One of the new features in the upcoming Test Design Studio 3 release include some updates to how you navigate documents.  Below is a screen shot of a class library for interacting with the Windows® Calculator application (click the image for larger resolution screen shot if desired):

This is a simple class with multiple methods and a property.  Before going any further into what TDS 3 will offer, let’s take a look at the equivalent functionality in TDS 2.  Below is the Navigation Bar you see in TDS 2:

This allows you to see a drop-down list of “containers” on the left (e.g. a VBScript class), and the drop-list on the right shows the items that are in that container (e.g. a list of class members).  This list was effective, but only offered two techniques for grouping items.  In TDS 3, these two drop-down lists have been replaced by a single “breadcrumb” style navigation control where every point in the hierarchy of the language element is displayed.

This new control allows us to display three elements at the same time: the root element (e.g. the VBScript code document), the container element (e.g. the ‘Calculator’ class), and the current member (e.g. the ‘PerformBinaryOperation’ function).  When QuickTest® Pro script support is added, you may see a new level to allow you to switch between Actions in the script.  The drop-down arrow next to each element allows you to jump to a different part of the document.

As you move the caret through your document, the Navigation Bar updates to show the current location in the document.  You may also notice that we have added the parameter signature to any invocation members of the class (i.e. ‘Sub’, ‘Function’ and ‘Property’).  Having this data readily available in the Navigation Bar can help keep track of which parameters are passed in as you work on the body of that code element.

While the Navigation Bar is very convenient for jumping to specific code elements in your document or keeping track of your current location, it is still a flat view of your document that makes it difficult to see all the available code elements at the same time.  That is why we have introduced a brand new tool window called ‘Document Outline’!

This tool window allows you to see the full hierarchy of your document, all in a single view!  Just like the Navigation Bar, the current selection will always be updated based on the position of your caret in the document.  You can also double-click an item in the Document Outline to jump to that part of the code.

We believe these subtle enhancements will make you even more efficient when using Test Design Studio.