UltraEdit supports Ctags as part of a project. In order to use Ctags, you would need to:
1. Create a new project.
2. Add the required files/folders to the project.
3. Generate the Ctags file from the Project tab.
4. Open "file.c" and position the caret on top of a symbol you would like parsed and press F11.
UltraEdit will then jump to the line in "header.h" where the symbol is defined.
What is Ctags?
Ctags generates a tag file (or index) file of C/C++ objects and functions found in C/C++ header and source files that allows these items to be referenced quickly within UltraEdit.
Ctags EXE
UltraEdit relies on an external tag file generator. There are many versions of Ctags and we recommend "Exuberant Ctags" available from http://ctags.sourceforge.net/.
UltraEdit can make use of an existing tag file, or if an EXE for creating Ctags is available it can also create the tag file. Using ctags.exe from Exuberant Ctags and placing this in the GNU subdirectory under the directory containing UltraEdit will by default allow UltraEdit to create the tag file. A ctags.exe is installed with UltraEdit by default.
Ctags configuration within UltraEdit
The Ctag options command in the Ctags dropdown under the Project tab allows the user to change the Ctags option and to create the tag file. The Ctags option dialog allows for the following three items to be defined:
Default tag file - This specifies the tag file to be used if there is not a specific project tag file active (defined in the project settings). This must be present if there is not a project specific tag file for UltraEdit to lookup symbols.
CTAG EXE path/name - This specifies the full path and name of the ctags.exe that will be run to create the tag file from within UltraEdit. If this is not present UltraEdit can still reference a tag file for symbols but it can not create one. The default setting for this is "ctags.exe" in the GNU subdirectory under the directory containing UltraEdit.
CTAG parameters - This specifies the parameters to be passed to the ctags.exe for it to function correctly. The default settings are set up for "Exuberant Ctags" as described above.
%fi on the parameter line is replaced when the ctags.exe is run with the filename/path of a file that contains a list of files that the ctags.exe will use to create its tags from. If a project is loaded in UltraEdit, UltraEdit creates a temporary file with a list of the project files and passes this in place of %fi.
%fo on the parameter line is replaced with the full filename/path of the tag file to be created. This would be the tag file specified in the project, or the default tag file defined above.
Creating the tag file
The tag file can be created using the Generate tags command in the Ctags dropdown under the Project tab, or when a project is opened the tag file can be created automatically if the project settings specify this.
Finding a symbol/tag
The whole purpose of Ctags is to be able to quickly find a function or object that is defined elsewhere in the file or another file. Assuming the tag file exists, selecting Find symbol from the Ctags dropdown under the Project tab will search the tag file for the symbol and if only one match is found the file will be opened in UltraEdit and the file positioned to the symbol. If multiple matches occur, a dialog box will be shown giving the user the option to position to the appropriate tag.