The Dependencies View

Rails makes doing common tasks relatively easy, however it adds a level of complexity. Rails adds relationships and dependencies that are not obvious through the use of conventions, meta-programming and naming patterns. The Dependencies View helps reduce the complexity by keeping a dynamic view of class and logical relationships.

While you navigate source code or nodes in the Rails Explorer, you can use the Dependencies View to track focus and show the dependencies (class, method, controller, action, view, attributes). The Dependencies View shows references to and from a selected class or method.

For a demonstration of the Dependencies View, see the video Using the Dependencies View.

The Dependencies View is a very useful tool for navigating and introspecting software. Relationships are determined by type inference and semantic analysis. Dependencies are updated in real-time during editing and navigation. Relationships, between controllers, actions, views, models, helpers, routes, migrations, schema and tests are related and determined by convention and method call analysis.

This screen example shows the Dependencies View:

In this example the Model class LinItem is open in the Ruby Editor. It shows these Outbound dependencies:

Order and Product Model relationships
Order and Product Model classes

It shows these Inbound dependencies:

The Order Model
Integration Test DSL User Story
Integration Test User Story

Note:

Use of the "depot" application for demonstration purposes generously granted by Dave Thomas, author of The Pragmatic Programmers' "Agile Web Development with Rails" .

User Case

Action

Open the Dependencies View

From the workbench select: The Dependencies View

Window Show View Dependencies

Change the Active Selection in an Editor

The Active selection changes dynamically during project navigation.

Focus the Dependency view on a specific element by placing the cursor in the desired element.

Change the Active Selection in a View

Select an element in the Rails Explorer to reveal dependencies in the view.

Navigate a project from the Dependencies View

Double-click an element in the Dependencies View to open it.

Change View Filtering

Link with Selection

Link the View with data selected in the editor.

Include Containers

Include element container listings in View.

Select Types

Specify element types to reveal in View.

Show Inbound Show only inbound dependencies in the View.

Show Outbound
Show only outbound dependencies in the View.

Show Both

Show inbound and outbound dependencies in the View.

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