Visual Studio Hacks

Master the Command Window #46

Chapter 6, Speed Hacks

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179

HACK

Twenty of the most useful commands are shown in Table 6-1. You can

either type the full command or use the alias.

When in doubt, you can sometimes fall back on old MS-DOS command

prompt habits: for instance, the command

cls will clear the command win-

dow. You can find a complete list of commands in the Tools

➝ Options ➝

Keyboard screen [Hack #24].

Debugging with the Command Window

Perhaps the most useful function of the command window is the ability to

use it to view the values of variables during the debugging process. You can

use a number of different commands during the debugging process to read

Table 6-1. Useful Visual Studio commands and aliases

Command Alias Description

File.OpenFile open Opens the file specified as a parameter

File.NewFile nf Creates and opens a new file

File.NewProject np Creates and opens a new project

File.AddNewProject addProj Creates and adds a new project to the cur-

rent solution

File.SaveAll SaveAll Saves all the currently open files

File.Close close Closes the selected file

View.FullScreen FullScreen Switches to full-screen mode in the IDE

View.Toolbox toolbox Shows the toolbox window

View.PropertiesWindow props Shows the properties window

Edit.GotoBrace GotoBrace Skips to the corresponding brace (e.g., the

closing brace of an if statement)

Edit.SelectAll Selects all the text in the current document

Edit.Undo