Visual studio – Tips and tricks

Let’s dive deeper into some of the tips and tricks for Visual Studio:

General Tips:

1. Keyboard Shortcuts:

• Visual Studio provides a plethora of keyboard shortcuts for various tasks. For instance, Ctrl + K + C comments out the selected code, and Ctrl + K + U uncomment. Familiarize yourself with these shortcuts to boost your coding speed.

2. Customize Layouts:

• Save and switch between different layouts based on your workflow. For example, you might have a layout optimized for coding, debugging, or designing user interfaces.

3. Quick Launch:

• The Quick Launch bar (Ctrl + Q) is like a command prompt for Visual Studio. You can quickly search and execute commands, open files, and even navigate to settings.

4. Multi-Caret Editing:

• Hold down the Alt key and click in multiple places in your code to create multiple carets. This allows you to edit the same piece of code in multiple locations simultaneously.

5. Code Snippets:

• Visual Studio includes a library of code snippets, and you can create your own. Snippets are short pieces of code that you can quickly insert by typing a mnemonic followed by the Tab key.

6. Find All References:

• Right-click on a variable, method, or class and choose “Find All References” to see every place in your code where that particular element is used.

Navigation Tips:

1. Navigate To:

• The “Navigate To” feature (Ctrl + ,) is a powerful search tool. You can use it to find and open files, types, methods, and pretty much anything within your solution.

2. Go to Definition:

• Use the “Go to Definition” feature (F12) to quickly jump to the source code of a method or type.

3. CodeLens:

• CodeLens sits directly in your code and provides information like references, unit tests, and recent changes. Enable it via the “CodeLens Options” in the Visual Studio menu.

Debugging Tips:

1. Conditional Breakpoints:

• Right-click on a breakpoint and set conditions. The debugger will break only if the specified condition is true.

2. Data Tips:

• Hover over variables during debugging to see their current values. This can be extremely helpful in understanding the state of your application.

3. IntelliTrace:

• IntelliTrace allows you to go back in time during debugging to see the state of your application at different points. This can be particularly useful for identifying the root cause of issues.

4. Exception Settings:

• Customize which exceptions should break your debugging session. This can help you catch specific issues more efficiently.

Productivity Features:

1. Live Unit Testing:

• If you have Visual Studio Enterprise, enable Live Unit Testing to get real-time feedback on your unit tests as you make changes to your code.

2. Task List:

• Utilize the Task List to keep track of comments with specific keywords like TODO or HACK. This helps you manage and prioritize your development tasks.

3. Code Map:

• Code Map allows you to visualize the relationships between different parts of your code. It can be especially useful when working on large projects with complex dependencies.

4. Code Analysis:

• Enable code analysis to get warnings and suggestions about potential issues in your code. This can significantly improve the overall quality of your codebase.

Extensions:

1. Visual Studio Marketplace:

• Explore the Visual Studio Marketplace to discover and install a wide range of extensions that can add new features and enhance your development experience.

2. Resharper:

• ReSharper is a popular extension that provides advanced code analysis, refactoring tools, and other productivity features. It can be a valuable addition to Visual Studio.

These tips and tricks should help you navigate and utilize Visual Studio more efficiently, ultimately improving your coding experience and productivity.