7.3 Examining superclasses and subclasses

The hierarchy view of the Class Browser lists the immediate superclasses and subclasses of the current class. This view can be useful for navigating the class hierarchy if you want to be able to see both superclasses and subclasses at the same time.

Click on the Hierarchy tab to browse classes with the hierarchy view. The hierarchy view shown in Viewing superclass and subclass information in the Class Browser appears.

Viewing superclass and subclass information in the Class Browser

The areas available in the hierarchy view are described below.

7.3.1 Class box

As with other views in the Class Browser, the name of the class being browsed is given here. See 7.2.1 Class box for more details.

7.3.2 Superclasses list

This list displays the immediate superclasses of the current class. Double-clicking on any class makes it the current class.

Selecting a class in this list displays its description in the Description list.

7.3.3 Subclasses list

This list displays the immediate subclasses of the current class. Double-clicking on any class makes it the current class.

Selecting a class in this list displays its description in the Description list.

7.3.4 Description list

This list displays a description of the first class selected in either the Superclasses or Subclasses lists, or the current class if there is no selection in either of these lists. The following information is printed:

Package	The name of the package that the selected class is defined in.
Name	The name of the selected class.
Metaclass	The class of the selected class. The metaclass is the class of Lisp object that the current class belongs to.
Accessibility	The accessibility of the selected class - whether the symbol is external or internal, as returned by find-symbol.

To operate on any of the items displayed in this area, select them and choose a command from the Description menu. This menu contains the standard actions commands described in 3.8 Performing operations on selected objects. You can operate on more than one item at once by making a multiple selection in this area.

7.3.5 Performing operations on the selected classes or the current class

You can use the Classes menu to perform operations on any number of items selected in either the Subclasses area or the Superclasses area. If no items are selected, then the current class is operated on by the commands in this submenu. The standard actions commands described in 3.8 Performing operations on selected objects are available in this submenu.

Choose Classes > Browse Metaclass to select, and describe in the normal way, the class of the selected classes, or the current class.

Note: If more than one item is selected, and the command chosen from the Classes menu invokes a tool which can only display one item at a time, then the extra items are added to the History > Items submenu of the tool, so that you can easily display them.