The Declaration Explorer is an efficient tool window for doing all tasks related to the declarations, such as adding, editing, inputting, etc. In the Declaration Explorer, all the local declarations (including the parameters) of the current procedure and all the global declarations (including the validities) of the current document are listed in ascending order or in groups according to the declaration types. You can change the way of listing declarations by clicking on the "Group declarations by type" button. Each declaration is displayed with detailed information such as name, type, visibility, specification, and initial value. When you hover the mouse over a declaration for a while, you can see this information clearly with the pop-up tooltip.
As a tool window, the Declaration Explorer can be docked, floating, opened, closed, resized, or set to auto-hide. When starting the OTF for the first time, the Declaration Explorer is already opened and docked under the
Solution Explorer. You can open or close this editor via the
"Display declaration window" button (
) in the
Ribbon.
Functions and features
The functions and features of the Declaration Explorer are described in the following sections.
Adding a new declaration
To add a new declaration via the Declaration Explorer, please proceed as follows:
- Click on the drop-down button on the right of the Add (declaration type)... button at the top of this tool window.
- Click to select the type of declaration that you want to create.
- When the setting dialog box for the new declaration occurs, input all the required settings for the new declaration.
- Click the OK button to add the new declaration.
- Now the new declaration appears in the Declaration Explorer for use.
- If you want to add another declaration of the same type, just click on the Add (declaration type)... button again; otherwise, click on the drop-down button to select another declaration type.
Making changes to a declaration
To edit a declaration via the Declaration Explorer, please proceed as follows:
- Double-click on a declaration in the Declaration Explorer.
- The setting dialog box for the declaration occurs.
- Make any necessary changes to the declaration's settings.
- Click the OK button to apply the changes.
Inputting a declaration into an activity
To input a declaration into an activity via the Declaration Explorer, please proceed as follows:
- Find the declaration in the Declaration Explorer.
- Drag the declaration from the Declaration Explorer and drop on the activity in the designer.
- There may be 3 cases:
- If the activity does not have any properties of the same data type as the declaration, nothing happens.
- If the activity has only one property of the same data type as the declaration, the declaration is automatically input into the corresponding property.
- If the activity has many properties of the same data type as the declaration, a context menu appears with a list of all the corresponding properties (if the declaration has the same name as one of the properties, that property with the same name will be displayed on the top). Select one of the properties in the list, and the declaration is input into the selected property.
Using a declaration to create a new Assignment activity
To use a declaration in the Declaration Explorer to create a new Assignment activity, please proceed as follows:
- Find the declaration in the Declaration Explorer.
- Drag the declaration from the Declaration Explorer and drop it onto a flow connector (on a green plus) in the designer.
- There may be 2 cases:
- If the declaration is a constant (or a context variable, or an in-parameter), a new Assignment is created at the current position with the declaration already input into the Term property.
- If the declaration is a variable (or out- / inout-parameter), a new Assignment is created at the current position with the declaration already input into the Result property.
You can not add a new Assignment by dragging and dropping of a validity from the Declaration Explorer.
