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### 6.7 The symbol browser

The symbol browser allows to find all occurrences of a symbol. A symbol can be a variable, type, procedure or constant that occurs in the program or unit sources.

To enable the symbol browser, the program or unit must be compiled with browser information. This can be done by setting the browser information options in the compiler options dialog.

The IDE allows to browse several types of symbols:

procedures
  Allows to quickly jump to a procedure definition or implementation.
Objects
  Allows to quickly browse an object.
Modules
  Allows to browse a module.
Globals
  Allows to browse any global symbol.
Arbitrary symbol
  Allows to browse an arbitrary symbol.

In all cases, first a symbol to be browsed must be selected. After that, a browse window appears. In the browse window, all locations where the symbol was encountered are shown. Selecting a location and pressing the space bar will cause the editor to jump to that location; the line containing the symbol will be highlighted.

If the location is in a source file that is not yet displayed, a new window will be opened with the source file loaded.

After the desired location was reached, the browser window can be closed with the usual commands.

The behaviour of the browser can be customized with the browser options dialog, using the ”Options--Browser” menu. The browser options dialog looks like figure (6.9).

Figure 6.9: | The browser options dialog.

The following options can be set in the browser options dialog:

Symbols
  Here the types of symbols displayed in the browser can be selected:
  Labels
    labels are shown.
  Constants
    Constants are shown.
  Types
    Types are shown.
  Variables
    Variables are shown.
  Procedures
    Procedures are shown.
  Inherited
Sub-browsing
  Specifies what the browser should do when displaying the members of a complex symbol such as a record or class:
  New browser
    The members are shown in a new browser window.
  Replace current
    The contents of the current window are replaced with the members of the selected complex symbol.
Preferred pane
  Specifies what pane is shown in the browser when it is initially opened:
  scope
  Reference
Display
  Determines how the browser should display the symbols:
  Qualified symbols
  Sort always
    sorts the symbols in the browser window.

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