Since we got so many comments with lots of useful information on our Visual Studio Shortcuts post we decided to use those comments and some other shortcuts we found and compile another list so lets get going
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CTRL + “K” + “M”: This one is Genius.
Incase you need to add a method to an
already existing class you just write the method
as if it exists :1: int i = 5;
2: bool flag = NewMethod(i);
Click on the shortcut and you will get the
following method stub:1: private bool NewMethod(int i)
2: {3: throw new NotImplementedException();
4: }Great isn’t it?
- CTRL + “.”: This one expands the one before it, say you need to add a functionality to a different class. again all you have to do is use the method as if it exists:
1: int i = 5;
2: bool flag = DifferentClass.NewMethod(i);
Put the cursor on the new method, click the shortcut and you will see this:
Hit Enter and you will get a new method stub with the return value and the parameter, in the other class.1: public class c
2: {3: internal bool NewMethod(int i)
4: {5: throw new NotImplementedException();
6: }7: }Definitely my favorite.
-
CTRL + “-” and CTRL + SHIFT + “-”: These two are similar to the Forward and Backwards buttons of the WebBrowsers and will take you to all the places your curser was, Very useful for those times you click F12 to go to definitions and then have no clue where you were before :). (Thanks Vijay Santhanam).
-
ALT + ENTER: We talked about it in the last post, but it seems that this shortcut will open the properties window on anything that moves, even Files in your Windows Explorer. (Thanks to Bryan Migliorisi from http://www.Migliorisi.com).
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SHIFT + ALT + ENTER: This one will switch you Visual Studio to Full Screen mode, which is very useful in those boring presentation when you have to show your code through a projector on a screen. Another click will get you back to normal mode. (Thanks to Pablo Marambio).
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CTRL + “M” + “M”: This one will collapse the region your cursor is at whether its a method, namespace or whatever for collapsing code blocks, regions and methods. The first will collapse only the block/method or region your cursor is at while the second will collapse the entire region you are at. (Thanks to knave).
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CTRL + ALT + “P”: This will open up the attach to process window, very useful for debugging. (Thanks Greg Beech from http://gregbeech.com).
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CTRL + “R” + “R”: This one is used to quickly rename a method/ variable or whatever. (Thanks again to Greg Beech).
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F8 and SHIFT + F8: These two are great! they are similar to the shortcut number 3 but they will take you forward and backwards in your search results just search for something and then start hitting F8 and you will see. (Thanks to David Hu).
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CTRL + SHIFT + “B”: This one will invoke build solution. ( Thanks to Matt Brunell).
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CTRL + “B” + “T”: This one will allow you to quickly add or remove a bookmark from a line of code.
Truly some great and helpful shortcuts. Thanks to everyone who commented, and looking forward to hearing what else you have.
If you want some more cool options for your visual studio check out Power Commands. And once again if you think we missed anything, comment.
Enjoy.
Amit.
By speps on May 6, 2008 | Reply
So the first one also introduces typos?
“private bool NewMethos(int i)”
Just kidding, great shortcuts.
By chris on May 6, 2008 | Reply
I noticed that you try to hide the article when Adblock is enabled. I think that extremely annoying. The first few times I clicked on a link to your site, I thought “what a ****” there isn’t even an article, just a lot of bla bla. Looked like some kind of link farm without content…
You should at least show are warning that users disable Adblock. Else they’ll just move on and never visit your site again. Ever.
By configurator on May 6, 2008 | Reply
Ctrl-”.”: I always use Alt-Shift -F10 in my work, which is the same.
It also helps with renaming (in the definition of a method/variable/class/whatever, change the name and the little box will appear. Press ctrl-”.” or Alt-Shift-F10, and it will suggest the rename operation).
And with completing namespaces (e.g. type
namespace TheNamespace { class Thing { } }
namespace OtherNamespace {
class OtherThing {
void doit() {
Thing x = new Thing();
}
}
}
, put the cursor on one of the Things in the line Thing x = new Thing();, and it will suggest the completion)
Ctrl-”B”-”T”: Also Ctrl-”K”-”K”.
And I have a question about Ctrl-”-”: I use that a lot. But I also always accidentally pres the back button on my IBM Thinkpad keyboard (because it’s right next to the direction keys - very annoying).
Visual studio then goes to some obscure file or another, but I never figured out how it decides where to go. Also, the same with the forward button.
By Kimmen on May 6, 2008 | Reply
Ctrl + M + O, similar to number 6 but does it to alla collapsable regions in the document.
F2 does the same thing as Ctrl + R + R.
By Shahar Y on May 6, 2008 | Reply
Chris,
Although we are not happy with you using adblock, we are not trying to hide anything when Adblock is enabeled. Moreover, we tested Dev102 with adblock and it works fine. There must be something else that causes you to not see our posts. Can you add more details?
By Hector on May 6, 2008 | Reply
Everytime I try to use the “Ctrl + K + M” shortcut Visual Studio says the command is not available at the moment. Why? I’ve tried selecting the whole function call, part of it, etc and no success.
I’ve not been able to use the second one either.
By Mahesh Kumar R on May 6, 2008 | Reply
thanks amit.
Regarding Tip # 11:
For bookmark alternatively you can use,
CTRL + “K” + “K” ( for add and Remove)
By Amit on May 6, 2008 | Reply
@ Mahesh
are you certine that your cursor was on the method call?
By Scott on May 6, 2008 | Reply
Same problem as Mahesh. Neither 1 or 2 work for me. Generate Method Stub is disabled, even if I add a toolbar button for the same command.
By Brian Lowry on May 7, 2008 | Reply
I’m a big fan of CTRL + K + C and CTRL + K + U for commenting and uncommenting code… seems to work everywhere but CSS stylesheets.
By Sam on May 9, 2008 | Reply
Great article, some new ones there for me. On the subject of expanding regions, Ctrl + “M” + “L” will expand all collapsed sections in the current file.
If the code file doesn’t contain any collapsed sections, each section will be collapsed. This isn’t so handy as it collapses all collapsable sections, not just regions.