3.8 Performing operations on selected objects

3.8.1 Operations available

The standard action commands available are described below. In these descriptions, the term "current object" refers to the Lisp object that is being acted upon by the menu command. This depends on the tool being used and the menu in which the command appears, but should be obvious from the context.

Choose Browse to browse the current object using an appropriate browser. A browser is a tool which lets you examine a particular type of Common Lisp object, and there are a large number of them available in the environment. Some of the browsers available are:

the class browser, which lets you examine CLOS classes
the generic function browser, which lets you examine the generic functions in the environment, and the methods you have defined on them
the system browser, which lets you examine, load and compile the systems you have defined, and gives you easy access to the members of any system

See the appropriate chapters for a full description of each browser; there is a chapter of this manual devoted each to available browser. The precise name of the Browse menu command reflects the type of browser that is used to examine the selected object. Thus, if the command is Browse - Generic Function, a generic function browser is used.

Choose Class to look at the class of the current object in a class browser. See Chapter 9, "The Class Browser" for full details about this tool.

Choose Copy to copy the current object to the clipboard, thus making it available for use elsewhere in the environment. Note that performing this operation on the object currently being examined by the tool (for example, choosing the command from the Objects menu in the inspector) has the same effect as choosing Edit > Copy, whereas choosing this option from other menus (such as an Items menu) copies more discrete information to the clipboard.

Choose Documentation to display the Common Lisp documentation for the current object, if any exists. It is printed in a special output browser window.

Choose Find Source to search for the source code definition of the current object. If it is found, the file is displayed in the editor: the cursor is placed at the start of the definition. See Chapter 8, "The Editor" for an introduction to the editor.

You can find only the definitions of objects you have defined yourself (those for which you have written source code) -- not those provided by the environment.

Choose Inspect to invoke an inspector on the current object. See Chapter 11, "The Inspector", for details about the inspector. If you are ever in any doubt about which object is operated on by a standard action command, choose this command.

Choose Listen to paste the current object into the listener. Chapter 7, "The Listener" provides you with full details about this tool.

Choose Generic Function to describe the current object in a generic function browser. See Chapter 13, "The Generic Function Browser" for more details.

Common LispWorks User Guide, Liquid Common Lisp Version 5.0 - 18 OCT 1996

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