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CommentNavigator

Delphi IDE Expert for navigating structured comment blocks in Pascal source code. Dockable panel, grouping, sorting, filtering, and one-hotkey comment insertion.

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README

Comment Navigator

Delphi IDE Expert for fast navigation through structured comment blocks in Pascal source code.

Overview

Comment Navigator scans your Pascal source files for specially formatted comment blocks and displays them in a convenient dockable panel inside the Delphi IDE. It allows you to instantly jump to any section of your code, organize large units into logical groups, and insert standardized comment headers with a single hotkey.

Comment Block Format

pascal
//==============================================================================
// InitializeDatabase
//==============================================================================
procedure TDataModule1.InitializeDatabase;
begin
  // ...
end;
pascal
//==============================================================================
// LoadConfiguration
//==============================================================================
procedure TDataModule1.LoadConfiguration;
begin
  // ...
end;

Features

Navigation

  • Dockable panel integrated into Delphi IDE (View → Comment Navigator)
  • Click to navigate — jump to any comment line in the editor
  • Real-time search — filter comments as you type
  • Collapsible groups — organize comments into logical sections

Scanning Modes

  • Rules — scan for structured comment blocks with configurable separators
  • All // — scan all single-line comments
  • All {} — scan all curly-brace comments

Sorting

  • By line number (original order)
  • By comment text (alphabetical)
  • By group name
  • Ascending / descending direction

Comment Insertion

  • One hotkey (default: Ctrl+Alt+Enter) inserts a formatted comment block above the current method
  • Automatically extracts method name from procedure, function, constructor, destructor
  • Optional class name inclusion (TClassName.MethodName or just MethodName)
  • Separator character and width are configurable
  • Fully undoable (Ctrl+Z works)

Auto-Scan

  • Automatic rescan when switching between modules
  • Detects editor modifications and refreshes the list
  • Can be disabled in settings

Customization

  • Separator character (=, -, *, #, etc.)
  • Minimum separator length for detection
  • Separator width for inserted comments
  • Require opening separator, closing separator, or both
  • Group header font: name, size, bold, italic, color
  • Hotkey is fully configurable

Screenshots

Coming soon

Requirements

  • Delphi 2009 or later
  • Windows
  • ToolsAPI, DesignIntf (included with Delphi)

Installation

  1. Clone or download this repository
  2. Open CommentNavigator.dpk in Delphi IDE
  3. Right-click the project in Project Manager → Compile → Install
  4. Access via menu: View → Comment Navigator

Quick Start

  1. Open any .pas, .dpr, .dpk, or .inc file
  2. Open View → Comment Navigator
  3. Add structured comments to your code:
    pascal
    //==============================================================================
// Section Name
//==============================================================================
  4. Comments appear in the navigator panel — click to jump
  5. Place cursor on a procedure/function line and press Ctrl+Alt+Enter to auto-insert a comment header

Project Structure

File Description
CommentNavigator.dpk Design-time package
CommentNav.Expert.pas Expert registration, menu item
CommentNav.DockForm.pas Dockable form, IDE notifiers, file polling
CommentNav.Frame.pas Main UI frame — ListView, scanning, navigation
CommentNav.Settings.pas Settings manager, INI storage, settings dialog
CommentNav.InsertComment.pas Hotkey binding, method name parser, comment inserter

Settings

Access settings via the gear icon on the Comment Navigator panel.

Setting Default Description
Separator char = Character used in separator lines
Min separator length 10 Minimum length to recognize a separator
Separator width 78 Width of inserted separator lines
Require opening separator Yes Separator line required above comment
Require closing separator Yes Separator line required below comment
Auto-scan on activate Yes Rescan when switching modules
Insert hotkey Ctrl+Alt+Enter Hotkey for comment insertion
Include class name Yes Include TClass. prefix in inserted comments
Group font Segoe UI, 11, Bold, Navy Appearance of group headers

How It Works

Scanning (Rules Mode)

The scanner looks for patterns like:

pascal
// <separator line>    ← opening separator (configurable char, min length)
// Comment text        ← one or more comment lines (captured)
// <separator line>    ← closing separator

Lines are grouped by the text between separators. Groups are collapsible in the ListView.

Comment Insertion

When you press Ctrl+Alt+Enter on a line like:

pascal
procedure TMyForm.ButtonClick(Sender: TObject);

The expert inserts above it:

pascal
//==============================================================================
// TMyForm.ButtonClick
//==============================================================================

The separator character, width, and class name inclusion are all taken from settings.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to:

  • Report bugs via Issues
  • Submit feature requests
  • Open pull requests

License

MIT License — see LICENSE for details.

Author

Oleg Granishevskii & Claude 4.6 Opus