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Frequently asked questions

This is the Emacs Code Browser FAQ.

Question Answer

What is the first step i should do if i have problems with ECB? Read carefully the related sections of the online-help of ECB.

What should i do, if a have a problem which can not be solved even after reading the online-help? Send a problem-report to the ECB-mailing-list with the command ecb-submit-problem-report. See Submitting problem report.

What should i do, if another package seems not to work correct with ECB? Take a look into Conflicts. If your package is not listed there then submit a problem-report.

Can ECB parse and display source-contents not supported by semantic? Yes, in all version >= 1.94. ECB can now parse and display all source-contents supported by semantic, imenu or etags - same as speedbar. See Non-semantic sources.

Why are the lines in the ECB-, temp- and compilation-buffers not wrapped but truncated? Check the variable truncate-partial-width-windows and set it to nil.

Why doesn't ECB work correct with VC? The variable vc-delete-logbuf-window must be set to nil during active ECB. This can be done with the hooks of ECB.

Does ECB support C++ as well as Java? This depends strongly on the used semantic-version, but all semantic-versions >= semantic-1.4.3 support C++ really well.

Does ECB support Perl? This depends completely on semantic. If there is a semantic-BNF for Perl then semantic can parse Perl and then in turn ECB supports Perl. Check semantic if Perl is supported or write your own Perl-BNF for semantic.

Does ECB support language XYZ? See question "Does ECB support Perl?" and replace "Perl" with "XYZ" in the answer.

How to add new languages to ECB? Add the language XYZ to semantic (perform all necessary steps described in the semantic-manual) and ECB will automatically support language XYZ! There is nothing to do in ECB itself!

Why does ECB not recognize my source-files for C++? Your C++-files have probably an extension which is not mapped to c++-mode in auto-mode-alist and/or your own Emacs-setup has "destroyed" the correct value of the hook-variable c++-mode-hook. See Setting up Emacs.

Why doesn't ECB display the node name in the echo area if mouse moves over it? There can be several reasons: First the value of the option ecb-show-node-name-in-minibuffer must be either always or if-too-long. If this is OK, then maybe you have turned on follow-mouse AFTER activating ECB; follow-mouse must be turned on BEFORE ECB is activated, e.g. in the ecb-activate-hook! But with Emacs 21.X and XEmacs there are no problems with this feature, just activate it.

What is the reason for poor scrolling performance with GNU Emacs 20.X in the edit-windows and what can i do? Set scroll-conservatively to 0 and scroll-step to a value > 1. For the exact reason look at Optimize scrolling.

Is it possible to make the history of ECB persistent? You can use the library "desktop.el" which works very well with ECB. Then all files of your recent Emacs-session will be opened automatically after next Emacs-start and will be added automatically to the ECB-history after ECB-start.

Is there an "Intellisense"-mechanism like with other IDEs? For Java the JDEE1 has this feature and for all other languages semantic offer something similar, see http://cedet.sourceforge.net/intellisense.shtml

Can i use ECB in combination with Gnus within one frame? You can, but for ECB-versions < 1.96 it is not recommended because each of them has it's own window-management and probably there will be conflicts, so use different frames for ECB and Gnus! But beginning with ECB 1.96 you can use either escreen.el or winring.el as "window-manager" which allows you in consequence to use ECB and applications like Gnus in one frame! See Window-managers and ECB.

Can i speed up displaying the contents of big-size directories? Yes, see the option ecb-cache-directory-contents. Read the section Large directories.

Is it possible to create/use other layouts than the built-in ones? Yes. Creating a new ECB-layout and The layout-engine are the relevant sections. The former one describes how to create interactively new layouts where the latter one is for Elisp-programmers.

Can i use speedbar as directory-browser within ECB? Yes, see Integrating speedbar.

Can i exclude subdirectories from the recursive grep in the directories buffer? Yes, see Grepping directories.

How can i prevent contaminating each directory with a file semantic-cache? Set semanticdb-default-save-directory to a directory.

Why ECB displays large portions of current source-file with dark background? This comes from semantic; see Setting up Emacs.

Why ECB underlines some parts of current source-file? This comes from semantic; see Setting up Emacs.

Can i add my own commands to the popup-menus of tree-buffers? Yes, see Using the mouse.

Can ECB display the compile-window "on demand"? Yes, see Tips and tricks.

Which buffers are treated as compilation-buffers by ECB? See the docstring of the function ecb-compilation-buffer-p.

How can i change the modeline of an ECB-tree-buffer? You can change it with the options ecb-mode-line-prefixes, ecb-mode-line-data and ecb-mode-line-display-window-number.

How can i change the keybindings of ECB? You can do this with option ecb-key-map (see ecb-general).

What can i do if hiding/showing from the methods-buffer does not work? Either the current major-modes is not supported by hideshow or you have to add an entry to hs-special-modes-alist (see Hide-show).

Can i maximize one of the ECB-windows for better overlook? Yes, see Maximizing the ECB windows.

Can i hide the ECB-windows for getting more editing-space? Yes, see Hiding the ECB windows.

Can i define the actions ECB performs after visiting a token? Yes, see Visiting tokens.

Buffers are not displayed correctly in the compile-window? See Problems with the compile window.

Can ECB work together with window-managers like escreen.el? Yes, see Window-managers and ECB.

Can ECB display the window-number in the modeline of the special windows? Yes, see option ecb-mode-line-display-window-number.


Footnotes

  1. http://jdee.sunsite.dk/