Using a tree browser

Regardless of what kind of information you are using the tree browser to view, the interface is basically the same.

The main part of the tree browser window is a tree graph. There is one node in the graph which is the `root node'; it is the particular function (or other object) which you are examining. The name of the root node is displayed in the title bar of the tree browser window. You can expand ancestors (i.e. callers, if you are looking at a function, or superclasses, if you are looking at a class) of the root node towards the left, and descendents (callees, or subclasses) of the root node towards the right. You may go as many levels as you want away from the root node. However, if you wish to look at an ancestor of a descendent of the root node, for example, you will need to reroot your graph. (See more on rerooting, below.)

To expand ancestors or descendents of a node, click the plus sign next to the node. If there is no plus sign, it means there is nothing you can expand. To contract something you have expanded, click the minus sign.

If you wish to expand many things at once, there are four ways to do it, and they are available from the Expand menu, or from the four purple expansion buttons on the toolbar.

To expand all of the nodes on the descendent side of the graph, until there are no more descendents, or until recursion is detected, do one of the following:

Note that performing this expansion on a large program may take an extremely long time, and may yield unmanageable results anyway. To cancel this operation, press Esc.

To do the similar expansion for the ancestor side of the graph, do one of the following:

Perhaps more useful than expanding all the nodes is the ability to expand one level of nodes.

To expand one more level of descendents, do one of the following:

This is basically equivalent to clicking the plus sign on every node in the descendent side of the graph.

To do the same thing to ancestors, do one of the following:

Related topics:


Previous

Next



Copyright © 1999, Green Hills Software. All rights reserved.