It happens all the time. You’re working in Visual Studio, and you need to work with an object that is in a namespace you haven’t declared yet. For example, you need to create a WebRequest in the System.Net namespace.

You have a few choices, some easy and some hard: You could add a using or import statement at the top of the class file as in “using System.NET”. You could fully qualify the object as in “System.Net.WebRequest”. You could try to click that tiny, tiny little red rectangle that will open the Smart Tag. You could type “CTRL + SHIFT + F10”. Or you could take the easy road and simply enter “Ctrl + .”.

“Ctrl + .” Rocks! Try it, you’ll love it!

Feedback:

What is your favorite Visual Studio 2008 tip or trick? Tell us all about it in the comments section. I’m keeping score: Me 2 / Readers 0.

PowerPoint: 31 Days of Visual Studio 2008 Tips & Tricks.pptx (Note: PowerPoint is updated daily to include new items.)