Visual Studio Hacks

80

|

Chapter 3, Navigating Visual Studio

#17 Find Files Quickly

HACK

After the string “Collection” is entered, the tool shows only the files whose

name contains the word “Collection.” This type of searching is very useful if

you maintain common naming conventions in your project. You can also

click on the headings for the list and sort it based on the name, project, or

file.

Exclude Files

The VS File Finder also includes the ability to exclude certain files from the

search list. If you wanted to exclude all .css files from the search list, you

first need to click on the blue plus sign to the right of the text box. This

brings up the Options screen for VS File Finder, which is shown in

Figure 3-8.

Next, you need to click the Add button to see the Add Exclude Filter dialog,

which is shown in Figure 3-9.

Next, you need to enter a description for your exclusion; in this example,

“CSS Files” will work perfectly. Then you enter your filter (in this example,

.css, which will exclude all CSS files) and click OK. The filter works a little

differently than the search in that it needs to be an actual extension; it can’t

be any part of the filename. After you enter your exclusion filter, all .css

files will be excluded from the search. This is particularly useful if you

Figure 3-6. VS File Finder window

Figure 3-7. VS File Finder with results