Introducing the Class Browser

The Class Browser is a Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge view that allows you to see the structure and content of the various classes you work with in creating ABL applications. The Class Browser's contents are organized by resources, which are collections of classes (types).

Whether you are developing with ABL or .NET classes, you can use the Class Browser's three-panel display to easily see details about all your ABL and .NET resources, packages or namespaces, and types. By default, the Class Browser displays this information for all resources, whether within or outside of a project in the workspace. For r-code based on class files and Progress procedure libraries within a project, the details the Class Browser displays are derived from the PROPATH associated with each open project in the workspace. (Directories and procedure libraries that do not have r-code classes are not displayed by the Class Browser.) For .NET classes, the details come from the assemblies associated with each project in the workspace. The same level of information can be displayed for external resources you add to the Class Browser.

Depending on which item is in focus in the Class Browser, the details you view can also include information about properties, data members, constructors, methods, and events. The Class Browser displays type information for .NET classes using summary text and ABL syntax.

For ABL classes, you can see type information, as well as similarly helpful details about membership, inheritance, and sample ABL syntax for working with the USING and DEFINE statements. You can also see which ABL classes, events, properties, and methods are abstract. 

The Class Browser is an Eclipse view. For quick access, the OpenEdge Editor, OpenEdge AppBuilder, and OpenEdge Visual Designer perspectives include the Class Browser as a Fast View.

For ABL types, the set of classes to browse are available for each PROPATH and Progress procedure library file for all the projects in the workspace. Conversely, the classes for all .NET types are listed in the assemblies.xml file for each project in the workspace. In the Class Browser, you see the ABL types organized into packages. .NET types are organized into namespaces.

The following assemblies are included by default since they are commonly used by OpenEdge GUI for .NET applications:

These assemblies are available to each project and can be added to the assemblies.xml file. Even when all projects for the workspace are closed, these assemblies appear in the Class Browser view.

Information in the Class Browser view is read-only; however, you can copy and paste code templates to use as program code outside of the view.

You can display information in the Class Browser in either of the following modes:

The browse mode you are using when you exit the Class Browser persists for the workspace to the next Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge session.

In the Class Browser, you view details about all classes (for the projects in a workspace) that are in the included PROPATHs (procedure libraries and directory paths) and assemblies. The selection of classes whose details you can display is dependent on the Class Cache preference settings you chose in Progress Developer Studio for OpenEdge for the entire workspace. For details, see the description of Class Cache options in the ABL Editor online help.

You can also add and then view details about external resources, such as assemblies, Progress procedure library files, and path entries. The assemblies you add can be either local assemblies or assemblies registered in the Global Assembly Cache (GAC).