Visual Studio Hacks

by Avery, James

• ISBN13: 9780596008475
• ISBN10: 0596008473
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2005-05-05
• Publisher: Oreilly & Associates Inc

Summary

Visual Studio is the best Integrated Development Environment (IDE) on any platform, and it makes .NET development incredibly easy. Visual Studio's appeal derives from the fact that you can become incredibly productive with it in a few short hours. But there are dozens of features lurking beneath the surface that you might never discover on your own.

Author Biography

James Avery is the founder and owner of Infozerk Inc. which runs The Lounge advertising network and provides .NET and Ruby consulting. James has been working with .NET since 2001 and has been a web developer since 1996. He has written books for Microsoft Press, Wrox, and O'Reilly Press. James has written articles for MSDN Magazine and Dr. Dobbs, most recently doing a three month stint writing the Toolbox column in MSDN Magazine. James is a Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider and has spoken at a number of user groups and conferences.

Table of Contents

Credits	ix
Preface	xiii
Master Projects and Solutions	1	(32)
Manage Projects and Solutions	1	(10)
Master Assembly and Project References	11	(4)
Organize Projects and Solutions	15	(5)
Hack the Project and Solution Files	20	(8)
Remove SourceSafe Bindings	28	(5)
Master the Editor	33	(40)
Master the Clipboard	34	(3)
Make Pasting into Visual Studio Easier	37	(4)
Master Intellisense	41	(5)
Master Regions	46	(3)
Add Guidelines to the Text Editor	49	(2)
Select the Best Editor	51	(4)
Customize Syntax Coloring	55	(3)
Edit the Most Recent File and Project Lists	58	(3)
Refactor Your Code	61	(9)
Use and Share Code Snippets	70	(3)
Navigating Visual Studio	73	(24)
Take Control of Your Workspace	73	(5)
Find Files Quickly	78	(5)
Search Files Quickly	83	(1)
Search for Patterns in Your Files	84	(5)
Navigate Your Source Code	89	(2)
Never Forget a TODO Again	91	(3)
Hack the Mouse	94	(1)
Enhance the Tabs in Visual Studio	95	(2)
Customizing Visual Studio	97	(45)
Create Your Own Shortcuts	97	(5)
Customize Menus and Toolbars	102	(5)
Create Custom Window Layouts	107	(2)
Customize the Toolbox	109	(3)
Package Your Toolbox Settings	112	(4)
Add Support for Nonstandard File Extensions	116	(1)
Hack the Registry	117	(3)
Save and Move Your IDE Settings	120	(3)
Enable IntelliSense for HTML and XML Documents	123	(5)
Add an External Tool	128	(4)
Customize Your Project Build Process	132	(6)
Modify the Build Output and Navigate the Results	138	(4)
Debugging	142	(32)
Set Breakpoints	143	(6)
Troubleshoot Breakpoints	149	(3)
Customize Visual Studio's Reaction to Exceptions	152	(3)
Debug Scripting Code	155	(2)
Debug SQL Server	157	(4)
Debug a Running Process	161	(4)
Debug a Failing Application	165	(4)
Write a Custom Visualizer	169	(5)
Speed Hacks	174	(53)
Speed Up Visual Studio	174	(2)
Load Files from the Command Prompt	176	(2)
Master the Command Window	178	(3)
Build a Custom Tool	181	(6)
Extend the Application Configuration File	187	(5)
Generate Strongly Typed DataSets	192	(4)
Define Templates for Generating Code	196	(5)
Create a Macro	201	(5)
Generate Code with Macros	206	(2)
Create Connection Strings Quickly	208	(3)
Quickly Sign Assemblies	211	(2)
Update Project References Quickly	213	(3)
Automatically Add using and Imports Statements	216	(5)
Insert Commonly Used Code Automatically	221	(4)
Move Quickly Between Source Control Providers	225	(2)
Help and Research	227	(44)
Get Help	227	(8)
Search the Internet from Visual Studio	235	(1)
Redirect Help to Google	236	(3)
Use P/Invoke with Ease	239	(4)
Examine the IL Generated by Your Code	243	(5)
Examine the Innards of Assemblies	248	(6)
Follow the Rules with FxCop	254	(8)
Generate Statistics on Your C# Code	262	(4)
Profile Heap Allocations	266	(5)
Comments and Documentation	271	(26)
Master C# XML Comments	272	(8)
Create Comments Faster	280	(5)
Create XML Comments with VB.NET	285	(5)
Create Documentation from XML Comments	290	(2)
Integrate Your Own Documentation into Visual Studio	292	(5)
Server Explorer Hacks	297	(25)
Access Performance Counters	298	(4)
Diagram and Modify a Database	302	(7)
Script Your Database	309	(7)
Enumerate Processes, Drives, Shares, and More	316	(6)
Work with Visual Studio Tools	322	(43)
Master the Visual Studio Command Prompt	322	(4)
Launch Visual Studio from the Command Prompt	326	(3)
Stress Test Web Applications	329	(18)
Obfuscate Your Code	347	(7)
Generate Code from UML	354	(7)
Generate UML Design Documents from Code	361	(4)
Visual Studio Tools for Office	365	(17)
Install Visual Studio Tools for Office 2003	365	(2)
Create a Command Bar in Word 2003	367	(7)
Display a Windows Form from Excel 2003	374	(8)
Extending Visual Studio	382	(35)
Automate Visual Studio	382	(4)
Access Visual Studio from Standalone Applications	386	(3)
Create a File Template	389	(9)
Writing a Visual Studio Add-in	398	(9)
Find the Name of That Command Bar	407	(4)
Change the Icon for Your Add-in	411	(6)
Enhancing Visual Studio	417	(38)
Manage Add-ins	417	(3)
Run Unit Tests Inside Visual Studio	420	(6)
Spellcheck Your Code and Comments	426	(6)
View an Outline of Your Controls	432	(1)
Blog Code from Visual Studio	433	(4)
Collapse and Expand Your Code	437	(2)
Combine the Visual Studio Command Prompt and the Command Window	439	(1)
Generate Web Services Code	440	(9)
Test Regular Expressions in Visual Studio	449	(6)
Index	455