3.9.1 Sorting items in views

You can sort the items displayed in the main area of any view using the Preferences for a given tool.

To specify the sorting for the Class Browser, for example:

1. Raise the Preferences dialog as described in Setting preferences.
2. Select the tool (the Class Browser in this example) in the list on the left. Note that an image representing each tool is shown alongside the tool names:

Figure 3.8 Example General Preferences




Notice that tool Preferences, such as the one shown above, have several tabs. In these cases, the options described in this section are always available in the General tab, so select this tab if necessary.

3. Choose one of the options in the Sort area to specify the sort order of items in Class Browser windows.

The options available vary according to the tool, but at least the following will be available:

By Name

Sorts symbols in a list or graph according to the name of each item. The packages that the symbols are resident in are ignored when this option is used; thus, the symbol vv:allocate would be listed before aa:vectorize .

By Package

Sorts symbols in a list or graph according to the package they are listed in. Thus, all symbols in the aa package would be listed together, as would all symbols in the vv package. In addition, the aa package would be listed before the vv package. Within a given package, objects are listed in alphabetical order when using this option: thus, aa:carry-out-conditions would be listed before aa:vectorize .

Unsorted

Lists all symbols in a graph or list in the order in which they are occur naturally in the object being examined. This can sometimes be a useful option in itself, and is always the quickest option available. You may sometimes want to use this option if you are displaying a large number of items and you are not filtering those items in any way.

The option you specify takes effect when you click OK in the Preferences dialog. Your setting affects existing tools and is remembered for use when you create the same type of tool in the future.

Note: There are sometimes other sort options available in the Sort area of the Preferences dialog, depending on the nature of the tool itself. These options are described in the chapter specific to each tool.

Only those views whose main area consists of a list or a graph can be sorted. In particular, the default views of tools such as the Listener or the Editor, which is an editor window which you can type directly into, cannot be sorted.