A simple Code Editor trick to quickly jump to predefined locations in a huge unit

[PeterPanettone 182]

OK, here is another simple trick I often use to quickly jump to specific locations in very large units (e.g., 20,000 lines, like in my upcoming "Advanced Windows Start Menu"):

We could use simple bookmarks for this purpose, but I often clear them all after finishing a specific short-term task. So we need something more persistent:*

 

*Prerequisites: CnWizards

 

1. Create these kinds of comments on the locations you want to jump to quickly:

 

implementation // toc_implementation
public // toc_public
// toc_PrivateVariables
private // toc_private
TForm1 = class(TForm) // toc_MainFormClass
// etc.

 

2. Then put all these TOC items at the very top of your huge unit:

 

{TOC:
toc_implementation
toc_public
toc_PrivateVariables
toc_private
toc_MainFormClass
}

 

3. Then, when you need to quickly jump to one of these locations in your huge unit:

 

- Press CTRL+Home to jump to the top of the unit
- Double-click one of the toc_ items to select it
- Press F3 to quickly jump to this location

 

This will save you a lot of search time!

 

Edited Tuesday at 01:46 PM by PeterPanettone

[dummzeuch 1720]

9 hours ago, PeterPanettone said:

- Double-click one of the toc_ items to select it
- Press F3 to quickly jump to this location

Hm, interesting. I didn't know that F3 automatically searches the next occurrence of the selected text.

[testing it]

No, it doesn't, at least not in my Delphi 13 installation. I have to press Ctrl+F and enter first.

 

😕 ??

[PeterPanettone 182]

1 hour ago, dummzeuch said:

Hm, interesting. I didn't know that F3 automatically searches the next occurrence of the selected text.

[testing it]

No, it doesn't, at least not in my Delphi 13 installation. I have to press Ctrl+F and enter first.

 

😕 ??

It doesn't??

 

In my Delphi 12.2 and Delphi 13, it does!

This is very strange!

[PeterPanettone 182]

I've found it: F3 automatically searches the next occurrence of the selected text only if CnWizards is installed.

 

I've tested it by unloading CnWizards. When CnWizards is not loaded, then F3 on the selected text displays this message:

 

 

And then, when clicking the "Yes" button after having checked "Wrap around without asking", this message is displayed:

 

 

This could be a bug in the Delphi IDE that CnWizards resolves.

[PeterPanettone 182]

CnWizards is a very helpful Delphi IDE plugin with many useful features, among them the above-mentioned F3 SEARCH feature:

 

https://www.cnpack.org/index.php?lang=en

 

Here is the option to activate this feature:

 

Edited Tuesday at 12:04 PM by PeterPanettone

[Uwe Raabe 2207]

MMX has a feature Find next/previous occurrence: Place the cursor somewhere into the specific identifier and press Shift+Alt+Right/Left.

 

You can combine this with the IDE Search Enhancement feature, which adds all identifiers of the current unit to the Ctrl+F search box.

[pyscripter 837]

 

3 hours ago, Uwe Raabe said:

MMX has a feature Find next/previous occurrence:

So does GExperts, but the MMX one is nicer :).

Edited yesterday at 11:27 AM by pyscripter

[PeterPanettone 182]

On 9/18/2025 at 10:22 AM, Uwe Raabe said:

MMX has a feature Find next/previous occurrence: Place the cursor somewhere into the specific identifier and press Shift+Alt+Right/Left.

 

You can combine this with the IDE Search Enhancement feature, which adds all identifiers of the current unit to the Ctrl+F search box.

This is a very nice feature - thank you for that!

 

The list showing the references is semi-transparent, which hinders readability. Is it possible to switch the list transparency off?

Edited 11 hours ago by PeterPanettone

[Uwe Raabe 2207]

1 hour ago, PeterPanettone said:

Is it possible to switch the list transparency off?

[PeterPanettone 182]

9 minutes ago, Uwe Raabe said:

Thank you! However, when I set it to 255, I get this error message:

 

So I have set it to 250, which gives me almost complete opacity.

[Uwe Raabe 2207]

10 minutes ago, PeterPanettone said:

However, when I set it to 255, I get this error message:

Works here without problems. The error shown is probably caused by something different.

 

If you can give steps to reproduce I will try to find the cause and fix it.

[PeterPanettone 182]

1 hour ago, Uwe Raabe said:

Works here without problems. The error shown is probably caused by something different.

 

If you can give steps to reproduce I will try to find the cause and fix it.

I've set it again to 255, and the error message didn't appear again.
I will re-examine MMX settings, as it seems that new features have been added since my previous version.
Thanks again for MMX! This is a great piece of software that adds features to the Delphi IDE that Embarcadero didn't have time to implement.

 

BTW, a new feature coming to my mind: Create a table that lists how many times and where (link) each method is used. This would also allow the user to find methods not used at all.

Edited 8 hours ago by PeterPanettone