Viewing Classes and Their Members
Class View displays a programmatic view of symbols in your code, for example, namespaces, classes, methods, and functions. Symbols are organized by projects. Within each project, the contents are shown in a hierarchical tree view, indicating the containment relationships between the symbols. Other structural information, such as base classes and interfaces, and overrideable methods may also appear. This logical view of your solution and its projects enables you to better understand the structure of your code and the interrelationships between its various symbols.
Each symbol is represented by an icon indicating its type, and is expandable if it contains other symbols. Click the plus (+) symbol next to the icon or press the + key on the numeric keypad to expand a symbol and display its members.
You can navigate to symbols in your code by double-clicking them. If a symbol's definition is unavailable, its declaration is displayed in Object Browser. You can also navigate by invoking Object Browser's Quick Find Symbol command on a selected symbol in Class View by pressing ALT+SHIFT+F12.
Class View differs from Object Browser in that it is focused on projects and symbols in your solution, rather than referenced and external components. It also displays the true nested structure of the symbols, unlike the flattened view of Object Browser. Class View differs from Solution Explorer **** in that it provides a logical view of your code, whereas the latter provides a file-centric, physical view of your solution.
Note You do not need to compile your projects to view their symbols in Class View. As you add or modify symbols in a project, it dynamically updates to reflect the changes. As a result, no refresh command is needed.
To open Class View, either press CTRL+SHIFT+C or choose Class View on the View menu.
| To learn more about | See |
|---|---|
| Elements of the Class View window | Class View |
| Icons used by Class View and what they mean | Class View and Object Browser Icons |
| Working with Class View | Working with Class View |
| Using folders to organize symbols in Class View | Working with Folders in Class View |
See Also
Class View | Solution Explorer | Object Browser | Browsing Code and Components