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Visualization – Flow Break Icons

September 23rd, 2010

Flow break icons (also known as Flow Break Evaluation feature) are visual indicators appearing in the code editor at the end of lines containing code that can alter the flow of program execution. Flow break icons are useful when reviewing complex code with multiple loops and/or breaks – these icons are drawn near the flow language keywords (see the table below) which help you understand the code flow evaluation.

Hovering over these icons using the mouse cursor will show you an animated arrow pointing to the next point of execution (where the code will continue after the break). In addition, clicking on one of those icons will move the editor caret to the target location in the source code, where the program path goes. A temporal system marker is dropped near the icon after you click an icon, to allow you to return back when you press ESC key (within 60 seconds).

CodeRush Flow Break Icons preview

Here’s the table of flow break icons and language keywords that change the program flow:

Icon C# keyword VB keyword Target location

CodeRush Flow Break Icon Return

return Return
  • The finally statement if located inside of a try or catch block.
  • The code line following the anonymous method or lambda expression if located inside of these.
  • The end of the current method or function or property accessor.

CodeRush Flow Break Icon Throw

throw Throw
  • The finally statement if located inside of a try or catch block.
  • The end of the current method or function or property accessor.

CodeRush Flow Break Icon Continue

continue Continue
  • The beginning of the current loop or finally statement if inside of a try or catch block.

CodeRush Flow Break Icon Break

break Exit Sub, Exit Function, Exit For, Exit Do, Exit While, Exit Select
  • The finally statement if located inside of a try or catch block.
  • The statement following the current loop, if present.

CodeRush Flow Break Icon Goto

goto GoTo
  • The code line with the appropriate label element.

CodeRush Flow Break Icon Yield Return

yield return Same as “return” icon.

CodeRush Flow Break Icon Yield Break

yield break Same as “return” icon.

By default, the Flow Break Icons feature is enabled. You can easily turn it off from the DXCore Visualize toolbar:

CodeRush Flow Break Icons Toolbar item

On the “Editor | Painting | Flow Break Evaluation” options page in the Options Dialog, you can specify the icon and border opacity, arrow speed and color, etc.

CodeRush Flow Break Icons options page

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Products: CodeRush Pro
Versions: 9.1 and up
VS IDEs: any
Updated: Dec/07/2010
ID: C027

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