Understanding Find Symbol

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Understanding Find Symbol

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Keyboard:  ALT + F12
Menu:  Edit -> Find and Replace -> Find Symbol
Command:  Edit.FindSymbol
Versions:  2008,2010
Published:  8/23/2010
Code:  vstipFind0011

 

You can quickly search for symbols (objects, definitions, and references) by using the Find Symbol dialog (ALT + F12):

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Find what-this is pretty straightforward you just type in the search string you are looking for.

 

 

Look in-indicates where you want to look:

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As you can see, has a number of search options:

All components-this includes the current solution and its referenced components, all of the .NET Framework, and any components that you have added.

 

Framework X / Silverlight X-lets you search specific versions of the Framework for a symbol.

 

My Solution-searches the current open solution.

 

Custom Component Set (Object Browser)-searches the pre-defined custom component set in the Object Browser.

image

 

Custom Component Set (Find Symbol)-searches the custom component set defined in this dialog.  You edit the list of components by clicking on the button containing the ellipsis in the dialog:

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The Edit Custom Component Set dialog allows you to pick components from a variety of areas to have a specialized search experience when looking for symbols.  It allows for a very refined search capability.

image

 

 

Look in references-displays references in the projects in the current browsing scope.

 

 

Find Options

Match-sets criteria for the search string when finding matches.

Whole Word-will only find the complete word on its own and not part of a larger string.

Prefix-will find results where the search string is at the beginning of the result.

Substring-will find results where the search string is anywhere in the result.

 

 

Match Case-will only find results that exactly match the case of the search string.

 

 

Find All-clicking this button will execute the search based on the criteria that has been set.

 

 

 

Search Results

When you execute a search the results will look something like this:

image

 

The icons indicate what type of symbol you are looking at in the results.  You can find a list of icons and their meanings here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/y47ychfe.aspx

 

Additionally, you can use F8 or SHIFT + F8 to navigate forward or backward through the results while automatically showing the location of the result as you go through them.

  • How is Alt+F12 and Shift+F12 different?

    They both seem to do the same thing.

  • A lot of people think that and I have a post coming up that will help clarify in vstipFind0012 in a couple of days.  In the meantime let me summarize here:

    ALT + F12 will bring up the Find Symbol dialog that you fill out and then click the "Find All" buttont to execute the symbol query and show all the symbols that match the criteria.  For example, any symbol that has the word "client" in it.  

    SHIFT + F12 does not have a dialog it just shows the references to the current symbol only.  For example, all references to an object called "bubba".  This is accessed in a couple of ways:  (1) by clicking the plus sign next to an entry that is the result of doing a Find Symbol (ALT + F12) search or (2) clicking in any symbol name in your code and pressing SHIFT + F12.  

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