Update outline view constantly

Due to processing by IBM, this request was reassigned to have the following updated attributes:
Brand - Servers and Systems Software
Product family - Programming Languages
Product - Developer for Power Systems

For recording keeping, the previous attributes were:
Brand - Rational
Product family - Design & development
Product - Developer for Power Systems

This feature is now available in the IBM Rational Developer for Power Systems Software V8.5 product.
For details, please see the product Web site at:
http://www.ibm.com/software/rational/products/rdp/
Documentation on this feature is available at:
http://pic.dhe.ibm.com/infocenter/iadthelp/v8r5/index.jsp?topic=%2Fcom.ibm.etools.iseries.rse.doc%2Ftopics%2Fcoutlinerpg.html
With the "Update the Outline view when text is changed in the editor" preference on the Remote Systems > Remote Systems LPEX Editor > IBM i Parsers > ILE RPG preference page selected, the Outline view contents are automatically updated when text is changed in the editor. To update external information that changes, such as database files, press the Refresh button. If this preference is not selected, the Refresh button needs to be pressed to update the contents of the Outline view. Changing the preference setting will not effect source files already open in the editor.
With the Update the Outline view when text is changed in the editor preference selected, there are some changes in the Outline view:
Items are listed in the order that they appear in the source.
- A Sort button alphabetically sorts the items.
- A Collapse All button collapses all expanded items.
- Parameter lists are listed.
For additional information about the Outline view when the preference is selected, see http://www.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21592728

Notes about the Outline view for ILE RPG source:
- If the Update the Outline view when text is changed in the editor preference is selected, there may be some cases of ILE RPG source with errors which cause the Outline view to not update. In these cases, warning icons are displayed in the editor.

Also associated with this update is a new preference in for cache expiration. In Preferences, Remote Systems > IBM i > Cache, when using the cache, if the item the product finds in the cache was queried from the host longer than the cache expiration setting, it will be queried again and refreshed if it has changed. With the preference, you can set how long is the setting. So you can set it to be 1 hour if that is what makes sense for you and then the Outline view will always have data at most one hour old without doing a Verify.

This request is approved and planned for delivery within the next year or next generally available release. Extra consideration has been given to this enhancement because of the number of votes it has received in the community. Your votes help us prioritize enhancements, particularly when the enhancements are larger. Thank you for taking the time to suggest this enhancement to our product and for your votes.

Please also consider adding an option at the LPEX parser or Remote Systems -> Remote Systems LPEX Editor -> [parser type(s)] to allow for the outline to populate every time that source type is opened in LPEX but with local refresh options.

I have colaborated with folks from IBM on creating the RFE. We have always had the idea that these would all be configurable options. The auto update is mostly for the content contained in the i Project where all the source is on the local machine. The initial outline would get the database definitions and such from the IBM i LPAR and any source if need be (/copy /Include). The automatic refreshing would have an optional preference flage to gather information from the IBM i Connection (LPAR). I develope modules, programs, service programs, where all the includes, module source, program source, etc. is all included in the progject on the local machine (windows 7 enterprise) in the RDp worksspace.

I most frequently use the Subroutines and Procedures sections of the Outline, to position to source in the Editor. So the most common reason I refresh the Outline is because I have added, deleted and/or moved source lines, so clicking on an Outline entry no longer positions to (or even near) the proper line. It would be great to have the Outline link to each source line by a unique, invisible identifer instead of the relative line number, so that the links would remain correct as editing occurs.

There should be an easily found way to turn this feature on and off. Maybe evena toolbar button.

In addition to optionally turning the feature on/off, it might be helpful to have options to enable/disable its dynamic execution; such as, # of lines in source and/or # of external objects being referenced.

It should also refresh for local variables. I agree that it should be a configuration option, as per the later (7.6 + versions) of RDi / RDP Add New Sub-Procedure Wizard / Outline View refresh option

This has to be an optional setting. Don't make the mistake that was made with content assist where there is no option. When dealing with a huge "old" client source I don't want the outline refreshed all the time. When dealing with small modern modules I'd be happy to have it auto-update.

I agree with taherte. This is nice as long performance isn't impacted. Being a remote user with my company, I don't want this to hurt the response time.

If auto updating is going to impact performance and responsiveness, I would like the capability to turn it on and off with a preference.

This RFE is consistent with our strategy and product roadmap and will be under consideration for a future release. Status has been updated to Uncommitted Candidate.

I agree with the request, but I feel that an auto-refresh on Verify/Compile would complement this request.

I think updating line numbers as you edit is very important. This would be similar to updating the Breakpoint view where breakpoint are updated as we edit.

I think updating line numbers as you edit is very important. This would be similar to updating the Breakpoint view where breakpoint are updated as we edit.

Follow up on the comment I just entered:

In many ways, what I said was similar to the original request, which was to automatically update the outline with info that can be obtained locally, but an explicit refresh would also update using remote information.

Yes, an automatic refresh at a save or verify would be nice. But that doesn't help me in my use case where I'm adding occasional lines through the code.

Follow up on the comment I just entered:

In many ways, what I said was similar to the original request, which was to automatically update the outline with info that can be obtained locally, but an explicit refresh would also update using remote information.

Yes, an automatic refresh at a save or verify would be nice. But that doesn't help me in my use case where I'm adding occasional lines through the code.

Use case: I'm working through an existing program occasionally inserting a line or two. Each time I do that, the outline references for for any lines past the insertion are off. It should be relatively inexpensive to run through the outline and update the line numbers in the outline when a line is inserted or deleted, without refreshing the entire outline, accepting the fact that references to inserted lines will not show up until a refresh is done.

This RFE is consistent with our strategy and product roadmap and IBM is continuing to evaluate.