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The Refactoring Browser is an advanced browser for VisualWorks,
VisualWorks/ENVY, and IBM Smalltalk. It includes all the features of
the standard browsers plus several enhancements. Some of its
enhancements are:
Buffers: You can edit many methods at the
same time without opening other browsers. For example, while you
are editing one method, you can switch to a new buffer to lookup
some value in another method, and then return back to your edited
method without opening a new browser.
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Menus: The browser has window menus, so
you can use the short-cut keys for selecting items from the menu
and rely less on the mouse. Additionally, the code tools in the
bottom pane of the browser have context-sensitive menus that
change depending upon what is selected.
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Multi-window: You can have many different
code
tools in different windows with only one
navigator
controlling them. In this mode, only the top most code tool will
be updated when you change the navigators selection. If you want
to use the multi-window browser, see the
customization
section below.
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Old methods: No more accidentally
accepting changed methods. Whenever you change a method in one
window, all other browsers viewing the methods
will
turn their code tools red until you update their code or
accept the method. If you do not like the color selection, you
can change it in BrowserCodeTool>>modifiedTextColor.
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Resource viewers: View resource methods
in their more natural look instead of text. For example, a menu
resource method appears as menu, not as text, although you can
switch to a textual view if you want. This
picture
shows a canvas viewer viewing the ClassNavigator>windowSpec
method.
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Undo support: The Refactoring Browser can
undo/redo refactorings, method changes, and class changes. The
class variable, UndoSize, in RefactoringManager specifies the
number of undos that can be undone. The default size is 5.
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The
icons signify that the feature is not implemented for IBM Smalltalk.
Joseph Pelrine has ported the refactorings from the Refactoring
Browser to VSE. You can download them from
ftp://st.cs.uiuc.edu/Smalltalk/STV/st_v/v_win32/refbrwsr/.
If you have problems using any of the ftp://st.cs.uiuc.edu
links above, then your machine probably doesn't allow
reverse DNS. In this case you can download the files by replacing
ftp://st.cs.uiuc.edu with http://st-www.cs.uiuc.edu/ftp/. Also, you
could use one of the
mirror
sites.
If you wish to see what has changed
between the versions, you can look at
the
fixes file.
Other Refactoring Information:
User instructions:
To open the refactoring browser select the
![[ ]](browser-button.gif) button
or evaluate "RefactoringBrowser open". If you're
using ENVY, then you can select the "RefactoringBrowser"
from the ENVY menu in the launcher. This will open a window that is
similar to this
picture.
Common Questions & Answers:
What does the ____ refactoring do?
This
page contains a description of the refactorings.
Is there a Java (or C++) version?
We
do not have and are not currently working on a Java version. While a
Java version is definitely needed, we have other things we need to
do (e.g., get our degrees). However, given the right incentive
(i.e., $$$), we could implement a Java version.
How can I tell what version of the Refactoring
Browser I currently have?
If you are using ENVY,
then you can simply look at the version number of the Refactoring
Browser configuration map. It should be something like R3.0.0. If
you are using the parceled version of the Refactoring Browser, you
can look at the parcel versions. Finally, if you are using the
non-ENVY VW2.5, you can look at the RefactoringBrowser class. It
contains two class variables (Version & PatchLevel). By
concatenating these two numbers together, you can get the overall
version number.
I've found a bug, how should I report it?
The
first thing you should do is to determine that you are running the
latest version of the browser (see previous question). After seeing
that you have the latest version, please try to find a simple
reproduceable case that you can post to the HyperNews page. If you
cannot find a reproduceable case, you can still post the problem (it
will just be harder for us to find the problem). It is your
responsibility to report the bugs (since we don't charge
anything for the browser, you should atleast be able to report
bugs). We cannot fix any problems that we don't know about.
Is there a port for GemStone?
No, we
don't have GemStone on our machines, so it would be difficult for us
to create one. If someone creates a version, we would be happy to
include it.
Can I only rename methods in my application; not the
whole image?
Currently, the Refactoring Browser
renames everything when performing a renaming refactoring. Since we
cannot determine which implementors of a method are polymorphic, we
must rename everything (else we might miss some senders). In the
future, we may relax this restriction to allow you to specify which
ones to rename.
If you are using ENVY, then you may want to follow the
suggestion
by Niall Ross.
Does the Refactoring Browser have to format a method
when it changes the method by a refactoring?
The
Refactoring Browser uses parse tree to perform its transformations
on. Since parse tree are used, it is easiest to just have the parse
tree to format themselves whenever they are changed. It is
definitely possible to not have to reformat for every change.
However, this has not been implemented and is not a high priority
for us. Therefore, either some user can implement it themselves, or
we would be open to implementing it if someone is willing to pay for
it.
What are the BR prefixes for?
The BR
prefix stands for Brant & Roberts. Only after being questioned
about the prefixes did we realize that it should have been RB (which
works for both Refactoring Browser and Roberts & Brant).
How does the Refactoring Browser determine if a class
is abstract?
Smalltalk doesn't have any language
feature that denotes an abstract class like C++ or Java. As a
result, we check for a couple things when looking for an abstract
class. If the class contains any method that sends
#subclassResponsibility, the we consider the class as abstract. A
method that sends subclassResponsibility signifies that users should
override this method in every subclass to have all the class'
functionality to work. Another check we use to determine if a class
is abstract is to look for references to the class. If the class is
not referenced then the class is considered to be abstract, since
there is no way to create an instance of the class.
Why does the Refactoring Browser care if a class is
abstract?
The Refactoring Browser can only perform
some refactorings if the class is abstract. For example, it can only
push a method down if it can determine that the method can never be
called on the class that the method is being pushed out of.
Are there any restrictions on the Refactoring
Browser's code (e.g., GNU copyleft)?
We don't have
any restrictions on the code. You are free to use it for what ever
you want. However, we do request two things if you use or modify the
code. If you modify the browser, please submit your changes back to
us. We will try to integrate your changes back into the browser. The
other request is that if you use the code in some project, we would
appreciate some recognition of its use (e.g., an acknowledgement in
a readme file). It is always pleasing to see your code running in
several different applications.
While we don't expect any major problems, we assume no
responsibility for any damages it may cause. We've been using it for
over three years without any major problems. If you find any
problems, please send us a description so that it won't happen to
others.
Customization:
The new browser was designed to be extensible and customizable.
There are several methods that you can modify and/or execute to
change its behavior.
Multi-window support: You can change the
browser so that each code tool is opened in a new window, instead
of creating buffers for each tool. To change the browser to be
multi-window evaluate "RefactoringBrowser
beMultiWindow", and to change it back to single window
mode evaluate "RefactoringBrowser beSingleWindow".
Once you evaluate either selection, you must open a new browser.
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Resource editors: You can change the
editor and/or viewer for a resource (menus, canvases, etc.) by
changing ResourceTool>initialize method. For example,
to change the menu editor, so that the new VisualWorks 2.5
enhanced menu editor is opened, change UIMenuEditor to
MenuEditor, and then re-initialize the ResourceTool
class.
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Code tools: You can create a new code
tool and add it to the browser by modifying the
CodeModel>codeToolClass method. This method
determines which code tool is used for the navigator's selection.
Code tools can be created by creating a subclass of CodeTool,
defining its interface functions, and defining the updateContents
method. The updateContents message is sent to the code
tool so that the code tool can stay current with the navigator's
selection.
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Bugs:
If you find a bug in the Refactoring Browser, it is your obligation
to report the bug to us; don't assume that we already know about the bug.
Also, if you have request for additional features or would like something
changed, please let us know. We cannot guarantee that your feature will be
added, but we can guarantee that it will not be added if we don't know
about it.
There is one bug that appears to be a bug in the Refactoring Browser,
but is really a bug in VisualWorks ENVY. Many of the refactorings on
class variables will not work. The Class>>removeClassVarName: method
assumes, incorrectly, that class variables are strings (which works for
VisualAge, but doesn't for VisualWorks). You can fix this by changing:
self classVarNames asOrderedCollection
remove: existingClassVarName asString ifAbsent:[];
yourself
to:
self classVarNames asOrderedCollection
remove: existingClassVarName asSymbol ifAbsent:[];
yourself
Comments or suggestions can be sent to
brant@refactory.com
and
roberts@refactory.com.
Last updated on 29-Oct-1999.
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