book

Microsoft® Visual Studio® Tips

Name: Microsoft® Visual Studio® Tips
Author: Sara Ford
ISBN: 9780735626409

by Sara Ford

October 2008

Beginner

272 pages

6h 47m

English

Microsoft Press

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Microsoft® Visual Studio® Tips
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Praise for Microsoft Visual Studio Tips . . .
Foreword
Introduction
How This Book Happened
Who This Book Is For
How This Book Is Organized
System Requirements
Contact the Author

Support for This Book
Tip 0.0: How to Look Up, Change, or Create Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts
What Will This Keyboard Shortcut Do?What Is the Keyboard Shortcut for This Command?How to Create or Change a Keyboard ShortcutWhere Are the Keyboard Shortcut Reference Posters?
Acknowledgements
1. Get Back to Basics with Your Editor
Basic EditingText EditingTip 1.1: How to not accidentally copy a blank lineTip 1.2: How to cycle through the Clipboard ring to paste different thingsTip 1.3: You can use Ctrl+Enter to insert a line above and Ctrl+Shift+Enter to insert a line belowTip 1.4: You can use Ctrl+W to select the current wordTip 1.5: You can use Ctrl+Delete to delete the next word and Ctrl+Backspace to delete the preceding wordTip 1.6: You can use Ctrl+L to cut the current line and Ctrl+Shift+L to delete the current lineTip 1.7: How to delete horizontal white space at the beginning of a lineTip 1.8: You can drag code or text to a new locationTip 1.9: You can right-drag code to Move Here or Copy HereTip 1.10: How to transpose characters, words, and lines in the editorTip 1.11: You can use a keyboard shortcut to uppercase or lowercase a word in the editorUndo/RedoTip 1.12: How to use the Undo stack on the standard toolbar
Scrolling and Navigation
ScrollingTip 1.13: How to use the mouse wheel for scrolling in all directionsTip 1.14: How to jump to the top or bottom of the current view in the editor without scrollingTip 1.15: You can hide the vertical and horizontal scroll bars in the editorNavigating Within and Among EditorsTip 1.16: How to navigate forward and backward in the editor all because of go-back markersTip 1.17: How to use Undo to jump the cursor back to the last insertion pointTip 1.18: How to reach the navigation bar via the keyboardTip 1.19: How to split a window and create new windowsTip 1.20: You can use F6 to jump between split panes in the editorTip 1.21: How to enable URL navigation within the editorTip 1.22: How to use Ctrl+G without the Go To Line dialog box popping upWord Wrap versus Virtual SpaceTip 1.23: How to enable word wrapTip 1.24: How to enable virtual space
Editor Fonts and Colors
Font SizeTip 1.25: How to increase the editor’s ToolTip font sizeTip 1.26: You can bind macros to keyboard shortcuts (or, "How to quickly increase or decrease your text editor font size")Fonts and ColorsTip 1.27: How to change the editor background to blackTip 1.28: What’s the difference between Automatic and Default in Tools–Options–Environment–Fonts And Colors?Tip 1.29: How to change a bookmark colorVisual CuesTip 1.30: How to track changes in the editorTip 1.31: How to show line numbers in the editorTip 1.32: How to view visible white Space
Printing
Printing OptionsTip 1.33: How to print line numbersTip 1.34: How to print boldlyTip 1.35: How to print the file path as the page header
Status Bar
Status Bar OptionsTip 1.36: You can hide the status bar
2. Make Your Editor Work for You
Advanced EditingSelectionTip 2.1: How to use box/column selection in the editorTip 2.2: How to jump to the beginning of some selected text when hitting escapeTip 2.3: You can use Ctrl+= to select code from the current cursor location to the last go-back markerTip 2.4: How to swap the current anchor position in the editorCommentingTip 2.5: How to quickly comment and uncomment code using keyboard shortcutsFormattingTip 2.6: You can display guidelines in the editor to help format your codeTip 2.7: How to format the document, the selected text, or just the current lineTip 2.8: How to keep tabs or to insert spacesTip 2.9: How to convert spaces to tabs and tabs to spacesTip 2.10: You can increase and decrease the line indent from the text editor toolbarTip 2.11: What’s the difference between smart indenting and block indenting?OutliningTip 2.12: How to collapse and expand codeTip 2.13: You can cut and paste a collapsed block of codeTip 2.14: You can hide outlining (selection margin) without turning off outliningEmulationsTip 2.15: How to enable Emacs and Brief editor emulationsBinary EditorTip 2.16: How to open something in the binary editorDelimiter Highlighting and Brace MatchingTip 2.17: What does that Automatic Delimiter Highlighting option do?Tip 2.18: How to change the Brace Matching colorClean up unused codeTip 2.19: You can remove unused using statementsAutoRecoverTip 2.20: What does Visual Studio do to autorecover files in the case of an unexpected shutdown?File ExtensionsTip 2.21: How to get syntax highlighting for a given file extension
Opening Files
Opening Files and Editor WindowsTip 2.22: How to reuse the same editor window when opening filesTip 2.23: How to automatically refresh an open document in the editorTip 2.24: How to edit a read-only file in Visual StudioTip 2.25: How to customize what directory the File–Open–File dialog box opens toTip 2.26: How to customize the number of items shown in the Recent Files lists (and where to find those lists)
Bookmarks
Managing BookmarksTip 2.27: How to set bookmarks and navigate among themTip 2.28: How to navigate among bookmark folders in the Bookmark windowTip 2.29: You can bookmark all of your Quick Find results
IntelliSense
Statement Completion, Parameter Info, and Complete WordTip 2.30: You can use Ctrl+J to invoke statement completionTip 2.31: How to display parameter info for a functionTip 2.32: How to display quick info for a functionTip 2.33: How to complete a wordTip 2.34: How to increase the statement completion font sizeTip 2.35: You can resize the statement completion dialog boxTip 2.36: You can toggle between the Common and All Statement Completion tabs via the keyboardTip 2.37: How to turn off IntelliSense by default
Code Snippets
Using Code SnippetsTip 2.38: You can use Ctrl+K, Ctrl+X to insert a code snippetTip 2.39: You can insert a code snippet via its shortcut keywordTip 2.40: You can insert a snippet by pressing Tab TabTip 2.41: How to browse code snippets and add new onesTip 2.42: How to change default values and variables in a code snippetTip 2.43: How to share code snippets with your teamTip 2.44: How to insert a code snippet around a block of code
3. Find What You Are Searching For
Searches from the KeyboardIncremental SearchTip 3.1: How to behold the power of incremental searchCurrent Word SearchesTip 3.2: You can use Ctrl+F3 to search for the currently-selected word without bringing up the Find And Replace windowTip 3.3: How to not automatically search for the currently-selected wordRepeat Last SearchTip 3.4: You can use F3 to search for the last thing you searched for
Quick Searches
Quick FindTip 3.5: You can use Ctrl+F to use Quick Find in the current documentTip 3.6: How to use the Find combo box to do a Quick Find in the current documentTip 3.7: How to customize the Find combo box (Ctrl+D) searchQuick ReplaceTip 3.8: You can use Ctrl+H to bring up the Quick Replace windowTip 3.9: How to hide the Quick Find/Quick Replace window after the first search hitQuick SymbolTip 3.10: How to search for a symbolTip 3.11: You can use Shift+Alt+F12 to use Find Symbol
Find In Files Searches
Find In FilesTip 3.12: How to find in filesTip 3.13: You can customize what files to find inTip 3.14: You can stop a Find In Files searchTip 3.15: You can replace all search string occurrences in filesFind And ReplaceTip 3.16: How to dock the Find And Replace windowFind Results WindowTip 3.17: You can use F8 to navigate the Find Results windowTip 3.18: How to show and hide find messagesTip 3.19: How to browse Find Symbol results
Other Search Options
Hidden TextTip 3.20: How to search hidden text in the editorSearch ScopeTip 3.21: How to search within the current project or entire solutionRegular ExpressionsTip 3.22: How to use wildcards and regular expressions while searching
4. Manage Your Environment Layout
Document WindowsFile Tab ChannelTip 4.1: You can use Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow to drop down the file tab channel file menuTip 4.2: You can use Close All But This on files in the file tab channelTip 4.3: You can copy a file’s full path from the file tab channelTip 4.4: You can open a Windows Explorer browser directly to the active fileTip 4.5: How to close just the selected files you wantTip 4.6: Under what condition does the file tab channel drop-down button change its icon?IDE NavigatorTip 4.7: You can use Ctrl+Tab to bring up the IDE Navigator to get a bird’s-eye view of and navigate all open files and tool windowsTip 4.8: How to disable the IDE NavigatorKeyboard NavigationTip 4.9: You can use Ctrl+F6 and Ctrl+Shift+F6 to navigate among opened document windowsTip 4.10: You can use Ctrl+F4 to close the current document opened in the editorMDI ModeTip 4.11: How to enter MDI modeTip 4.12: How to show the Tile Horizontally and Tile Vertically buttons in the Window Windows dialog box
Tool Windows
Dockable StateTip 4.13: You can choose from nine IDE tool window docking targetsTip 4.14: How to undock only a single tool window from a groupTip 4.15: You can dock a tool window to the top of the IDETip 4.16: You can use docking targets to dock tool windows in new and crazy waysAutohiding StateTip 4.17: You can autohide all of your tool windows with one commandTip 4.18: You can customize how pressing a tool window push pin autohides the tool window or tool window tab groupTip 4.19: You can show autohiding tool windows via the tool window autohide channelTip 4.20: You can double-click the tool window title bar to redock the tool windowTip 4.21: You can use Shift+Click to automatically dock an autohiding tool windowTip 4.22: You can speed up or slow down how fast a tool window slides out from a docked positionFloating StateTip 4.23: Why would you want to make a tool window float?Tabbed Document StateTip 4.24: How to use Tabbed Document to maximize a tool windowKeyboard NavigationTip 4.25: You can use Alt+F7 and Alt+Shift+F7 to move to the next and previous tool windowsTip 4.26: You can use Alt+F6 and Alt+Shift+F6 to cycle through opened tool windowsTip 4.27: How to use Ctrl+Page Up and Ctrl+Page Down to navigate among all the tool windows in a tool window groupHide StateTip 4.28: How to customize what clicking the X button does to a tool window or tool window tab groupHidden Keyboard ShortcutsTip 4.29: How to drag a tool window around using the keyboardTip 4.30: How to resize a tool window from the keyboardTip 4.31: How to access a toolbar within a tool windowTip 4.32: You can use Shift+Esc to close a tool window
Window Layouts
Four Window LayoutsTip 4.33: You can export just your window layoutsTip 4.34: How to quickly access Full Screen modeTip 4.35: How to access a file window layout mode that you can customize
Toolbars and Context Menus
ToolbarsTip 4.36: You can make a toolbar floatTip 4.37: You can hide or show the default buttons from any toolbarTip 4.38: How to display any toolbar at any timeTip 4.39: You can switch and swap buttons on the toolbars while the Tools–Customize dialog box is showingTip 4.40: You can show shortcut keys in toolbar ToolTipsContext MenusTip 4.41: You can customize the commands on the context menus
5. Discover More Tools for Your Design Time, Part 1
Tool WindowsCommand WindowTip 5.1: You can run Visual Studio commands from the Command WindowTip 5.2: How to search from the Command WindowTip 5.3: How to log your Command Window sessionTip 5.4: How to run external executables from the Command WindowTip 5.5: How to create a command aliasOutput WindowTip 5.6: You can use F8 and Shift+F8 to navigate among errors in the Output windowTip 5.7: You can double-click messages in the Output window to jump to that location in the codeTip 5.8: You can use the keyboard to jump to various panes within the Output windowTip 5.9: How to stop the Output window from showing itself during a buildTip 5.10: You can enable word wrap in the Output windowTip 5.11: You can customize the color scheme in the Output windowTip 5.12: You can redirect debug messages to the Output windowTip 5.13: You cannot enable Stop Search on the Output windowToolboxTip 5.14: You can drag and drop code onto the Toolbox’s General tabTip 5.15: Why does each Toolbox group have a Pointer control?Tip 5.16: How to stop the Toolbox from autopopulating with items found in the solutionTip 5.17: You can use * to expand all and / to collapse all in the ToolboxTip 5.18: You can use Ctrl+Up Arrow and Ctrl+Down Arrow to move among the various control groups in the ToolboxTip 5.19: You can sort items in the Toolbox alphabeticallyTip 5.20: You can switch between the Icon view and List Item view in the ToolboxTip 5.21: You can use Show All to find your hiding Toolbox controlsTip 5.22: You can use Ctrl+C to copy controls in a Toolbox tab and then use Ctrl+V to paste the controls into another Toolbox tabTip 5.23: You can create new Toolbox tabsTask ListTip 5.24: You can use the Task List to create user tasks that are separate from your codeTip 5.25: You can assign a priority to your Task List’s user tasksTip 5.26: How to create and view TODO comments in the Task ListTip 5.27: You can create shortcuts in your Task ListTip 5.28: You can show HACK, UNDONE, and custom tokens in the Task ListTip 5.29: How to disable the prompt for deleting the Task List’s user tasksTip 5.30: You can show a full file path in the Task ListTip 5.31: You can create keyboard shortcuts to navigate among the various Task List categories (by using View.NextTask and View.PreviousTask)Object BrowserTip 5.32: You can use Ctrl+Alt+J to open the Object Browser windowTip 5.33: You can specify to show components in your solution only in the Object BrowserTip 5.34: You can create a custom list of components for the Object BrowserTip 5.35: You can add references to your solution directly from the Object BrowserTip 5.36: How to use navigate forward and back in the Object BrowserTip 5.37: You can create a keyboard shortcut for adding references to a solution from the Object BrowserTip 5.38: You can customize both your Object pane and Members pane in the Object BrowserTip 5.39: You can choose whether to show base types in the Object BrowserTip 5.40: You can hide or show hidden members and types in the Object BrowserTip 5.41: You can mark methods and types as Hidden so that they don’t appear in Microsoft IntelliSense or in the Object BrowserTip 5.42: What does Other mean in Show Other Members in Object Browser Settings?Tip 5.43: How to stop displaying all inherited members in the Object Browser Member paneTip 5.44: You can show extension methods in the Object BrowserTip 5.45: What are the two primary means of searching for objects in the Object Browser?Tip 5.46: You can use F12 in the Object Browser to go to the definition of whatever is selectedTip 5.47: You can use a Find Symbol search (Shift+F12) in the Object BrowserTip 5.48: How to use type-ahead selection support in the Object BrowserTip 5.49: You can export all your Object Browser customizations in a .vssettings fileTip 5.50: Why the Object Browser has so many commands you can bind to (and how to create a keyboard shortcut to clear the search results)Tip 5.51: You can use the View.Forward (Alt+Right Arrow) and View.Backward (Alt+Left Arrow) global commands in the Object Browser
6. Discover More Tools for Your Design Time, Part 2
Dialog BoxesImport And Export SettingsTip 6.1: How to find what development settings you last reset toTip 6.2: How to reset your environment settings via Tools–Import And Export SettingsTip 6.3: What settings are contained in the New Project Dialog Preferred Language categoryTip 6.4: You can add your own files to the Import And Export Settings–Reset page listTip 6.5: What’s the difference between resetting settings and importing settings?Tip 6.6: You can save your current settings prior to doing an Import or ResetTip 6.7: How Visual Studio automatically saves all your current settings every time you close itTip 6.8: You can copy the full file path from the final wizard page when exporting settingsTip 6.9: You can use team settings to keep Visual Studio settings on different machines in syncExternal ToolsTip 6.10: You can run external tools from the IDETip 6.11: You can add your own external tools to the listTip 6.12: You can rearrange the list of external tools and create mnemonicsTip 6.13: You can have your external tool’s text displayed in the Output windowTip 6.14: How the external tools tokens workTip 6.15: You can prompt for arguments when you run an external tool
Find Combo Box
Find Combo Box Runs CommandsTip 6.16: How to have fun with the Find combo boxTip 6.17: You can press Ctrl+/ to run Visual Studio commands in the Find combo boxTip 6.18: How to open a file in the solution without using either a tool window or a dialog boxTip 6.19: You can set a breakpoint on a function from the Find combo box
Start Page
Start Page WindowTip 6.20: You can change the RSS feed on the Visual Studio Start PageTip 6.21: How to customize what Visual Studio opens to (or how to make the Start Page not show up when Visual Studio opens)
7. Know Your Solutions, and Other Project and Debugging Tweaks
Project and Solution SystemMultitargetingTip 7.1: How Visual Studio 2008 supports multitargeting of the .NET FrameworkProjectsTip 7.2: How to change the default new-project locationTip 7.3: You can toggle between small icons and large icons in the New Project dialog boxTip 7.4: You can use solution folders to hide projectsTip 7.5: You can create temp or "throw away" projectsTip 7.6: How to hide or show the Project Location Is Not Trusted message boxBuild ConfigurationsTip 7.7: How to use Simplified Build ConfigurationsSolution ExplorerTip 7.8: How to show the Miscellaneous Files project in the Solution ExplorerTip 7.9: There is type-ahead selection support in the Solution ExplorerTip 7.10: You can add a solution to a solutionTip 7.11: You can automatically perform a rename within an entire project when you rename a file in the Solution ExplorerTip 7.12: How to hide or show a solution in the Solution ExplorerTip 7.13: How to have the Solution Explorer always show (or not show) the file currently opened in the editor
Debugging
TracepointsTip 7.14: You can use tracepoints to log PrintF() or Console.WriteLine() info without editing your codeBreakpointsTip 7.15: You can set a breakpoint by clicking the indicator marginTip 7.16: You can press F9 to set a breakpoint on the current lineTip 7.17: You can use Ctrl+F9 to enable or disable a breakpointTip 7.18: You can set conditional breakpointsTip 7.19: You can use breakpoint filters to break the right processTip 7.20: You can press Ctrl+B to set a breakpoint at the desired functionTip 7.21: You can press Ctrl+Alt+B to open the Breakpoints windowTip 7.22: You can press Ctrl+Shift+F9 to delete all breakpointsTip 7.23: You can disable the warning message before you delete all breakpointsDataTipsTip 7.24: You can use DataTips to edit a variable’s contentMultiple ProjectsTip 7.25: How to select the startup project from the Solution ExplorerTip 7.26: You can start debugging multiple projectsTip 7.27: How to have all processes break when one process breaksCompiling and Debugging WindowsError ListTip 7.28: You can use Ctrl+Shift+F12 to view the next error listed in the Error ListTip 7.29: How to customize your Error List viewTip 7.30: You can view an error’s documentation directly from the Error ListTip 7.31: You can do multicolumn sorting (secondary sort, and so forth) in both the Error List and the Task ListTip 7.32: You can bind the show Errors, Warnings, and Messages buttons to keyboard shortcutsTip 7.33: How to show or prevent the Error List from appearing after a failed buildWatch WindowTip 7.34: You can use the Watch window to quickly change a variable’s valueTip 7.35: You can view numeric values in hexadecimal format in your debug windowsImmediate WindowTip 7.36: You can use the Immediate Window as a glorified calculator or side-debugger within your debugger
A. Visual Studio Factoids
Visual Studio Q&AWhy is the executable file called devenv.exe instead of visualstudio.exe?Is the Visual Studio logo an infinity symbol or Möbius strip?What do the colors in the Visual Studio logo signify?Solution Explorer: Is it on the left side or right side of the IDE?Why is there a "Solution" concept?Why Are the Tool Window Tabs Shown at the Bottom of a Tool Window Group and the File Tabs Are at the Top of the File Tab Channel?Why is Common7 not Common8 or Common9?
B. Tips on Blogging Tips
Secret "Tip of the Day" FormulaTip 1: Focus on one specific action per tipTip 2: Provide an image with each tipTip 3: Reference a credible sourceTip 4: Share and collect stories whenever possibleTip 5: Queue up your tips far, far in advanceTip 6: Set your tips to go live before dawnTip 7: Use Windows Live Writer to write and queue your tips
C. Software Testing Tips
Five Tips for Surviving as a TesterTip 1: Never assume anythingTip 2: Learn from the bugs you missedTip 3: Help your developer however possibleTip 4: Leave appropriate comments when closing bugsTip 5: Don’t just get it in writing
D. How I Started Programming
Hunt the Wumpus
Say "YoHo"
Typing on the TI-99 4A
Playing Nintendo
Will Solve Math Problems to Code
Studying in College
Enter Microsoft
Interviewing at Microsoft
Tip 252: You Can Make the Statement Completion Window Transparent
E. About the Author
F. Additional Resources for Developers from Microsoft Press
Visual Basic
Visual C#
Web Development
Data Access
.NET Framework
Other Developer Topics
G. More Great Developer Resources
Developer Step by Step
Developer Reference
Focused Topics
Index
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Overview

Just as a race car team analyzes every aspect of car and driver data to optimize endurance and speed imagine your potential if you could optimize every aspect of daily coding activities with Visual Studio! The author a member of the Visual Studio team for five years has identified 251 tips to help you do just that. In her own words, There was much about Visual Studio I didn t know...until I had to learn and test it ALL. What I discovered is that although Visual Studio has a lot of options, it isn t endless and it doesn t have to be overwhelming. In fact, Visual Studio can be mastered and in this book I show you how. Performance enhancements begin in the editor, and include every other feature you touch when coding in the IDE. This book collects, illustrates, and categorizes the tips and tweaks you can apply right now to help optimize your daily routine and productivity
Key Book Benefits

Delivers hundreds of proven tweaks for the Visual Studio IDE, all designed to help maximize developers time Provides practical insights into how and why features work as they do, and how to change them to suit individual needs Delves into the Visual Studio editor, searching, navigation, layout, and other capabilities 100% of the author s royalties will be donated to relief efforts in areas devastated by Hurricane Katrina

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