One of the most appreciated aspects of GLX2 discussed among its advocates tends to be its navigational system. Links to handlers (our last GLX2 article) take you to a handler from the spot where a handler is called to its home in the script of its parent object. Tabs and split panes (discussed in one of the first GLX2 articles) let you move from one script to another quickly in the same window. All of these navigational aids work on the "script" level. Wouldn't it be wondrous to navigate at an even finer level of granularity--on the "handler" level? Yes, indeed, it would.
As you alter the contents of a handler in GLX2 or as you click a link in a hander to visit another, you leave behind a crumb in the form of a handler name. These crumbs as they appear on the Crumb Bar, become a visual history of the handlers upon which you have worked. Crumbs. These fascinating GLX2 artifacts are the subject of this article. (Please note: I'm using my David Attenborough voice and cadence now.)
The Concept of "Crumbs"
The whole idea of "bread crumbs" is to leave a trail that you can then follow back from whence you came. It's extremely useful to use the crumbs you left behind to "go back" through the history of your work handler-by-handler. Advantages abound. You don't have to remember what object and tab a handler was in. This is a vital function as you are able to open up to 20 tabs in GLX2 v2.0.2 (released this week!).
When Do Crumbs Get Added?
Crumbs get added to the bar when you do any one of the following:
- Click a link in a handler. Result: the name of the clicked handler gets added to the Crumb Bar.
- Option+click in any part of a handler's script. Result: that handler's name becomes a crumb.
- When you choose Add to Bar from Crumbs menu. Result: the name of the handler containing the selected text or insertion point is immortalized as a crumb.
You may find crumbs to your liking and would like GLX2 to create them anytime you fiddle with a script. Fear not, there is a way. There is a preference on the GLX2 preference palette that intensifies the crumbage. To wit: click on the More check box (next to the Bread Crumbs check box) and a handler's name gets added to the Crumb Bar under the conditions stated above plus:
- Whenever you select text within a handler.
- Whenever you type within a handler.
You may find yourself accumulating crumbs at quite a pace under these circumstances. If it gets to be too much for you, simply click the More check box off. (It's a pity one can't eat crumbs, as I am becoming rather hungry at the moment.)
How to Use Crumbs in GLX2
When you are scanning your code, you may see a link to another handler. You can't remember exactly what it does, so you click the link to see. Now you want to return, so you click the crumb that was left behind linking you back to the parent handler.
This same process can work to even greater advantage as you click deeper and broader into your web of handlers.
Cleaning up Crumbs
Under the Crumbs Menu there is a menu item for cleaning up the Crumb Bar. It will remove all crumbs.
There is also a way to selectively remove a crumb: option+click it in the Crumb Bar or use the Crumbs menu if it is the "hot" crumb on the bar. (Hot Crumbs, toasted with just a spot of butter and jam. Mmmmm.)
Crumbs Scroll!
If you have more crumbs than bar, they will, indeed, scroll. Here's how to make it happen:
- Just click on a crumb and hold your mouse button down.
- Now move to the left or right.
Your crumbs will move to the right or left in the opposite direction of your mouse movement. When you release your mouse button, you will go to the crumb that lies beneath the pointer. That particular crumb is also highlited or "hot"--as those of us in the crumb trade like to say.
You Are Now a Crumbage Expert
I dare say you are. Be proud. Hold your head high. Leave a few crumbs on your lapels to let others know of crumbage well done, or, if merely the remains of a crunchy breakfast, wear them as a badge of honour regardless.
New Version of GLX2
Version v2.0.2 of GLX2 is now available with over 100 enhancements that include: tab icons, restore to last session, Rev tools trick, beta of an
exciting built-in browser...and more! Find out more.
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