5.3.1 Moving from one object to another

The object information displayed in browser pages often has its own properties and contents that we might also want to browse. With a simple double-click on the information we are interested in, we can move on to browsing other objects.

1. Go to <reversi-square>'s Superclasses page.

The Superclasses page shows a class's superclasses in a tree view. In this case, we see a single expandable item, the class <simple-pane>, meaning that <simple-pane> is <reversi-square>'s only superclass.

If we want to browse the definition of <simple-pane>, all we need to do is double-click on it.

2. Double-click on <simple-pane>.

The browser switches to browsing the definition of the class <simple-pane>. The default view is again the Source page.

3. Select the Superclasses page again.

The Superclasses page now shows the four superclasses of <simple-pane>. Notice that the superclass names are not directly visible in the current module (reversi, as selected in the toolbar pop-up) and so are qualified. For example, <standard-input-mixin> appears as:

<standard-input-mixin>:duim-sheets-internals:duim-sheets

We see more about this in "Namespace issues in the browser" on page 88.

We could continue traversing the class hierarchy by double-clicking on a superclass name to browse that class definition in its own right, or, by clicking on the + signs, we could expand the names to reveal their superclasses.

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Getting Started with Functional Developer - 31 MAR 2000