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github/codeql-go is being merged into github/codeql. Update references to `codeql-go` within the CodeQL CLI docs. Add Go to the list of mentioned languages where applicable. Leave an explanatory note in the setup instructions about the previous requirement to check out `github/codeql-go`, and mention this is no longer necessary. The remaining references are to historical commits, which will continue to exist.
40 lines
2.2 KiB
ReStructuredText
40 lines
2.2 KiB
ReStructuredText
:tocdepth: 1
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.. _exploring-the-structure-of-your-source-code:
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Exploring the structure of your source code
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=================================================
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You can use the AST viewer to display the abstract syntax tree of a CodeQL database.
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About the abstract syntax tree
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-------------------------------
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The abstract syntax tree (AST) of a program represents the program's syntactic structure. Nodes on the AST represent elements such as statements and expressions.
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A CodeQL database encodes these program elements and the relationships between them through a :ref:`database schema <codeql-database-schema>`.
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CodeQL for Visual Studio Code contains an AST viewer. The viewer consists of a graph visualization view that lets you explore the AST of a file in a CodeQL database. This helps you see which CodeQL classes correspond to which parts of your source files.
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Viewing the abstract syntax tree of a source file
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--------------------------------------------------
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1. Open a source file from a CodeQL database. For example, you can navigate to a source file in the File Explorer.
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.. image:: ../images/codeql-for-visual-studio-code/open-source-file.png
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:width: 350
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:alt: Open a source file
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2. Run **CodeQL: View AST** from the Command Palette. This runs a CodeQL query (usually called ``printAST.ql``) over the active file, which may take a few seconds.
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.. pull-quote:: Note
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If you don't have an appropriate ``printAST.ql`` query in your workspace, the **CodeQL: View AST** command won't work. To fix this, you can update your copy of the `CodeQL <https://github.com/github/codeql>`__ repository from ``main``. If you do this, you may need to upgrade your databases. Also, query caches may be discarded and your next query runs could be slower.
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3. Once the query has run, the AST viewer displays the structure of the source file.
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4. To see the nested structure, click the arrows and expand the nodes.
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.. image:: ../images/codeql-for-visual-studio-code/explore-ast.png
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:alt: Explore the AST
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You can click a node in the AST viewer to jump to it in the source code. Conversely, if you click a section of the source code, the AST viewer displays the corresponding node.
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