When I write a test method, I type "testm", hit tab and magically see:
[TestMethod]
public void MethodName()
{
}
When I type the methodName it is highlighted (can't show that here) as a "field" that I'm filling in. I'm sure you're all familiar with this behavior.
Personally, I like names for my test methods like
Can_My_Method_Do_That_Thing instead of CanMyMethodDoThatThing. I find them much easier to read, and most times they're really a sentence anyway.
For reasons I'd rather not get into, I have a difficult time typing all those _ characters and I'd like to be able to use the space bar, and have the spaces in the name automatically replaced when I hit "Enter".
I hear that Visual Studio is extendable and customizable and so on. Is it extensible enough to do this?
You can implement and use your own code snippets and Microsoft provides a very nice guide on how this could be done: Walkthrough: Implementing Code Snippets
To have a quick look at how the "testm" Expansion (that's the Snippet Type) is "partially" implemented you may go to c:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio 10.0\VC#\Snippets\1033\Test\ directory and edit the testmethod.snippet file.
I have never implemented this kind of "Expansion" myself, but Microsoft's Extending the Editor website is a really good source of info of how this can be achieved. This is where you should start lookin'.
If you install CodeRush Xpress then not only do you get some great free productivity and refactoring tools but there is also an open source community of plugins for CodeRush Xpress.
I found this plugin that does (almost) exactly what you want.
The caveat is that it is developed for NUnit and not MSTest so you will get a [Test] attribute instead of a [TestMethod] attribute. Since this is open source, it should be fairly easy to modify the code to your requirements.
The best method i would suggest is look into the Editor extensibility and work it out. Following steps is what you might need to do.
Map a key to your "underscorize" action.
Using the editor extensibility points, you can get access to the Selected text, process it.
And finally replace it.
One suggestion. Though the learning curve might be a bit high with having to go through MEF and stuff like that. But its worth it.
Another approach worth considering would be to use an external tool to remap the keyboard. For example, it should be straightforward to get AutoHotKey to react to the testm[Tab] sequence of keystrokes and switch into a mode where it maps spaces to underscores (or deletes each space as soon as it's typed and adds an underscore). Similarly, the Enter key could switch it out of that mode again.
Related
Visual Studio 2010 contains error corrections for VB programmers, for example, it will allow you to import a namespace or generate a stub class/method where you get compiler errors.
For example, if you type:
Dim mm As MailMessage without an Imports System.Net.Mail, you'll get a handy little tooltip that just allows you to import the namespace with a single click.
I've recently switched to C# developing, and I really miss this little tool - if you're not sure of a namespace you have to go looking on Google to find out and then add the using manually.
Is there no way to enable the error corrections like you get when writing VB?
I've done the usual Googling, and there seems to be no mention of it for C#- just VB.
I use C# in VS2010 daily and it does all the things you mention. As an example, usually when you paste code into a class without the relevant using statements already being present VS will ask you if you want to add usings for the code you pasted. It is worth checking your settings to make sure you have things like this enabled such as 'Auto List Members' etc. There are other useful settings in there too. It is worth familiarising yourself with your options.
One thing I would recommend for C# development is Resharper 7. It is a great tool and speeds up coding an awful lot. It will also make suggestions to improve code, enforce standards etc. You can also configure it to enforce the coding standards your company uses. I believe you can get a trial version. I would get that to try it out and then if required make a purchase request to your company or buy it yourself. Its worth it.
Resharper 7
P.S. As a side note, in case you didn't know, you can press ctrl+spacebar to get your intellisense options to open up.
C# editor has that. Just click on the class name and you'll see a colored underscore. Click on it and you'll get suggestions on how to resolve class (or interface, or whatever).
Or put code editor cursor on the class name and press ALT + SHIFT + F10 and the same suggestions will popup for you.
What Editors/Designers for creating Visual Studio 2010 Snippets are there?
I would like to be able to put in different replacements (ie spots where the text should be replaced). A low incidence of blocking bugs is also nice.
So far the only one I have seen is Snippet Editor 2.1. I am going to dig into it and see how it works, but I did not want to spend too much time on that app if there is a better one out there.
I like Snippet Designer by Matt Manela and chose to use it in my Extending Visual Studio course. I like the Snippet Explorer and searching snippets as well as the designer view to help you edit them, including replacements. It also gives you a nice Export as Snippet context menu item. And the code is on CodePlex if you would like to learn how it's done.
Go to the Visual Studio Gallery and search for "snippet" in the "Find" box. You should find several options (e.g. Snippet Designer, Snipper, etc.). I haven't used any of these so I can't attest to how good they may be but at least it's a start.
Hope this helps.
Resharper (not free) has it's own snippet system which is really great. I'm adding this answer because I was searching for something not realising I already had something installed (Resharper)
I heard that R#5.0 (still in beta) will support VS 2010. My question is
VS2010 == VS2008 + ReSharper ?
I know there are many improvements to VS2010, so I 'm not sure weather is it really worth purchasing the R#5.0 for VS2010?
Well, I haven't explored VS 2010 new refactoring features that much, but its my understanding that VS has some but definitely not all of resharpers features implemented (From MSDN):
Navigate To
You can use the Navigate
To feature to search for a symbol or
file in the source code.
Navigate To lets you find a specific
location in the solution or explore
elements in the solution. It helps you
pick a good set of matching results
from a query.
You can search for keywords that are
contained in a symbol by using Camel
casing and underscore characters to
divide the symbol into keywords.
For more information, see How to:
Search for Objects, Definitions, and
References (Symbols).
Generate From Usage
The Generate From
Usage feature lets you use classes and
members before you define them. You
can generate a stub for any undefined
class, constructor, method, property,
field, or enum that you want to use
but have not yet defined. You can
generate new types and members without
leaving your current location in code,
This minimizes interruption to your
workflow.
Generate From Usage supports
programming styles such as test-first
development.
IntelliSense Suggestion Mode
IntelliSense now provides two
alternatives for IntelliSense
statement completion, completion mode
and suggestion mode. Use suggestion
mode for situations where classes and
members are used before they are
defined.
In suggestion mode, when you type in
the editor and then commit the entry,
the text you typed is inserted into
the code. When you commit an entry in
completion mode, the editor shows the
entry that is highlighted on the
members list.
When an IntelliSense window is open,
you can press CTRL+ALT+SPACEBAR to
toggle between completion mode and
suggestion mode.
So I guess it would depend on which of Resharpers features you want to use. If you are satisfied with the above which is certainly great improvements, then you don't need Resharper.
On the performance question, well it might perform better because of tighter integration.
Personally the above leaves me still needing a lot of features like (just the ones i can think of right now - might be more):
There are as far as I can tell only about 6 refactorings, where resharper currently has more than 30
No import type completion, which i use ALL the time. One shortcut adds to references and adds import statement
No smart completion
Change namespace to follow navigation structure and update all references with one shortcut
Goto is more advanced in R# you can go to inheritors and bases,
file member, recent files and edits and theres the fast goto feature
Resharpers static analysis is far more comprehensive than what you get from VS
So what do you need? (I am definitely not giving up Resharper)
Peter,
Best person that can answer this question is yourself. What I suggest is you download it, learn it (and note I said learn it, not just play with it). Then decide. However, I'll warn you that it's quite addictive.
My question is VS2010 == VS2008 + ReSharper ?
Oh hell no. VS2010 has more features than VS2008, and some of those feature ideas were stolen from ReSharper, but vanilla VS2010 is still a long way behind VS2010 + ReSharper 5 or even VS2008 + ReSharper 5.
From a quick glance at my 31 Days of ReSharper blog posts (written back in the R# 2.5 days), here are just a few ReSharper features that are still not present in VS2010: (Please correct me if VS2010 does have any of these -- I haven't actually used it that much without ReSharper!)
Unused code highlighted in gray and with quick-fixes to delete the unused code for you (this is just one of many hints and warnings R# does that VS does not)
Visual indication of where you have hints, warnings, and errors in a source file (colored stripe next to the vertical scroll bar)
Integrated unit-test runner that's not locked down to only MS's test framework
Shared settings for code formatting, code templates, etc. -- check these settings into version control, and they'll be picked up automatically by other computers (no manual export/import)
Go To Type -- a pop-up window where you can enter a type name (or part of the name) and jump straight to the right source file
Navigate to derived types / overriding methods
Code Structure View -- view a list of members in your type, and drag/drop to reorder them in your source code
R# will suggest variable names for you
You can invoke an Intellisense dropdown that shows types from all namespaces (and then it adds the using for you)
It's eerily good at guessing what you meant when you tell it to fix an error for you
Remove unused braces and Invert If
Generate Code (I particularly like Generate Equals and GetHashCode, even though I use them very rarely)
Viral Rename (if you rename a type, it'll also suggest that you rename any variables that were named after the type)
And best of all, Safe Delete.
Safe Delete rocks.
And that's just the features that R# had in 2.5 when I wrote the 31 Days of ReSharper. They've added plenty of new features since (I just don't have a comprehensive list handy). A couple of my favorites are the background solution-wide analysis, which will tell you in nearly real-time if you have compiler errors anywhere in your solution, and Inspect > Value Origin, which is just wicked cool.
If your having to ask the question, my guess is that you're not using ReSharper to its full potential. Personally I find that R# writes most of my code for me and I feel like a noob using visual studio without it.
YES. unequivocably YES.
After migrating to Visual Studio 2010 we asked our development team if buying Resharper upgrades is worth the investment. The votes were unanimous: yes!
Btw: we use VS2010 Premium and the devteam has its own budget.
Why don't you try out the R# 5 betas and then you can decide if you're using enough of its features to justify purchasing it.
http://confluence.jetbrains.net/display/ReSharper/ReSharper+5.0+Nightly+Builds
ReSharper has been around long enough that developers might purchase the upgrade just out of habit! :)
I recall that when VS2008 was released, R# wasn't quite ready, and there was griping among the .NET community about it. "Must...have...ReSharper!". Heh. Jetbrains appear to be on top of it this time though.
Anyone has suggestion for something that's better than Visual Studio default Resource string editor? Not looking for standalone Resx editor, just something that has better navigation between strings in Grid, better support for long strings, etc.
Thanks.
ResXManager is another great free tool that integrates with Visual Studio.
From the site:
You can quickly navigate through all resource files and view the content in a well-arranged data grid. It makes it easy to find untranslated strings or clean up orphaned entries. All strings can be quickly edited in place, ...
The tool is still updated and is available as VS2012-2017 extension and standalone executable to support VS2010 and older.
This tool ResEx inherited from Dimitris Papadimitriou is awesome.
Features I love:
Warns you if you are missing a {0} that is defined in the default resx file
Translate side by side
Warnings about shortcut characters
A wee bit on the late side:
I find Zeta Resource editor very useful.
More or less the same feature, and quite polished:
Auto-translate
Warning of inconsistent formatting arguments
Load from VS solution
Nesting of translations
Colors indicating translation status
Addendum: it seems Google Translate / Bing Translate have changed into being a paid services. Auto-translation is still available, yet you need an API key and billing information.
There is a extension for Visual Studio Code which works pretty well and it's cross platform.
https://github.com/DominicVonk/vscode-resx
I have been programming almost exclusively in Vim since 1/1/2001, and I feel that Vim fulfulls all my needs as an editor/IDE, but I can't help but wonder if perhaps there have been some new killer features developed for other IDEs in the last decade that would allow me to be more productive than I can be using Vim. So I ask: What are the most important IDE features missing in Vim??
Integrated debugging with all the fanciness that Visual Studio/Eclipse provide (thread debugging, etc etc)
Autocomplete with inline documentation support for methods/properties
Build and run from 'within' the editor application
I miss the excellent refactoring support and code tips from tools such as Resharper. Regexs are powerful for code modification, but understanding the code as Resharper does is just a tad better IMO.
Fortunately I can get both Resharper and Vim in Visual Studio so I am happy.
The real question is: what do VIM have that IDEs are missing.
I find that refactoring would be a real nice thing to have. Changing a java package name in vim with lots of source files can be pretty cumbersome.
Originally the refactoring was the killer feature that made us switch from Emacs. I have now used Eclipse extensively for Java for the last 6 years, and I expect any replacement to have:
Refactoring: Rename variables, functions, change method signatures (including all calls to it).
Debugging: "You are here" "Your current variables are" plus stuff like "go to the defined class for this object" or "go to the actual type for this object". I belive the latter requires quite a bit of integration between debugger and editor.
Code replacement while debugging. Change code, press Ctrl-S and the code in your debugging session is updated with what you just changed. A killer feature for big programs.
Navigation: Simple navigation of class hierarchy (please show me all implementations of this method in this interface and similar).
Javadoc integration - Eclipse can show javadoc just by hovering the mouse over an identifier.
Plus some more :)
Edit: I occasionally miss the Emacs functionality inside Eclipse, but the Eclipse editor has become stronger so it is not so bad anymore. In this regard the Save Action allowing a Format at every save was a killer. This ensures that changes show up properly in the source repository.
Search in files: In most editors, there is a separate window doing the search in files, and simultaneously editing can continue on the main window. The search results are updated as and when they are found. Also the current results can be viewed by clicking on it, even when the searching is ongoing, without waiting for the entire search to be completed.(whereas in cim one has to wait till vimgrep/ctags has finished to view the results)
This is particularly useful for search in large number of files.
So basically something like a search in background and simultaneously show results which can be clicked on to view them simultaneously.
(something like Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 does)
The things I missed were code completion and debugging. That's why I started using eclim http://eclim.sourceforge.net/index.html so I could use vim for what it does best and eclipse when I actually need it. Try it out - it's a fantastic combination.
It's like the old question "What's worn under a kilt?"
Answer: "Nothing. Everything's in perfect working order!".
But seriously, I'd like to see a more intuitive (easy to use) help system added to Vim.
There is nothing missing in Vim that an IDE has. The only thing we could argue about is; Vim needs to be customized and IDE comes out of the box.
Let me comment the other answeres and how to solve such "needs".
build
As mentioned, use :make and learn how to customize it.
refactoring
Use the very well known ropevim (for Python), it makes a great reafactoring tool. You won't need more than that. There are many others, search for your language.
Autocompletion
I use this snippet together with mapping to TAB (I think supertab plugin does that)
" python stuff
python << EOF
import os
import sys
import vim
for p in sys.path:
if os.path.isdir(p):
vim.command(r"set path+=%s" % (p.replace(" ", r"\ ")))
EOF
" tags for python libs
set tags+=~/.vim/tags/python.ctags
autocmd FileType python,mako set omnifunc=pythoncomplete#Complete
autocmd FileType html,mako set omnifunc=htmlcomplete#Complete
autocmd FileType html,mako set omnifunc=htmlcomplete#CompleteTags
autocmd FileType mako set filetype=mako.html.js
Help system
in Vim is perfect, you just have to learn it's system. It has it's own conventions how are things organized.
Debugging
I don't know for other languages than Python, but running pdb and !python % does it's job.