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JSON Outline View

The Outline view for JSON documents displays the list of all the components of the JSON document you are editing. By default, it is displayed on the left side of the editor. If the view is not displayed, it can be opened by selecting it from the Window > Show View menu.

Figure 1. JSON Outline View

Outline View Features

The Outline view allows you to:
  • Quickly navigate through the document by selecting nodes in the Outline tree.
  • Move elements by dragging them to a new position in the tree structure.
  • Highlight elements in the editor area. It is synchronized with the editor area, so when you make a selection in the editor area, the corresponding nodes are highlighted in the Outline view, and vice versa.
  • View document errors, as they are highlighted in the Outline view. A tooltip also provides more information about the nature of the error when you hover over the faulted element.

Outline View Interface

By default, it is displayed on the left side of the editor. If the view is not displayed, it can be opened by selecting it from the Window > Show View menu.

The upper part of the Outline view contains a filter box that allows you to focus on the relevant components. Type a text fragment in the filter box and only the components that match it are presented. For advanced usage you can use wildcard characters (such as * or ?) and separate multiple patterns with commas.

It also includes a Settings menu in the top-right corner that presents the following options to help you filter the view even further.

Filter returns exact matches
The text filter of the Outline view returns only exact matches.
Selection update on cursor move
Controls the synchronization between Outline view and source document. The selection in the Outline view can be synchronized with the cursor moves or the changes in the editor. Selecting one of the components from the Outline view also selects the corresponding item in the source document.
Flat presentation mode of the filtered results
When active, the application flattens the filtered result elements to a single level.

Drag and Drop Actions in the Outline View

Entire JSON properties, objects, and arrays can be moved or copied in the edited document using only the mouse in the Outline view with drag-and-drop operations. Several drag and drop actions are possible:

  • If you drag a JSON node within the Outline view and drop it on another node, then the dragged node will be moved after the drop target.
  • If you hold the mouse pointer over the drop target for a short time before the drop then the drop target node will be expanded first and the dragged node will be moved inside the drop target.
  • You can also drop a node before or after another node if you hold the mouse pointer towards the upper or lower part of the target. A marker will indicate whether the drop will be performed before or after the target node.
  • If you hold down the Ctrl (Command on macOS) key after dragging, a copy operation will be performed instead of a move.

Contextual Menu Actions

The following actions are available in the contextual menu of the JSON Outline view:

Cut
Cuts the currently selected component.
Copy
Copies the currently selected component.
Paste
Pastes the copied component.
Delete
Deletes the currently selected component.
Expand More
Expands the structure of a component in the Outline view.
Collapse All
Collapses the structure of all the component in the Outline view.