Feature: Go to symbol definition within file context in PRs

[mjaniszew]

Message sent to GitHub:

Recently when I'm doing code reviews, I'm really missing possibility to easily jump to function/variable definition. It would be great to have something similar to functionality available eg. in Jet Brains products, where I can hold Ctrl/Cmd and then click eg. on variable in code, and I'll be taken straight to this variable's definition, and be able to quickly see what it actually does. Instead I need to use browser's built in search which is uncomfortable and very often distracting when it finds something from totally different context.

Here's more detailed example:
https://www.jetbrains.com/help/phpstorm/2016.1/navigating-to-declaration-or-type-declaration-of-a-symbol.html?origin=old_help

While I'm fully aware that it's not an easy task, especially to cover all the languages, it would be really great to have at least basic implementation of this, and be able to easily jump to function / variable definition only within file context. It doesn't mean that it's needed to implement some advanced IDE functionalities. What most people would probably expect is: in Pull Request, while doing code review, when I'm reviewing file1.js and I click with Cmd/Ctrl pressed on myFunction(), I expect browser to scroll to definition of myFunction in file1.js and mark it to be better visible until I click somewhere else. If the definition is not visible in file diff (full file is not visible), then diff might get expanded, or simply open full file in new tab and scroll to definition there, which is probably easier to implement.

Response:

Hi Michal,

Thanks for the suggestion! I'll certainly pass it along to the team. I can't promise if/when we might implement that, however your feedback has definitely been recorded.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

[syndbg]

Just wondering, how did you contact Github regarding the feature request?

[mjaniszew]

I've simply sent an email to support@github.com with proper description.

[cirosantilli]

Same for file browsing: #292

[capablemonkey]

Hey folks, I had the exact same thought. I hacked up a little chrome extension to do this: https://github.com/capablemonkey/github-go-to-definition

[cirosantilli]

It has been implemented for file browsing at least: #292 !!!!