Project parser completes, nohing displayed in "symbols" window

[ravenspoint]

As my project grows in complexity, more and more frequently the symbols window fails more and more to display my classes and methods.

Sometimes I can repopulate by requesting a project reparse, or even by restarting codeblocks, but even this is now failing more than ever.

Is there some way to get some useful error messages from the parser, so I can perhaps avoid problems that cause it to fail?

[oBFusCATed]

Symbols browser is going away, so don't get too attached to it...

[ravenspoint]

The symbols browser is vital.  Without it, an IDE is worthless.

[oBFusCATed]

Then you'll have to step up and fix it to not crash all the time when built for wx3.x... 

[ravenspoint]

This is unhelpful. 

I have been using code::blocks for several years now on all my projects, small and large.  The time seems to have arrived for looking into alternatives.  I am seeing some good things about codelite.

[oBFusCATed]

I guess you're not using it on a linux with wx3.x. Otherwise you've seen many crashes already...

[ravenspoint]

It does not crash, just shows nothing.  Please take a look at the screenshot I posted.

[oBFusCATed]

Yes, I saw that...

Does goto definition or goto declaration work?
Does it work for simple projects?

[ravenspoint]

Does goto definition or goto declaration work?

Sorry, I do not know what this means.  I never use goto statements in my code.

Does it work for simple projects?

Yes.  As I said: "As my project grows in complexity, more and more frequently the symbols window fails..."

[oBFusCATed]

The features is available in the right click menu of the editor -> Goto declaration  or Goto declaration. Please test if these work.

[ravenspoint]

Ah!  Yes the "goto declaration", "goto implementation", etc all work fine.

[oBFusCATed]

Even when the symbols browser is empty?

If this is the case we'll need a way to reproduce this problem. So we'll need a simple project which reproduces it.

[ravenspoint]

Yes, even when the symbols window is empty.

The problem does not appear with small projects.  The project where this is most of a problem has been under development for two years and has 200,000 lines. The problem started appearing maybe six months ago and in the last week or so is now occurring always.

[oBFusCATed]

You have three options share the project, debug it yourself, find an open source project which has the same problem.
Without a way to reproduce this we can't do much...

[ravenspoint]

I have been mucking about, trying to construct a 'simple' project that shows this problem.  No success, however I have gained a bit of insight into the 'symbols' window that might be helpful.

In a workspace with several projects, the symbol window display changes as I change the focus between the editor windows for different source files.  It seems that the intention is to always show the most relevant symbols by assuming that each source file is associated with one, and one only, project so that the symbols displayed need only be the ones for the project that is associated with the source file that has the focus.

The assumption there is incorrect.  The reason that several projects are present in one workspace is that they are tightly coupled - meaning, in my case at least, that the projects SHARE source files.  So, if the focus is on a shared source file, the symbol window can get very confused

IMHO this feature is more confusing then useful and may be causing unnecessary problems for the symbols window.  I would like to switch the feature off.  I would be happy to see either all the symbols in the workspace, or the symbols of the active project, no matter what source file I happen to be looking at.  This would, at the least, remove the annoying flickering in the symbols window as I browse around the source files, and maybe even  "fix" the empty symbol window problem that is bringing my work to a halt.

Do you know if there is a way to switch off the feature where the symbols window displays the symbols for the project that a focused source file is assumed to belong to?

[oBFusCATed]

Do you know if there is a way to switch off the feature where the symbols window displays the symbols for the project that a focused source file is assumed to belong to?

Nope. I don't use it, ever. I've never used it in Visual Studio either where it works better.

[ravenspoint]

Attached is a smallish project that shows the problem.

 - Open project and let parser complete.
 
 - Open main.cpp in editor window

 - Open symbols window - no symbols visible

 - Open CD2A.h - symbols appear

 - Alternate focus between source file editor windows - symbols vanish and reappear.

( Note: I have done considerable violence to this project to reduce its size and complexity.  It will still compile but it will not link and the code does not make a great deal of sense.  You will need a recent release of the boost libraries )

[ravenspoint]

I don't use it,

??  What don't you use?  The symbols browser? 

[oBFusCATed]

Yep, I don't use it. I use alt-g, ctrl-f, ctrl-shift-f (set to thread search) and ctrl-./ctrl-shift-.
And when something is more complex I look at the images generated for class hierarchies by doxygen.

[ravenspoint]

If you do not use the symbol browser, then why am I discussing problems with the symbol browser with you!

[stahta01]

If you do not use the symbol browser, then why am I discussing problems with the symbol browser with you!

Likely because you want to get the problem fixed.

Note: If you do not wish to have the problem fixed; I have no idea why you are posting.

Tim S.

[ravenspoint]

I certainly want to have the problem fixed.  It is making codeblocks almost useless to me. 

Do you, or someone who does actually use the symbol browser for large complex multiple project workspaces, have any suggestions which would be helpful?

[oBFusCATed]

If you do not use the symbol browser, then why am I discussing problems with the symbol browser with you!

Because I'm the only one posting in the topic.

I've tried your project and I can't make it break.
What is selected in the View choice control?
Do you have the one parser per workspace enabled?

[ravenspoint]

The "one parser per workspace" option looks interesting.

It was a little hard to find - Settings | Editor | Code completion | C/C++ Parser

but once found and selected, I can see my symbols again!