Visual Studio Hacks

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Chapter 6, Speed Hacks

#51 Create a Macro

HACK

If you select Macro Explorer from the Tools ➝ Macros menu and open the

Recording Module, you will see a new macro called TemporaryMacro. This

is where the code for your actions during recording is created. Because the

Macro Recorder will always create the same macro routine, you must now

either copy the code to another macro module or at least rename the macro

created by the recording process, or your macro will be lost the next time

you record a macro. To change the name of the macro, right-click on the

macro in the Macro Explorer and select Rename.

Macro recording is a powerful way to quickly create fairly simple macros,

but it also has some major limitations. First, any selections in the Solution

Explorer or Class View will be specific to the file or class selected, so it will

be linked to the filename or class name. This can be overcome by editing the

recorded macro and using variables in place of the filenames.

Second, some actions, such as attaching to a process to debug, will not be

recorded. Most of these actions can be coded into macros, but you will have

to code these by hand.

Creating Macros from Scratch

If the limitations of the macro recorder make it impractical for your situa-

tion or if you are creating a complex macro, then you can create a macro

from scratch. To create macros from scratch or to edit existing macros, you

will use the ...