View metadata

Any value that has underlying metadata will have a metadata button beside it.    (See Dictionaries) Clicking this button will open a pop-up window that allows you to view the variable's metadata. 

The metadata button should not be taken as indicating whether or not a variable is a dictionary.  For example, a dictionary created with several name/value pairs, but without a root value, will not have a metadata button.

A value in VTS has properties, other than just its value. By resting the mouse pointer over a value in the module content window, a tool tip window is displayed for several seconds, listing the properties of the selected value. For example:

The rules for how dictionaries are displayed in the module window can be confusing to new users. The following example may help to at least illustrate the rules:

Given the following code that creates two dictionaries; the first with no root value and the second with a root value of 5:

 

    dict = Dictionary();

    dict["entry1"] = "data1";

    dict["entry2"] = "data2";

    dict["entry3"] = "data3";

       

    dict2 = Dictionary(1, 5);

    dict2["entry1"] = "data1";

    dict2["entry2"] = "data2";

    dict2["entry3"] = "data3";

    The module content window will look like the following:

Hovering over each of the variables in turn will produce tool tips as shown next:

Tooltip associated with a dictionary having no root value

Tooltip associated with a dictionary having a root value

 

Note that only dict2, which has a root value as well as metadata gets a metadata button.

Dict gets the Window button, which in this case performs a somewhat similar function…

From the metadata button

From the window button

There are three tabs featured at the bottom of the module content window:

Local: The local tab displays only the variables and values that are local to the currently selected object or module.

Auto: The Auto tab displays the variables and values in close proximity to the currently selected source code line. (Close proximity is defined as one source code line before and one after the currently selected one.) This works both when simply clicking on a line of source code and is perhaps of most use when single stepping through lines of code. The Auto tab will automatically refresh and allows you to follow variables around as you step through the code. Automatic scope resolution will walk up through the code to find array declaration and displays in the Auto tab window.

Global: The Global tab displays the contents of the local tab, plus all variables and values in the scope of the currently-selected object or module (see Displaying Objects with a Global Scope in the Module Content Window).