# ECB - the Emacs Code Browser

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This is the user manual for ECB version 2.40.

ECB stands for "Emacs Code Browser". While (X)Emacs already has good editing support for many modes, its browsing support is somewhat lacking. That's where ECB comes in: it displays a number of informational windows that allow for easy source code navigation and overview.

The informational windows can contain:

- A directory tree,
- a list of source files in the current directory (with full support and display of the VC-state),
- a list of functions/classes/methods/... in the current file, (ECB uses the CEDET-Semantic, or Imenu, or etags, for getting this list so all languages supported by any of these tools are automatically supported by ECB too)
- a history of recently visited files (groupable by several criterias),
- helpful informations and possible completions according to the current context which is computed by the semantic-analyzer for some sort of intellisense,
- the Speedbar and
- output from compilation (the "*compilation*" window) and other modes like help, grep etc. or whatever a user defines to be displayed in this window.

As an added bonus, ECB makes sure to keep these informational windows visible, even when you use `C-x 1` and similar commands.

It goes without saying that you can configure the layout, ie which informational windows should be displayed where. ECB comes with a number of ready-made window layouts to choose from.

Please note: Experienced ECB users find a complete alphabetical list of all commands and user-options in Interactive ECB commands and Customizable options.

The latest version of ECB can always be found at http://ecb.sourceforge.net

To send bug reports, or participate in discussions about ECB, use the mailing list ecb-list@lists.sourceforge.net via http://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/ecb-list

IMPORTANT: Cause of extra appearance of SPAM in the mailing-lists, SourceForge has changed its policy: Now it is only possible to post to the mailing-list for users who have subscribed this mailing-list. So please be aware you will not be able to send comments, bug reports and improvement suggestions before you have subscribed the ECB-mailing-list. See the section "Mailing-list" at the ECB-website at http://ecb.sourceforge.net how to do this.

--- The Detailed Node Listing ---

Installation and first steps of ECB

Installation of ECB

How to set up Emacs for file parsing with ECB

All ECB-windows of ECB

The basic ECB-windows of ECB

Displaying the trees with different styles

Add-on ECB-windows of ECB

Activation and Deactivation

Usage of ECB

Working with the keyboard in the ECB-windows

Using and customizing the ECB-Methods window

Applying filters to the special ECB-tree-buffers

Changing, customizing, redrawing and creating layouts

Synchronization of the ECB-windows

Customizing ECB

General aspects for customizing ECB

All customizable options of ECB

Upgrading and downloading packages

Automatic upgrading of options

Handling of common use-cases

Supporting Version control systems

Entry points for Elisp programmers

The library tree-buffer.el

How to program new layouts and new special windows

Conflicts and bugs of ECB