Symbol Window

A Visual Studio Code extension that provides a "Source Insight"-like symbol navigation experience. It offers a dedicated side panel to browse symbols in the current document or search across the entire workspace with a native look and feel.

Features

1. Current Document Mode

• Tree View: Displays symbols (functions, classes, variables, etc.) of the active file in a hierarchical tree.
• Auto-Sync: Automatically updates when you switch tabs.
• Real-time Filtering: Type in the search bar to instantly filter the symbol tree.
• Jump to Definition: Double-click a symbol to jump to its location in the editor.

2. Project Workspace Mode

• Global Search: Search for symbols across the entire workspace.
• Multi-keyword Support: Supports space-separated keywords (e.g., user controller matches UserController).
• Performance: Optimized with debouncing and caching for large projects.
• Infinite Scroll: Automatically loads more results as you scroll.
• Deep Search: A powerful hybrid search mode that combines text scanning (Ripgrep) with symbol parsing (LSP) to find results in large projects where standard LSP searches might be truncated.
  • Advanced Filtering:
    • Search Scope: Limit the search to a specific folder.
    • Files to Include: Filter results using glob patterns (e.g., src/**/*.ts).
  • Optimized Matching: Uses regex permutations for fast multi-keyword matching.

3. Native Experience

• UI: Built with @vscode/webview-ui-toolkit to match VS Code's native design.
• Icons: Uses standard VS Code Codicons.
• Theme Aware: Automatically adapts to Light, Dark, and High Contrast themes.

Configuration

You can customize the appearance of the symbol list via VS Code settings:

• symbolWindow.cleanCStyleTypes (Default: true):
  Moves C-style type suffixes (e.g., (typedef), (struct)) from the symbol name to the detail view (gray text).

• symbolWindow.moveSignatureToDetail (Default: true):
  Moves function signatures/parameters (e.g., (int a, char b)) from the symbol name to the detail view.

• symbolWindow.enableDeepSearch (Default: true):
  Enables the "Deep Search" feature in Project Mode. This feature uses ripgrep to scan files when standard symbol search is insufficient.

• symbolWindow.forceDeepSearch (Default: false):
  If enabled (and enableDeepSearch is true), the extension will always use Deep Search for every query in Project Mode, skipping the standard LSP search. This is useful for very large codebases where LSP search is consistently incomplete.

Usage

1. Open the View:
   Click the "Symbol Window" icon in the Activity Bar (usually on the left).

2. Switch Modes:
   Click the "Toggle Mode" icon in the view title area (top right of the panel) to switch between "Current Document" and "Project Workspace".

3. Refresh:
   Click the "Refresh" icon to reload symbols or clear the search cache.

4. Navigate:

   • Click: Select a symbol.
   • Double-Click: Jump to the symbol in the editor.
   • Arrow Keys: Navigate the list.
   • Enter: Jump to the selected symbol.

5. Deep Search:

   • Note: This feature is enabled by default via symbolWindow.enableDeepSearch.
   • Toggle Details: In Project Mode, click the ... (kebab) icon in the search bar to reveal advanced options.
   • Scope: Click the folder icon to select a specific root directory for your search.
   • Files to Include: Enter glob patterns (e.g., *.ts, src/**) to filter the files being searched.
   • Deep Search: If standard LSP search is insufficient, the extension automatically leverages ripgrep with optimized regex permutations to find symbols across your defined scope.

Requirements

This extension relies on VS Code's built-in symbol providers. You must have a language extension installed for the files you are editing (e.g., C/C++ extension for .c/.cpp files, TypeScript extension for .ts files).

Note on Large Projects: If you open a large workspace, the extension may show a "Waiting for symbol provider..." status initially. This is normal and indicates that the language server (e.g., C/C++ IntelliSense) is still indexing your files. The view will automatically unlock once the provider is ready.

Limitations & Enhancements

This extension is built on top of VS Code's native Symbol APIs (vscode.executeDocumentSymbolProvider and vscode.executeWorkspaceSymbolProvider). While it inherits the underlying capabilities of your installed Language Server Protocol (LSP) extensions, it also provides significant enhancements:

Enhancements:

• Multi-Keyword Search: Unlike standard VS Code search which often requires exact order, Symbol Window supports space-separated keywords (e.g., User Controller) and performs a client-side intersection. This allows for order-independent matching and more precise filtering.
• Structure Visualization: Provides a persistent tree view for the current document, unlike the transient "Go to Symbol" quick pick.

Limitations:

• Search Results: The completeness of the initial search results depends on the language extension. If the LSP truncates results (e.g., returns only the first 100 matches for "User"), our enhanced filtering can only operate on that subset.
• Indexing Speed: The "Readiness" of the symbol window depends on how fast your language extension can index the workspace.

Future Work

1. Enhanced Search Capabilities: Implement advanced search strategies (e.g., hybrid text search) to overcome LSP result truncation limits in large projects.
2. Relation Window: A planned feature to visualize call hierarchies and symbol relationships (Callers/Callees) directly within the side panel.

Known Issues

• Sync Selection: Currently, clicking a symbol in the editor does not automatically highlight it in the Symbol Window list (Planned feature).
• Initial Loading: For very large workspaces, the "Project Mode" might show "Waiting for symbol provider..." for a few seconds while the language server indexes the project.

Contributing

See CONTRIBUTING.md for instructions on how to build and contribute to the project.

License

MIT