C# Express: My favorite IDE tricks
Having had reason to play with C# Express for the past few months, I’ve learned a few tricks that speed up my programming and just make life a lot more enjoyable. Maybe “tricks” is the wrong word – these features are kind of obvious once you know them, and most have been around in previous versions of Visual Studio – but until recently I’ve just not known about them. I hope you find them as useful as I do.
Switch Between Source and Design Views
I don’t want to count the number of times I switch between Code and Design views when working on a project. Let’s just say “a lot”. I used to click on the little tabs above the view window. In larger projects it became difficult to remember which source tab I wanted – eventually there were so many tabs that I had to scroll left and right through the list just to find the right one.
Now however, I just press F7 or Shift-F7 to switch from Code to Design views. Bliss.
Windows Splitting and Multiple Views
I like my high-resolution LCD display, mostly because I can display a lot of stuff at once. I also like how how C# Express lets me see even more by allowing me to create a new window, or split the current view, from the top two items in the Windows menu.
The new window option creates a new view of the same source code. This can be very useful when working in longer projects, when you often need to jump from one location to another. Setting up each in its own tabbed view makes that switching a lot quicker – especially when I get to tip on window navigation.
If you would like to see two views on your source code at once, then use the Split option to divide the source window in two. Again, this can speed things up when working in two different locations.
New Tab Groups
Have you ever wanted to see the Design view and Code view at the same time? All you need to do is select New Horizontal Tab Group or New Vertical Tab Group. This creates an entirely new view window, complete with tabs. Each view can be split (allowing you to create some crazy views) but also toggled between Code and Design. This makes it possible to see your Windows Form and the Code behind at simultaneously.
Cycling Through Open Windows
With all these windows and views open, how do you keep track? Easy – press CTRL & Tab, and in the center of the screen a box will appear listing all the open windows. Just select the one you want, and it will become the foreground active window.
Reset
Have you torn off windows, left them floating around the screen, created too many views, and generally just got everything in a mess? The Reset Window Layout menu option under Window is your friend.
Bookmarks
I love bookmarks. Bookmarks are great when you are working on a longer project spread over different forms and source files. When you are working on an important section, press CTRL, B and T to create a bookmark: a blue blob will appear in the margin. Press that combination again to delete the bookmark. T stands for “Toggle”, ok?
Now you can press CTRL, B and P to jump to the previous bookmark, and CTRL, B and N to jump to the next bookmark.
Over to you
Have you any tricks or favorite features you’d like to share? Add a comment below.
