Visual Studio.NET: Tips, Tricks, & Toys

by Kevin GrossnicklausArchitectNow

Agenda Introduction General Tips Code Editor Tricks Searching Layout and Navigation Advanced Design-Time Tips Debugging Tips VS.NET Plug-Ins External Development Tools Additional Resources Questions?

Introduction Kevin Grossnicklaus

o ArchitectNow- www.ArchitectNow.net (2009-Present)• President

o Washington University - CAIT Program (2003-Present)• Instructor

o SSE - www.SSEinc.com (1999-2009)• Chief Architect• Software Development Practice Leader

Email: kvgros@architectnow.net

Expectations What are we going to cover? Why is this something I should be aware of? Who can use this stuff? How detailed are we going to get?

GENERAL TIPS

Managing Shortcuts Keyboard vs. Mouse

Verify your current environment settingso This talk assumes “General Development”

Manage keyboard shortcuts here:o Tools->Options->Environment->Keyboard

All settings (including shortcuts) can be imported and/or exported from:o Tools->Import and Export Settings

Keyboard Shortcuts Standard Shortcuts:

o Ctl-Ko Ctl-Shift-O

“Chords” = Two character shortcutso Written as:

• Ctl-K,D or Ctl-K, Ctl-D

Shortcut Reference Posters C# 2008

o http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E5F902A8-5BB5-4CC6-907E-472809749973&displaylang=en

Visual Basic.NET 2008o http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=255b8cf1-f6bd-4b55-bb42-

dd1a69315833&displaylang=en

Top Level Shortcuts Ctl-Shift-N = New Project Alt-Shift-N = New Website Ctl-Shift-O = Open Project Alt-Shift-O = Open Website Ctl-Shift-A = Add New Item Alt-Shift-A = Add Existing Item

CODE EDITOR

Cut/Copy/Paste Copy or Cut = Ctl-C or Ctl-X (respectively)

o If no selection, cuts or copies the current line to the clipboardo If there is a selection, cuts or copies the selection to the clipboard

• Tools->Options->Text Editor->All Languages->General• Uncheck the “Apply Cut or Copy Commands to Blank Lines When There is No

Selection” option Current Line

o Ctl-L to cut the current line to the clipboard (including EoL)o Ctl-Shift-L to delete the current line

Cut/Copy/Paste (Cont.) Paste = Ctl-V

o Pastes the last item cut or copied into the editor at the current cursor location Clipboard “Ring” = Ctl-Shift-V

o Cycles through the previous 20 items cut to the clipboard and pastes them at the current cursor location

o Accidentally cut or copy something you didn’t mean to? • Cycle through pasting until you get to the item you overwrote

Misc Selection/Insertion Commands Ctl-Enter to insert a blank line above current line Ctl-Shift-Enter to insert a blank line below current line Ctl-W to select current word Ctl-Delete to delete next word Ctl-Backspace to delete previous word

Drag/Drop Code Selections of code can be dragged around a code file or to different files

o Left click to cut/pasteo Right click to be prompted to Move or Copy

Code can be dragged onto the Toolbox dock-window in the “General” section and then dragged back onto other editorso These can be renamed to be more readableo This is a handy way to reuse sections of code

Weird Editor Shortcuts Ctl-T to transpose a character Ctl-Shift-T to transpose a word Alt-Shift-T to transpose a line Ctl-U to make current selection or character lowercase Ctl-Shift-U to make current selection or character uppercase

Undo/Redo Ctl-Z to Undo Ctl-Y to Redo Use the dropdowns for more granular control and information

Scrolling Use the scroll bars or mouse wheel Press mouse wheel to allow for 4-way navigation

“Go-Back” Markers and Navigation What is a “Go-Back” marker? Ctl-Minus to navigate backwards Ctl-Shift-Minus to navigate forwards Optionally use the toolbar buttons and dropdown boxes for more info

Navigation Bar What is the navigation bar? Ctl-F2 to select the navigation bar Tab or Shift-Tab to switch between combo boxes once selected Arrow keys to navigate down and enter to select To enable/disable per language:

o Tools->Options->Text Editor->All languages (or specific language)->Generalo Set the “Navigation Bar” option

Splitting Editor Windows Window->Split to split Window->Remove Split to remove Splitter can be resized via mouse F6 to switch between split panes

Line Numbers Enable line numbers here:

o Tools->Options->Text Editor->All languages (or specific language)->Generalo Check “Line Numbers”

Track Changes Tools->Options->Text Editor->General

Check “Track Changes” What does this do?

Yellow – Lines were edited since last save. Green – Lines were edited prior to last save.

Yellow becomes Green after one save, close and re-open a file and Green is gone

Code Selection Click and drag to select code via the common “stream” mode Hold Alt-Shift and click and drag to select in “box” mode Shift-Arrow Keys to manually select code in “stream” mode Alt-Shift-Arrow Keys to manually select in “box” mode

Formatting What does code formatting do? Where can I adjust the settings?

o Tools->Options->Text Editor->(Language)->Formatting Ctl-K,D to format the current document Ctl-K,F to format the current selection

Outlining Ctl-M,M to toggle outlining around cursor Ctl-M,L to toggle all outlining in current file Ctl-M,P to turn off outlining Edit->Outlining->Start Automatic Outlining to turn back on Ctl-M,O to collapse to definitions Selecting a collapsed definition allows you to cut and paste it as a whole

Remove Unused Usings Right click in editor and select:

o Organize Usings->Remove Unused Usings

Bookmarks Ctl-K,K to toggle bookmarks on current line Ctl-K,N to go to the next bookmark Ctl-K,P to go to the previous bookmark Ctl-K,L to clear all bookmarks Ctl-K,W to view the bookmarks window Organizing Bookmarks

Commenting Handy Shortcuts:

o Ctl-K,C = Comment Blocko Ctl-K,U = Uncomment Block

XML Comments Task List Comments

o //TODOo //HACKo //UNDONE

Intellisense Ctl-J to invoke statement completion (i.e. bring up Intellisense) Ctl-Space or Alt-Right Arrow for statement completion

Smart-Tags Ctl-Period to drop down a Smart-Tag menu

o Enter to select the first item Resolve Context Menu

Code Snippets Ctl-K,X to bring up Code Snippet menu

o Type-ahead supportedo Or enter the snippet shortcut keyword and press Tab-Tab

Ctl-K,S to insert a code snippet around a selected block of code Tab and Shift-Tab to switch between “tokens” Ctl-K,B to bring up the Code Snippet Manager

Refactoring Ctl-R,R to rename current item Ctl-R,M to extract the currently selected code into a new method Ctl-R,E to encapsulate field into a property Ctl-R,I to extract interface from current class Ctl-R,P to promote selected local variable to a parameter Ctl-R,V to remove parameters Ctl-R,O to reorder parameters

SEARCHING

Searching - 1 Incremental Search

o Ctl-Io Start typingo Ctl-I again to jump to next occurrence

Current Word Searcho Ctl-F3 to search for the currently selected wordo Ctl-Shift-F3 to search for the current word looking backwards

Quick Findo Ctl-F to bring up Quick Find with current word as the default

Searching - 2 Quick Replace

o Ctl-H brings up the Quick Replace window with the current word as the default Find Symbol

o Alt-F12 brings up the Find Symbol dialogo Shift-Alt-F12 searches for the current word using the Find Symbol functionality but

skips the UI

Searching - 3 Find in Files

o Ctl-Shift-F opens the Find in File dialog Replace in Files

o Ctl-Shift-H opens the Replace in Files dialog Find in Files options

LAYOUT AND NAVIGATION

Document Windows Document Windows = Tabbed Documents Ctl-Alt-Down Arrow to drop down file tab channel Tab Context Menu

o Close All But Thiso Copy Full Patho Open Containing Folder

Tab Groupso Horizontal or Vertical

Windows Menu

Document Navigation Ctl-Tab to display the IDE navigator

o Ctl-Tab again to scroll through open documentso Ctl-Shift-Tab to scroll in reverseo Arrow keys or mouse to select a document or dock-window

Ctl-F6 and Ctl-Shift-F6 to jump between currently open documents without using the IDE navigator (forwards and backwards)

Ctl-F4 to close the current document

Dock/Tool Windows Docking Targets Five “States”

o Dockableo Floatingo Tabbedo Hideo Auto-Hide

Alt-F7 and Alt-Shift-F7 to scroll (forwards or backwards) through all opened tool windows using the IDE navigator

Alt-F6 and Alt-Shift-F6 to scroll (forwards or backwards) through all opened tool windows without the navigator

Dock/Tool Windows (Cont.) Tool windows that are hidden can be shown via their shortcut key or most are

found under one of the following menu locations:o Viewo View->Other Windowso Debug->Windows

Window Layouts Four Layouts:

o Design Viewo Full Screeno Debugging Viewo File View

Shift-Alt-Enter to toggle between Full Screen mode and Design View

Toolbars Drag and drop customization Visible based on current context Right click to display any toolbar at any time Customization dialog

o “Show Shortcut Keys in Screen Tips”o Full customization of all toolbars while this dialog is visible

Context Menu Customization Complete editing of any context menus

• Tools->Customize• Select Toolbars tab• Check “Context Menus”

ADVANCED DESIGN TIME TIPS

Output Window Right click to disable unnecessary messages

Command Window Ctl-Alt-A to open the command window Enter a > to run any VS command from the command prompt

o Full Intellisense for commands, arguments, and even file pathso Command aliasing

• ? = Debug.Print• Enter “alias” by itself to see current aliases

Task Window Custom Tasks Task Shortcuts Comment Tasks

External Tools How to add external tools?

o Redirecting console output to Output Windowo Passing arguments

Find Combo Box Ctl-/ to open the Find Combo Box with a “>” entered for you Once in the Find Combo Box enter a “>” and you can run any VS command with

the same Intellisense as the Output Window Enter a function name in the Find Combo Box and press F9 and a breakpoint will

be set on that function

Code Definition Window Ctl-\,D to show the Code Definition Window This window is a read-only source view of any symbol currently selected in the

live editor. o Code can be copied from this windowo Breakpoints can be set

Object Test Bench Opened via View->Other Windows->Object Test Bench Instantiate new instances of classes or call static methods to do quick testing

(without writing test code) Can also be reached via:

o Class View tool windowo Class Diagram designer

Right-click on a class in either of the above and select either:o Create Instanceo Invoke Static Method

DEBUGGING

Common Shortcuts F5 to start debugging Ctl-F5 to start without debugging F11 to step into the current line F10 to step over the current line Shift-F5 to stop debugging

Breakpoints F9 to toggle a breakpoint

o Or, simply click in the left border of the code editor Ctl-Shift-F9 to delete all breakpoints Ctl-B to show Break at Function dialog

Breakpoints - Advanced Breakpoint Context Menu

o Locationo Conditiono Hit Counto Filtero When Hit

Next Statement Manipulation Yellow arrow = “NEXT” statement to execute Can be dragged to new location

o Within Limitso Be careful

Debugging Threads Ctl-Alt-H brings up the Threads tool window At breakpoints all threads break together Threads can be frozen/thawed from the Threads tool window

o This keeps them paused when execution continues Threads toolbar also exposes functionality

Break On All Exceptions Ctl-Alt-E to bring up Exceptions dialog It is common to break when a CLR exception is “thrown”

o This will break even when the exception is caught by a try/catch block

Variables Windows They Are:

o Locals (Ctl-Alt-V,L)o Autos (Ctl-Alt-V,A)o Watch (Ctl-Alt-W,1-4)o Quick Watch (Ctl-Alt-Q)

All have similar functionalityo All display values of variables and allow for in-place editing

Provides access to debugging visualizers

Runtime Variable Tooltips Provides ability to view all of an objects properties and manipulate the values

directly in the tooltip Provides access to debugging visualizers

Debugging Visualizers New to VS.NET 2005+ Special user interfaces used to view the values of specific data types in variable

windows or runtime tooltips Noted by the magnifying glass icon near the value

o Click to open visualizer Notable visualizers:

o Datasetso Testo XMLo HTML

Immediate Window Ctl-Alt-I to bring up the Immediate Window The immediate window can be used to execute statements and evaluate

expressions in the context of the current statemento Access to any variable in scope is grantedo Can assign values to variables, read values, execute methods, etc

Use the “>” character to allow entry and use of any VS commands (as in the Command window)

Command window has much of the same functionality

Son of Strike (SoS) SoS is a debugger extension that is loaded with VS.NET and available from

within the IDE from the Immediate Window To load SoS:

o Edit your project properties and, under the Debug tab, check the “Enable Unmanaged Code Debugging”

o Open the Immediate Window and enter:• .load sos

o For help, enter:• !help

Debugging The BCL Microsoft has made many of the debug symbols for the Base Class Libraries

available for public useo What does this mean?o Does this mean .NET is open source?

Debugging into the BCL How can I hook this up?

o Options->Debugging->Generalo UNCHECK “Enable Just My Code”o CHECK “Enable Source Server Support”o Go to Options->Debugging->Symbols and add

• http://referencesource.microsoft.com/symbolso Select an offline cache locationo CHECK “Search Above Locations Only When Symbols are Loaded manually”

Loading Symbolso From the Modules window or the Call Stack, right click on a BCL DLL and select “Load

Symbols”

VS.NET PLUG-INS

Add-In Demonstrations GhostDoc Source Code Outliner VS.NET 2008 Power Commands Snippet Designer RockScroll VsBuildStatus CodeProject Browser

EXTERNAL TOOLS

External Tools Demo Launchy SharpDevelop XAML Tools

o KaXamlo XamlCruncher

XmlNotePad LinqPad Reflector Process Monitor Graphics Tools

o Paint.NETo Gimp

Web Development Toolso FireBug (for FireFox)o Web Dev Helper (for IE)

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Visual Studio Add-In URLS VSBuildStatus

o http://visualstudiogallery.com/ExtensionDetails.aspx?ExtensionID=2a2293b4-1808-44aa-b030-661f6803d8a1 XAML Power Toys

o http://karlshifflett.wordpress.com/xaml-power-toys/ Source Code Outliner

o http://www.codeplex.com/SourceCodeOutliner Snippet Designer

o http://www.codeplex.com/SnippetDesigner StyleCop

o http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/sourceanalysis VS.NET 2008 Power Commands

o http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/PowerCommands Ghost Doc

o http://www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/ RockScroll

o http://microsoftdev.blogspot.com/2008/05/rock-scroll-visual-studio-plugin.html Ora

o http://www.codeplex.com/ora CodeProject Browser

o http://www.codeproject.com/KB/macros/cpbrowser.aspx CodeRush Xpress

o http://www.devexpress.com/Products/Visual_Studio_Add-in/CodeRushX/

External Tools URLs Launchy

o http://www.launchy.net/ Delicious

o http://delicious.com/ FxCop

o http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/codeanalysis/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=553 Kaxaml

o http://www.kaxaml.com/ XamlPadX

o http://blogs.msdn.com/llobo/archive/2008/08/25/xamlpadx-4-0.aspx LinqPad

o http://www.linqpad.net/ XamlCruncher

o http://www.charlespetzold.com/blog/2007/07/100411.html SharpDevelop

o http://www.icsharpcode.net/OpenSource/SD/ XmlNotepad

o http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=72d6aa49-787d-4118-ba5f-4f30fe913628&displaylang=en Reflector

o http://www.red-gate.com/products/reflector/ Paint.NET

o http://www.paint.net/ Process Monitor

o http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896645.aspx ZoomIt

o http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx Web Dev Helper

o http://projects.nikhilk.net/WebDevHelper FireBug

o http://getfirebug.com/

Questions?kvgros@architectnow.net

Conclusion

Thank you for coming!