In Visual Studio 2013, Microsoft again presents the menu in UPPERCASE as the default.
Can these be modified to be Sentence Case?
Yes - in the new Visual Studio 2013 (as in VS 2012), MS reinforced their design decision to make ALL CAPS MENU ITEMS the default. The methods for reverting the menu style are almost the same methods used for Visual Studio 2012, which has been discussed before.
Update (after Visual Studio 2013 Update 4)
As of Visual Studio 2013 Update 4 you can go into Tools > Options > Environment
and uncheck Turn off upper case in the menu bar
Before Visual Studio 2013 Update 4:
You need to create a specific registry key if you want "old-style" menus back.
First Variant: Since Package Manager Console is Powershell, select menu options TOOLS / Library Package Manager / Package Manager Console and enter and run
Set-ItemProperty -Path HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\General -Name SuppressUppercaseConversion -Type DWord -Value 1
(as a single line).
Second Variant: Open up a Command Prompt (win+r, cmd, enter) and enter and run
REG ADD HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\General /v SuppressUppercaseConversion /t REG_DWORD /d 1
(as a single line).
Third Variant:
Change registry values by hand, open regedit and navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0\General
then, create (right click):
DWORD value
with the content of
SuppressUppercaseConversion
and set it to
1
Close regedit.exe and you're done.
Fourth Variant: At least one VS Extension (VSCommands for Visual Studio 2013) has been published that enables you (among other things) to switch menu style via config menu from within VS 2013.
You may also set it to all-lower-case items (which is, imho, nice):
switch to Sentence Case (subtly different from what you get with SuppressUppercaseConversion: the SQL menu gets renamed to Sql)
or hide it completely (and have it appear on ALT key press or mouse over)
After years Microsoft has changed their mind on this feature. As of Visual Studio 2013 Update 3 RC, an option has been added in Tools -> Options to change to Mixed Case for Menu titles. Obviously this is not for VS 2012 but going forward this option will be there.
Here is the notification from Brian Harry of Microsoft....
Mixed Case Menus – I know I’m going to get some feedback on this one :) This is a long standing request by a vocal portion of the VS user base since VS 2012 to change the “ALL CAPS” menus. In VS 2013 Update 3, we have added a Tools –> Options setting to control whether you see ALL CAPS or Mixed Case. The default is still ALL CAPS but, if you change it, it will persist across upgrades and will roam across your IDE instances using the VS Online roaming settings feature (if you log into VS so it knows who you are).
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/bharry/archive/2014/07/02/vs-tfs-2013-3-update-3-rc.aspx
I have been using the following reg files to enable/disable the lowercasing in Visual Studio 2013:
http://erwinmayer.com/dl/VS2013_ALLCAPS_Toggle.zip
Just double click on VS2013_ALLCAPS_Disable.reg inside the archive to disable all caps menu titles, and VS2013_ALLCAPS_Enable.reg to re-enable them.
You can easily edit the reg files before with a text editor to see what they contain.
If you're using the "Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop" version the registry key should be added in:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WDExpress\12.0\General
So simple! You can go to Tools -> Options -> Environment -> General tab and check the Turn off uppercase checkbox from the right side and click ok. Visual studio 2013 will automatically turn off uppercasing of the menubar.
VS 2013:
Tools→Extensions and Updates→Online,
Type "VSCommands" in search textbox,
Click Download
Tools→Options→VSCommands→General,
Click Open-Configuration button
IDEEnhancements→Main Menu→Change Main Menu Letter Case,
click Sentence-Case
Related
In Windows Explorer when I double-click on any Visual Studio file (*.cs, *.csproj, etc.), it's opening an old version of VS instead of the latest one (VS 2017). And VS has associations with too many file types.
How can I change the default Visual Studio (for all those files that VS can handle)?
There is a similar old question about Visual Studio 2008 (Move file associations from Visual Studio 2005 to 2008) but the solution in there doesn't work anymore (there is no "Restore File Associations" button on the settings of Visual Studio 2017).
Each version of Visual Studio registers itself in the Set Default Programs panel of the Control Panel.
Go to Control Panel\Programs\Default Programs
Then choose Set Default Programs:
In there you can simply choose the Visual studio version of your choice and then click the button Set this program as default in order to associate every file type that VS handles.
Or you might prefer to click the button Choose defaults for this program to review the current associations of those file types and change only the ones you want.
Yet another in a long list of previously working-just-fine things which Microsoft have managed totally #$#%# up. If I try to change defaults the 'right' way I get this kind of thing:
i.e. completely ignored. The only way I've managed to solve it is by removing the file association entirely through the registry. Let's take .asm as an example:
Open Registry Editor / "regedit.exe"
Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.asm\OpenWithProgIds
Delete any Visual Studio values you see
From there, you can (finally) open files with whatever you choose instead of having the association clamped to Visual Studio:
For the record, I believe this to be a problem with Windows 10. Not with Visual Studio. See: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-files/cant-change-default-programs-in-windows-10/229fc3a9-25c9-433b-a333-5806bc5090db
On the file you will always open with vs17, click right and choose open with and there choose another app. On win10 it pop out a dialog with some proposals. If vs17 is there, choose your favorite and activate the always open with. then ok and your done.
In every Visual Studio.NET version you can set keyboard shortcuts using menu Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard and then find the command you want to assign a shortcut to by entering part of it in "Show commands containing".
For one thing, the listbox is ridiculously short and hard to navigate - is there an alternative?
Then, how do I find out the correct command name for a specific action?
Specifically, I'm using ReSharper 5.1 with Visual Studio 2010 and want to have the Alt + Enter shortcut back (it used to be there in older versions by default) that opens the ReSharper context menu when the cursor is over a curly underline ReSharper uses to highlight errors or warnings.
How do I find out the command name for that (except by an educated guess)?
The way I do this is to perform an action while recording a macro (using Tools / Macro / Record temporary macro).
When I have finished with the action, I look at the source code of the macro and it usually helps to find the correct command.
For example, I have just let R# add some magic through Alt-Enter, and the macro recorder has:
DTE.ExecuteCommand("ReSharper_QuickFix")
You can rebind all of the ReSharper shortcuts by using the ReSharper -> Options -> Visual Studio Integration page. Select a keyboard scheme and hit "Apply Scheme".
I have a huge solution with multiple projects. Sometime I need to navigate to a file in Solution Explorer. Using the VS 2010 'Navigate To' feature I can open any file by name in Visual Studio 2010 but I want to be able to select the file in Solution Explorer as well?
There's an option to track the active (open and viewed) item in the solution explorer. If the file is in view, the file in the solution explorer will be selected.
Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->Track Active Item in Solution Explorer
VS2012 added a new command called SolutionExplorer.SyncWithActiveDocument. The default shortcut for c# is Ctrl+[,S
This command will navigate to the active file in the Solution Explorer.
Also, it seems that you need to have the "Track Active Item in Solution Explorer" option turned off.
With ReSharper installed Shift+Alt+L will find the current file in Solution Explorer in Visual Studio 2008+.
I found the track option to be a little annoying.
I prefer to use DPack. It contain "Locate In Solution Explorer" operation, plus many other features (some are less powerful in VS2010, like their browsers), and it's free.
Note that ReSharper also have the locate feature that works batter than DPack's (in some cases, DPack's locate won't work if the file is collapsed behind folders), but you don't want to buy ReSharper only for this feature.
Brian Schmitt has a great Locate File in Solution Explorer – Visual Studio Macro post for this. The macro is extremely simple and quick. Basically it toggles the setting
Tools->Options->Projects and Solutions->Track Active Item in Solution Explorer
so that the current file ends up selected in the Solution Explorer but, because it is not left on, you don't get irritated by Solution Explorer nodes being expanded for all the files you access.
Public Sub LocateFileInSolutionExplorer()
DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.TrackActivityinSolutionExplorer")
DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.TrackActivityinSolutionExplorer")
DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.SolutionExplorer")
End Sub
Bind a Keyboard ShortCut to this custom macro to effectively create what should be a built-in Visual Studio feature.
If you have ReSharper and want to add "Locate in Solution Explorer" to the tab's context menu:
Go to Tools -> Customize -> Commands -> Context Menu
Select "Other Context Menus | Easy MDI Document Window".
Click "Add Command".
Choose "Resharper" -> "ReSharper_LocateInSolutionOrAssemblyExplorer" (in VS2019, the category name was changed to "Extensions")
"OK" -> "Close"
Now, when right click on any tab and you'll see a new option: Locate in Solution Explorer.
UPDATE:
Following the comment from #jeremy-paskali, you can set a keyboard shortcut for this command:
Go to Tools -> Customize -> "Keyboard..."
Search for "ReSharper.ReSharper_LocateInSolutionOrAssemblyExplorer" in the "Show commands containing" field and select it.
Review the currently assigned shortcuts in the drop down below.
Make any changes, if needed.
"OK" -> "Close"
Visual Studio 2012 has a new shortcut Ctrl [, S. Yes you have to type Ctrl [ and then release and then immediately type S (or click the little sync icon at the top of Solution Explored). It will synchronize to the item.
Of course you can change the shortcut. I think I'll try Alt+L for locate.
If you want to change the shortcut, it's command name under Options\Environment\Keyboard is SolutionExplorer.SyncWithActiveDocument.
Usually this is more useful than always tracking, which in older versions always was a disaster because it would track 100 items in a row and then be jumping all over the place...
I know its little too late, but hope it helps someone else. The best option now is to install Microsoft Visual Studio add on called - Productivity Power Tools.
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/d0d33361-18e2-46c0-8ff2-4adea1e34fef
With this comes "Solution Navigator" (alternative to Solution Explorer, with a lot of benefits) - which then you can use to filter the files to only show "Open". You can even filter files to show "Edited" and "Unsaved".
In the event you want to only track the current file through a
keyboard shortcut - the activity is
"View.TrackActivityinSolutionExplorer" (assign keys here -> Tools -
Options - Environment - Keyboard)
Credit (James' comment)
This worked for me
There are several build-in ways you can accomplish this nowadays:
Configure VS to track the active item in Solution Explorer: This can be accomplished by selecting "Track active item in Solution
Explorer" at
Tools > Settings > Projects and Solutions > General
Use "Sync with active document": This can be accomplished in 2 ways.
Firing the SolutionExplorer.SyncWithActiveDocument command by using the default key combination CTRL+]+S
CTRL+)+S if you happen to be using an AZERTY keyboard like me.
By using the "Sync with active document" button on top of the Solution Explorer. The button looks like 2 apposing arrows on top of each other.
If you're version is older then VS2019 Version 16.10.2 then this button looks like this:
From VS2019 Version 16.10.2 onwards this button will look like this:
And yet again Microsoft has changed the button icon in more recent versions of VS 2022:
In Visual Studio 2010 you can turn on the "Track Active Item in Solution Explorer" option. This will mean whenever you switch between documents the new document gets selected in Solution Explorer. This can be irritating if your solution has lots of folders, because as you move around files in your solution all the folders will be left open.
Visual Studio 2012 introduced the new "Sync with Active Document" feature. Three is a button for it at the top of Solution Explorer, or you can use the shortcut Ctrl + [, S.
This is actually built in to visual studio without the need for ReSharper (which I love BTW).
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/zainnab/archive/2010/03/29/track-active-item-in-solution-explorer-vstipproj0011.aspx
If you want to select the file in the solution explorer on command and don't want to install anything then I would recommend this macro.
I've tested it, setting the shortcut to Alt+T, and I can confirm that it works with VS 2010.
Thanks to Dan Vanderboom for writing it.
For Visual Studio 2017 using a French AZERTY keyboard the command is the same as stated by Aaron Carlson but the keyboard shortcut is different.
The AZERTY keyboard shortcut to navigate to the active file for c# is Ctrl+),Ctrl+S
I checked the shortcut hadn't changed for QWERTY users in VS2017 on this page
http://visualstudioshortcuts.com/2017/
Visual Studio doesn’t offer an easy way to locate the current file you’re editing in the Solution Explorer on demand. You can set the solution explorer to always stay in sync with this simple setting:
Tools > Options > Projects and Solutions > General. Check “Track active item in Solution Explorer”.
Thanks to Cory House
My install of Visual Studio 2008 does not support IE style back and forward navigation withe the mouse in the C# code editor.
Searches show that multiple people have run into this problem but I have yet to find a correct solution.
There's even a VS add-in hack just to work around the "bug".
Any idea why this functionality fails for some users and how to fix it?
You can mitigate the problem by AutoHotKey tool (free, open source).
Let's assume your Visual Studio 2008 has these editor commands and their respective shortcuts:
View.NavigateBackward = Ctrl+-
View.NavigateForward = Ctrl+Shift+-
You should be able to verify these shortcuts in keyboard options. Verified? Let's proceed.
So will you be just fine if your mouse will send these keyboard shortcuts if the Visual Studio's main window is active?
Then install the tool and add the following two mappings:
XButton1::^-
XButton2::^+-
These correspond to above keyboard shortcuts: ^ = Ctrl, + = Shift, - = -
Using AutoHotKey icon in notification area, reload definition file you just updated. Now your mouse buttons should produce the above shortcuts. Test them.
If they work for you in Visual Studio editor, you can limit them only to Visual Studio main window, otherwise they work across the entire desktop:
SetTitleMatchMode, RegEx
#IfWinActive, .*- Microsoft Visual Studio
XButton1::^-
XButton2::^+-
#IfWinActive
Feel free to adjust title-matching regex if needed.
Do not forget to reload definitions file to apply any changes you made.
Bonus:
And here are some other handy operations if you are holding Shift or Ctrl:
(You have those mouse buttons, let's use them... for commands across the entire desktop.)
+XButton1::^c
+XButton2::^v
^XButton1::^x
^XButton2::^z
(Letters must be lowercase, because uppercase means Shift+letter.)
(And always make sure you are running AHK elevated (as administrator.))
Enjoy!
Visual Studio 2008 is an editor and the apps built in it can also be built in any later version such as Visual Studio 2015. Not trying to be flippant, but the fix is to move to a later version of Studio. If money is a factor look into the Community version. (See Free Dev Tools - Visual Studio Community 2015)
Introduction
I've always been searching for a way to make Visual Studio draw a line after a certain amount of characters.
Below is a guide to enable these so called guidelines for various versions of Visual Studio.
Visual Studio 2013 or later
Install Paul Harrington's Editor Guidelines extension.
Visual Studio 2010 and 2012
Install Paul Harrington's Editor Guidelines extension for VS 2010 or VS 2012.
Open the registry at:
VS 2010: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Text Editor
VS 2012: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\Text Editor
and add a new string called Guides with the value RGB(100,100,100), 80. The
first part specifies the color, while the other one (80) is the column the line will be displayed.
Or install the Guidelines UI extension (which is also a part of the Productivity Power Tools), which will add entries to the editor's context menu for adding/removing the entries without needing to edit the registry directly. The current disadvantage of this method is that you can't specify the column directly.
Visual Studio 2008 and Other Versions
If you are using Visual Studio 2008 open the registry at HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Text Editor and add a new string called Guides with the value RGB(100,100,100), 80. The first part specifies the color, while the other one (80) is the column the line will be displayed. The vertical line will appear, when you restart Visual Studio.
This trick also works for various other version of Visual Studio, as long as you use the correct path:
2003: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Text Editor
2005: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\Text Editor
2008: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Text Editor
2008 Express: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VCExpress\9.0\Text Editor
This also works in SQL Server 2005 and probably other versions.
For those running Visual Studio 2015 or later, the best solution is to install the Editor Guidelines by Paul Harrington rather than changing the registry yourself.
This is originally from Sara's blog.
It also works with almost any version of Visual Studio, you just need to change the "8.0" in the registry key to the appropriate version number for your version of Visual Studio.
The guide line shows up in the Output window too. (Visual Studio 2010 corrects this, and the line only shows up in the code editor window.)
You can also have the guide in multiple columns by listing more than one number after the color specifier:
RGB(230,230,230), 4, 80
Puts a white line at column 4 and column 80. This should be the value of a string value Guides in "Text Editor" key (see bellow).
Be sure to pick a line color that will be visible on your background. This color won't show up on the default background color in VS. This is the value for a light grey: RGB(221, 221, 221).
Here are the registry keys that I know of:
Visual Studio 2010: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Text Editor
Visual Studio 2008: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Text Editor
Visual Studio 2005: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\8.0\Text Editor
Visual Studio 2003: HKCU\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\7.1\Text Editor
Productivity Power Tools includes guidelines and other useful extensions for older versions of Visual Studio.
Without the need to edit any registry keys, the Productivity Power Tools extension (available for all versions of visual studio) provides guideline functionality.
Once installed just right click while in the editor window and choose the add guide line option. Note that the guideline will always be placed on the column where your editing cursor is currently at, regardless of where you right click in the editor window.
To turn off go to options and find Productivity Power Tools and in that section turn off Column Guides. A reboot will be necessary.
Visual Studio 2017 / 2019
For anyone looking for an answer for a newer version of Visual Studio, install the Editor Guidelines plugin, then right-click in the editor and select this:
Visual Studio 2022
Same author as the package above but seems he had to split the extension to work with 2022.
https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=PaulHarrington.EditorGuidelinesPreview&ssr=false#overview
There is now an extension for Visual Studio 2012 and 2013:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/da227a0b-0e31-4a11-8f6b-3a149cf2e459
If you are a user of the free Visual Studio Express edition the right key is in
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VCExpress\9.0\Text Editor
{note the VCExpress instead of VisualStudio) but it works! :)
This will also work in Visual Studio 2010 (Beta 2), as long as you install Paul Harrington's extension to enable the guidelines from the VSGallery or from the extension manager inside VS2010. Since this is version 10.0, you should use the following registry key:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\10.0\Text Editor
Also, Paul wrote an extension that adds entries to the editor's context menu for adding/removing the entries without needing to edit the registry directly. You can find it here: http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/7f2a6727-2993-4c1d-8f58-ae24df14ea91
This works for SQL Server Management Studio also.
I found this Visual Studio 2010 extension: Indent Guides
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/e792686d-542b-474a-8c55-630980e72c30
It works just fine.
With VS 2013 Express this key does not exist. What I see is HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\12.0 and there is no mention of Text Editor under that.
For those who use Visual Assist, vertical guidelines can be enabled from Display section in Visual Assist's options:
The registry path for Visual Studio 2008 is the same, but with 9.0 as the version number:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\9.0\Text Editor
For VS 2019 just use this powershell script:
Get-ChildItem "$($env:LOCALAPPDATA)\Microsoft\VisualStudio\16.0_*" |
Foreach-Object {
$dir = $_;
$regFile = "$($dir.FullName)\privateregistry.bin";
Write-Host "Loading $($dir.BaseName) from ``$regFile``"
& reg load "HKLM\_TMPVS_" "$regFile"
New-ItemProperty -Name "Guides" -Path "HKLM:\_TMPVS_\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\$($dir.BaseName)\Text Editor" -Value "RGB(255,0,0), 80" -force | Out-Null;
Sleep -Seconds 5; # might take some time befor the file can be unloaded
& reg unload "HKLM\_TMPVS_";
Write-Host "Unloaded $($dir.BaseName) from ``$regFile``"
}
You might be looking for rulers not guidelines.
Go to settings > editor > rulers > and give an array of character counts to provide lines at the specified values.