One area where they could use a bit of help is navigating between classes. All of the browsers have a “Find Class” command that invokes a dialog in which you can enter a class name or wildcard search pattern. Once you click the OK button, the system dutifully finds the class you asked for or presents you with a list of possible alternatives. If you are building a complex system with a number of interlinked classes, you will find yourself using this feature a lot or you will find yourself opening a number of parallel browsers in order to minimize the number of times you have to hunt for a class. Wouldn't it be better if the browser kept track of where you had been and made it easy to go back to a class you had recently visited? Wouldn't it also be nice if the “Find Class” option were a bit easier to use and required fewer mouse clicks to access?

VA Assist Pro adds an integrated Find/History feature to all of the code browsers by adding an additional combobox to the upper left corner of each browser. The combobox keeps track of all of the classes you have most recently visited. Revisiting a class is as simple as selecting it from the drop down list. The combobox is also editable which allows you to type in a class name or a wild card expression and then hit enter. The specified class will then be found or a list of alternatives will be presented in a selection list.

If you are using a hierarchy browser and the selected class is not visible, the selected class will become the new base class of the browser.