows you to use more screen space for code.

By using the Quick Views, you still have the full navigation power of DVT at the tip of your fingers.

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Details

Maximizing the Editor

In the default layout of DVT, you get the editor in the middle, surrounded by lots of views. While editing, you might find it more convenient to work with the editor maximized, since it allows you to use more screen space for code.

Double-click on the editor's title bar, or press Ctrl-M to maximize it. Drag an editor by the title bar and drop it over the horizontal or vertical scroll bar to see multiple files side-by-side.

Quick Views

However, when working in this layout, it's cumbersome to toggle the editor maximization in order to access data from a view. And even when the editor is not maximized, sometimes taking your hands off the keyboard to click in a view's filter box feels like it's getting in the way. This is when Quick Views can really speed things up.

  • To open a file, press Ctrl-I for the Quick Compile Order View. Type in a few letters to locate the file you want to open.

  • To open a type declaration, press Ctrl-Shift-T for the Quick Types View. Again, you can type in a few letters to locate a class and open it in the editor. This works for classes, modules, interfaces, enums, covergroups and so on.

  • To see the object-oriented inheritance tree of a class, place the editor cursor on the class name and press Ctrl-T for the Quick Type Hierarchy View.

  • To see where a method is implemented in the object-oriented inheritance tree of a class, place the editor cursor on the function name and press Ctrl-T.

  • To navigate inside the current file, press Ctrl-O for the Quick Outline View.

  • To open a preprocessing macro definition, press Ctrl-Shift-D for the Quick Macros View.

There is also an easy way to learn or recall the shortcuts: right-click in the editor and go to the Show submenu. It lists all the available quick views and their shortcuts.