Previewing content

You can hover the cursor over a copy, include, preprocessor, or macro statement to preview its content. The content is displayed in a hover information window with a toolbar that you can use to navigate the information that is displayed.

About this task

The text in the hover information window is displayed in the format and style that are defined by the Syntax Coloring preference. If there are remote errors or problems, real-time syntax warnings are displayed and the first problem is displayed when the hover information window opens. Hovering over a warning annotation overlays the existing hover information window with another one containing the warning information. COPY and INCLUDE statements are displayed in the hover information window as hyperlinks. Clicking the hyperlink causes a hover information window for that element to overlay the existing hover information window.

The toolbar provides navigation within the window.

Procedure

To open the hover information window, hover the cursor over an element, or place the caret on the element and press F2.
To bring focus to the hover information window, press F2.
COBOL and PL/I Editors: To search in the hover information window, type a search string in the text field.
Click the Case sensitive checkbox, to search for strings that match the case of the search string. Click the and buttons to search for additional occurrences of the string.
To navigate in the hover information window, use the toolbar.

Backward

Return to the previous element after you click a hyperlink.

Forward

Return to previous element after you click Backward.

Next Problem

Go to the next real-time syntax warning or other error.

Previous Problem

Go to the previous real-time syntax warning or other error.

Edit type

Opens the element in a source editor. The element can be a COPY or INCLUDE statement.

Open Declaration

Opens a user-defined word, variable, or label in an editor and navigates to it.

Results

The hover information window displays the following language-specific information and provides tools for editing or navigating:

COBOL

User-defined word

The declaration of that word, including its hierarchical structure if there is one. To open the declaration in an editor and navigate to it, click Open Declaration.

Note: Hovering over a user-defined word in the debugger displays the value of the element rather than its declaration.

COPY member or preprocessor statement

The source of that element. References to nested copy members are displayed as hyperlinks. Syntax problems that are found in the elements are annotated.

To navigate through the linked COPY members, click Forward and Back.
To see the text of syntax problems, hover over the annotations.
To navigate through the syntax problems, click Next Problem and Previous Problem.
To open the copy member in an editor and navigate to it, click Edit Copybook File.

Note: Preprocessor statements that do not generate code do not have hover information.

JCL

INCLUDE statement

The source of the element. References to nested INCLUDE members are displayed as hyperlinks. Syntax problems that are found in the elements are annotated.

To navigate through the linked INCLUDE members, click Forward and Back.
To see the text of syntax problems, hover over the annotations.
To navigate through the syntax problems, click Next Problem and Previous Problem.
To open the include member in an editor and navigate to it, click Edit Include Member.

Note: Source preview in a hover information window is not available for the PROC statement in the JCL Editor. To see source for a JCL procedure, use the Open JCL Procedure action.

PL/I

Variable or label

A summary of its declaration. References to other variables or labels are displayed as hyperlinks.

To navigate through the linked variables and labels, click Forward and Back.
To open the declaration in an editor and navigate to it, click Open Declaration.

Note: Hovering over a variable in the debugger displays the value of the element rather than its declaration.

INCLUDE member or a preprocessor statement

The source of the element. References to nested INCLUDE members are displayed as hyperlinks. Syntax problems that are found in the elements are annotated.

To navigate through the linked INCLUDE members, click Forward and Back.
To see the text of syntax problems, hover over the annotations.
To navigate through the syntax problems, click Next Problem and Previous Problem.
To open the include member in an editor and navigate to it, click Edit Include Member.

Note: Preprocessor statements that do not generate code do not have hover information.