Visual Studio Hacks

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Chapter 6, Speed Hacks

#51 Create a Macro

HACK

DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection.NewLine( )

DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection.Text = "This is a test"

DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection.NewLine( )

End Sub

End Module

The first line of the Sub called StartOfDocument( )will move the cursor to the

top of the document. The second line will create a new line. The third line of

this macro will insert the string “This is a test”, and the last line will create

another new line.

After you have written your macro in the Macro IDE, you can save the file

and then close the IDE. Your macro will now appear in the Macro Explorer

and can be run from the IDE.

Adding a Toolbar Button

Many macros will be useful in your daily life, so having to locate them

through the Macro Explorer each time can be inconvenient. Thankfully,

macros can be added to a toolbar.

To avoid cluttering existing toolbars, it is a good idea to create a new tool-

bar. First, select Customize from the View

➝ Toolbars menu. Click the New

button and specify the name for your new toolbar, as shown in Figure 6-14.

After creating the toolbar, a ghost of it will appear, as shown in the bottom

right of Figure 6-15. You can now select the Commands tab where you can

add your macro to the new toolbar.

In order to select the macro, you must first select the Macros category in the

Categories listbox. After scrolling past the sample macros (if they are

Figure 6-13. Adding a ...