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Code reference information

Last modified: 18 January 2024

Parameter info

The Parameter Info popup shows the names of parameters in method and function calls. GoLand automatically shows a popup with all available method signatures within 1 second (1000 milliseconds) after you type an opening bracket in the editor, or select a method from the suggestion list.

You can explicitly invoke the popup if it has closed or if your IDE is configured not to show the popup automatically. To do so, press Ctrl0P (or click View | Parameter Info).

View Parameter Info

Configure the parameter info popup

  1. In the Settings dialog (CtrlAlt0S), go to Editor | General | Code Completion.

  2. In the Show the parameter info popup in ... milliseconds field, specify the time in milliseconds after which the popup should appear.

If you don't want the popup to appear automatically, clear the Show the parameter info popup in ... milliseconds checkbox.

Inlay hints

Inlay hints are special markers that appear in the editor and provide you with additional information about your code, like the names of the parameters that a called method expects. Other types of hints inform you about annotations, method parameters, usages, and so on (depending on the language).

Parameter hints

Some of the hints are enabled by default.

You can fine-tune inlay hints in Settings | Editor | Inlay Hints.

Configure the parameter hints exception list

You can configure the list with exceptions for parameter hints.

  1. In the Settings dialog (CtrlAlt0S), select Editor | Inlay Hints and click the necessary language.

  2. Select Parameter hints in the list in the middle section.

    The options for configuring hints become available on the right.

  3. Add cases for which you do not want to see the hints to the Exclude list section. To add a case, click the inline hint in your code, press AltEnter and select Do not show hints for current method.

  4. Apply the changes and close the dialog.

    Configure the parameter hints exception list

Quick Documentation

You can get quick information for any symbol right from the editor by means of the Quick Documentation feature. It shows you code documentation in a popup as you hover over code elements.

For example, the quick documentation popup can show package names for top-level declarations. It might be helpful in cases when, for instance, you have multiple types with identical names. Quick documentation will allow you to quickly see where a particular type was declared.

GoLand supports two types of links in Go doc comments: links and doc links. Both text and doc links are rendered as links in the Quick Documentation popup and the Documentation tool window. Also, the IDE supports other markup. For example, for headings and lists.

Quick Documentation in a popup

View Quick Documentation in a popup

  • Hover over the necessary symbol in the editor.

  • Place the caret at the symbol and press Ctrl0Q (View | Quick Documentation).

    Press Ctrl0Q again to open this documentation in the Documentation tool window.

Click the Show Options Menu icon in the popup to change the font size, display the quick documentation toolbar, or go to the source code.

tip

To specify the delay after which the popup should appear, in the Settings dialog (CtrlAlt0S), go to Editor | Code Editing | Editor Tooltips and enter the necessary value in the Tooltip delay field.

Disable Quick Documentation on hover

By default, the quick documentation popup appears as you hover over code elements. You can configure the IDE to display the popup only after you explicitly invoke the Quick Documentation feature.

  • Click the Show Options Menu icon in the popup and disable the Show on Mouse Move option.

  • In the Settings dialog (CtrlAlt0S), go to Editor | Code Editing | Quick Documentation and clear the Show quick documentation on hover checkbox.

In this case, to view documentation for a symbol at caret, press Ctrl0Q or select View | Quick Documentation from the main menu. The documentation will be shown in a popup, but you can configure the IDE to display it in the tool window right away.

Quick Documentation in the tool window

View documentation in the tool window

With the default settings, pressing Ctrl0Q (View | Quick Documentation) opens quick documentation in a popup. You can change the settings to view documentation in the tool window.

  • In the quick documentation popup, click the Show Options Menu icon and disable the Show Documentation Popup First option.

  • In the Documentation tool window, click the Show Options Menu icon on the tool window toolbar and disable the Show Documentation Popup First option.

Keep documentation in the tool window

You can open a piece of documentation for a specific code element in the tool window and keep viewing documentation for other elements in your current file.

  1. Place the caret at the required code element and press Ctrl0Q. If the popup appears, press Ctrl0Q again to switch to the tool window.

    The asterisk symbol (*) on the documentation tab means that the tab is not pinned, so its content will be replaced by documentation for another code element that you select in the editor.

  2. Right-click the tab with the documentation in the documentation tool window and enable the Keep This Documentation option.

    After that, the current documentation tab will be pinned. You can return to the editor and view documentation for other code elements that will open either in the popup or in a new tab in the tool window.

    Keep Quick Documentation in tool window

tip

Press Ctrl0F in the Documentation tool window to use the text search.

When you are viewing code documentation in the tool window, it is displayed on the unpinned tab (the tab marked with the asterisk symbol (*). There are several ways in which you can work with it:

You can view documentation by hovering over code elements.

Click the Show Options Menu icon on the tool window toolbar and enable the Show on Mouse Move and Auto-Update from Source options.

External documentation

External documentation opens the necessary information in a web browser so that you can navigate to related symbols and keep the information for further reference at the same time. The External Documentation action navigates you to https://pkg.go.dev.

View external documentation

  • To view documentation for a symbol at the caret in a browser, press ShiftF1 or select View | External Documentation from the main menu.

Type Info

In GoLand, you can identify the type of an expression in the following way:

Productivity tips

Copy tooltip text to the clipboard

To copy tooltip text to the clipboard, hold Alt (on Linux, hold Ctrl+Alt) and click the tooltip.

See also

Getting Started