Keyboard access in the C# project settings editor? - visual-studio

Does anyone know how to switch between the major tabs/pages in Visual Studio's C# project settings editor, using only the keyboard? I'm talking about the things along the left side that are labeled Application, Build, Debug, Resources, Settings, etc. It works fine to Tab between the controls on the currently selected page, but I haven't figured out how to switch between pages, and I like to avoid leaving the keyboard as much as possible.
The page that I most frequently want to access is the Debug page, so a shortcut that takes me directly to that page would be fine even if there wasn't a general method. I tried the Project.StartOptions command, but that doesn't seem to be it.

Ctrl + Pg Up and Ctrl + Pg Down will navigate between those tabs/pages.

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VS2010: How to see GUI

I need to know how to open the form of a program I am debugging.
I loaded an existing solution into VS2010, I can see the code, but I want to see the GUI part of the project, click on buttons and see what part of the code they take me to, set breakpoints where I feel like.
I don't know how to see the GUI in VS2010, where can I do that?
Also, where would be a good resource to learn the ins and outs of VS2010?
Depending on how the UI was created, there may or may not be a way to see the UI at design time. Particularly if this is an older Windows UI application, it's likely that the windows are created entirely in code, and there is no design-time UI for you to see.
There is a dialog editor, for dialog windows that are defined in resource (*.rc) files. CTRL-SHIFT-E brings up the Resource Viewer and you can look for things under the Dialog node. It is possible that your main window is a dialog-style window, as that's one of the options you get when you create a new MFC-based application.
Otherwise, your only option to see what your UI looks like is to run the program and see. Tracking down which UI elements do which actions in your program will require finding the appropriate event handlers or message handler methods (again, depending on what UI framework, if any, is in use) and setting breakpoints.
The generic answer is:
Hit F5 to starting Debugging mode. (Or under the Debug menu choose Start Debugging)
But it depends on how your project is setup and what type of project it is if F5 will work that easily for you.
What kind of program/language are you using?
With a form, I believe you have to File-->Open-->Project/Solution
Now if its a website, you would open Website. If you tried to open a windows form under a website then you wont see the design.
Typically you would just double click your form name (form1.cs) because then your design view will pop up or hit Shift+F7 or rightclick --> view designer. Then just double click whatever tools you have on your form (like a button) and it will automatically go to the button code.
If its a website, then it would be under website1.aspx while the code sits in website1.aspx.cs
But if none of that helps, here is a good place to learn this stuff
VisualStudioWalkthroughs

Can I have a panel like Toolbox only visible when in Design mode?

On my laptop I try to maximize workspace within Visual Studio. If I'm just dealing with code, I keep all of my panels on the left and right hidden via auto-hide.
However, if I'm working in Design mode I pin the toolbox, properties, etc so they're always visible. I was hoping to find a way to actually hide the panels when I tab to a file only dealing with text (not in Design mode), and regain the panel when I return to a tab in Design mode, no manual pinning/unpinning required. I'm not fond of just mousing over the panel tab so it pops into view. I like to keep them permanently there while in Design mode.
Going from http://i.stack.imgur.com/yYmHu.png to http://i.stack.imgur.com/AQLGP.png is basically what I'm referring to.
Thanks!
Im not sure if there's a better way but I was able to create a macro to do this. Open Macro IDE in Tools -> Macros -> Macros IDE. Open EnvironmentEvents under MyMacros. Add the following code:
Private Sub WindowEvents_WindowActivated(ByVal GotFocus As EnvDTE.Window, ByVal LostFocus As EnvDTE.Window) Handles WindowEvents.WindowActivated
If GotFocus.Caption.EndsWith(" [Design]") Then
DTE.Windows.Item(Constants.vsWindowKindProperties).AutoHides = False
Else
DTE.Windows.Item(Constants.vsWindowKindProperties).AutoHides = True
End If
End Sub
If the properties panel is not already opened, you add this code to open:
DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.PropertiesWindow")
Try to use Perspectives extension. After installing you can save your current layout as perspective (just like in Eclipse) in Visual Studio 2010 and then switch between them. The only bad thing is what you can't switch between them automatically. I don't know maybe we can modify sources of extension(if it's available).

enabling design view in VS 2010

Does anyone know where can I enable the bar that let me switch between different views (Design,split,..) in Visual Studio 2010 ? I can't find it and it is not enables by default
If you go into the Visual Studio Tools -> Options menu, under HTML Designer -> General there is a checkbox to enable or disable the HTML designer. Checking this and restarting VS will do the trick and show the Design/Split/Source options at the bottom again.
I really prefer the Code Optimized setup but do need on occasion to hit the design view, shame it does not seem easier to expose and, when exposed, takes up more UI than it really needs to.
Do you have the Design/source tabs down in the bottom left corner of the window? (just above where your debug & immediate windows appear from in the default view). If you do, look further to the right of them, there is a splitter bar you can drag up to produce the split mode.
It's a corrupt installation, try reintall the VS
I also cannot see the Design/Source tab split. I could have sworn it was in VS2010 RC. Did they take it out of retail?? (I'm working with an Activity xaml file)
go to Tool->Option->General->Enabe Html Designer

How do I view Visual Studio BuildLog.htm files without cutting and pasting into an external browser

This may or may not be specific to VS2005 (as that is the version I'm referring to for this question).
I find often the case is that I see this in the Output panel inside Visual Studio
2>Build log was saved at "file://c:\\vsdll_example\MyExecRefsDll\Debug\BuildLog.htm"
Now, since that looks and smells like a URL, I would have thought that I could simply left mouse click on it, or left mouse double-click on it, and a browser window of some sort would be displayed. No, that doesn't work. So, to view it, I have to cut and paste the "file://bla/bla/bla" part into an external window.
Is there a way to set up Visual Studio to allow me to browse to that file directly, or view it inside Visual Studio IDE, or something to that effect, without the extra fiddling with cutting and pasting? Or is there some type of keybinding I'm not aware of?
Thanks,
bg
Hold down Control while clicking on the link. It should show up in the editor.

Eclipse's tab double click on Visual Studio?

On Eclipse, whenever I double click a tab, it fills the workspace (by hiding all other views like project tree, console, etc).
Is there any way to do this on Visual Studio?
Note: i'm not looking for full screen, just want a way to declutter the workspace but still have access to menus.
Are you after this?
Set shortcuts for the Window.AutoHideAll function and for the Window.ResetWindowLayout function. In order for the ResetWindowLayout to work, you have to export your settings (make sure you select "All Settings") with all windows expanded and then import them again.
ResetWindowLayout will restore all windows to the way they were the last time you imported your settings.
Not with double click on tab, but you can do the same with Shift+Alt+Enter key combination.
This keyboard shorcut was changed to F11 from 1.9.1 vscode version.
All keyboard Shortcuts: https://code.visualstudio.com/shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts-windows.pdf
I was looking for that, as well, and I now just got used to using full screen (Shift+Alt+Enter), which hides a little too much, which you seem to think, as well, but does in fact still show the menus.
Looks like drby got it on this one. Just FYI. I pinged the VS team to ask about this and here is the response:
"There is no way to reverse the command automatically. For it to work as a toggle we would need to save which toolwindows were auto hidden and which ones were not when the command was run, which we don’t do (it would cause lots of interesting persistence questions, across profiles and VS sessions)."
The idea of a "Unhide All" command is what I suggested. So if you hide all then you can unhide all as well. There might be some windows you don't want to unhide but the 1 or 2 extra windows is better than not having an unhide IMHO.

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