Result view of a reference search
This view displays the results of the reference search for the instance that is selected in the Design Explorer view or the result view of a search. This reference search was requested from the References choice of the instance contextual menu.
The view title and its associated tooltip display the name and project of the instance that was the origin of the search.
The instances that are found by the search are preceded by the icon that represents their entity type. This entity type can be viewed in the tooltip that is associated with each instance.
References of an instance
- The super references: the instances that reference the current instance,
- The subreferences: the instances that are referenced by the current instance.
The composition links include the free references. Free references are links that are set when the name of a target instance is entered in some text fields of a source instance. The target instance is not necessarily defined. In this case, it is preceded by the icon of the entity that is entered in the input field but this icon is grayed.
For more information, see The free references.
References of a generated file
If you started the subreference search from a generated file (.cbl file of a Program, Screen, or Server in the Pacbase facet), the result view displays the instances that were involved in the file generation.
- The design instance that constituted the entry point to generate the COBOL file.
- The instances that are called in micropatterns. The Data Elements that are called in micropatterns WF, WE, WI, and WS are then displayed.
- The Data Elements that are inserted manually in the code of the PROCEDURE DIVISION. The number of usages of each Data Element in the COBOL file is indicated with usage(n), where n is the number of usages of the Data Element.
Possible actions on the references
- Open the instance in its design editor.
- Open the instance in another editor. You can also open it in its COBOL editor if the entity contains a COBOL description.
- Generate the instance. If you have updated the
design of a generatable instance (Program or Screen for example), the newly generated code will
integrate the changes in the design, while keeping any specific changes in the code.
The preference Structure checking before generation management, which is available from , checks that the nesting of subfunctions in the COBOL code is correct before the generation. By default, it blocks the generation if structure errors are detected.
- Search for its own super references or subreferences, which are then in turn displayed in the References view.
- Publish the instance (Pacbase facet). A multiple selection is possible.
- Add the instance to the publish session (Add to session choice in the Pacbase facet). A multiple selection is possible.
If you right-click a Data Element, you can select Usage search. This search detects the Data Element usages in the code that is entered manually in the PROCEDURE DIVISION of Programs, Screens, or Servers (files with a cbl extension). Selecting Usage search opens a dialog box where you can filter the cbl files on which the search is to run. When you click OK in the dialog box, you switch to the Usage Search view where the results of each usage are displayed.
Toolbar
- Open the design editor of a calling instance with Previous match (
) and Next match (
).These actions are also available from the contextual menu. Therefore, they are explained with the other choices of the contextual menu.
- Cancel the current search (
)
- View the previous reference searches (
). Click the symbol that is associated with the icon to display a menu that contains the following choices:
- The previous instances from which you requested a reference search. Select one of these instances to see its references in the view.
- The History choice. This choice
opens a window that shows the previous instances from which you requested
a reference search. From this window, you can complete the following
actions:
- Select an instance and display its references (Open or Open in new view) or remove this instance from the history (Remove),
- Change the number of instances that are displayed in the history (10 is the default) by clicking the Configure link.
- The Clear History choice, to remove all the previous searches from the history.
- Export the query result (
) in a CSV format that can be used in a spreadsheet program. In the export wizard, you must select a file with a .CSV extension. Then, if you click Next, you can select the data to be exported.
- Switch from the super references to the subreferences of
the current instance (
),
- Switch from the subreferences to the super references of
the current instance (
).
- Modify the way that the instances are shown in this
view. Click the triangle (View menu) and select
one of the following choices:
- Sort to specify a new sort criterion. This new criterion is then automatically saved and associated with this view until you change it again.
- Display to display more information
for each instance line in the tree. To remove some additional information
from the line, select it again in the menu. This new criterion is
then automatically saved and associated with this view until you change
it again.Note: The relation, which is a type of additional information, is the name of the link between the source instance and the target instance. If the source instance calls the same target instance in different tabs, then a relation is displayed for each tab. For example, if a Screen calls the same Data Element in the -CE Lines and the -CS Lines, two relations are displayed, with the names of the two tabs. However, if the source instance calls the same target instance several times in the same tab, only one relation is displayed. In this case, the occurrence number of the relation is displayed in parentheses, next to the relation name.
Filters to exclude some entity types from the search results. A wizard opens with all the entity types that you can exclude. If you want to display only some entity types, you must select all the entity types by clicking Select all and clear the types to be kept.
Example: In the Pacbase facet, you can list the child Data Elements of a parent Data Element. To do so, you must first search for the subreferences of the parent Data Element. Then, you must filter the results by selecting, in the filters wizard, all the entity types except the Data Elements.
You can filter the results by selecting a project in the Context field and by clicking one of the buttons that represent a hierarchic view of the projects in the design build path. Context only is selected by default. It means that only the instances that are found in the selected project are displayed. However, you can select another hierarchy (upper, lower, or whole) to display the instances that are found in the selected project and in the projects that are hierarchically higher or lower, or in all the projects of the hierarchy.