It is kind of funny how a feature that is easily argued as unnecessary and  superfluous can be a feature you find yourself using over and over. That’s exactly the kind of feature the Make Lowercase and Make Uppercase keyboard shortcuts are for Visual Studio. It might not be a feature you even use every day, but when you do finally end up needing this one it is such an incredibly useful feature.

Don’t believe me? How long would the following have taken to do by hand?

it is kind of funny how a feature that is easily argued as unnecessary and  superfluous can be a feature you find yourself using over and over. that’s exactly the kind of feature the make lowercase and make uppercase keyboard shortcuts are for visual studio. it might not be a feature you even use every day, but when you do finally end up needing this one it is such an incredibly useful feature.

IT IS KIND OF FUNNY HOW A FEATURE THAT IS EASILY ARGUED AS UNNECESSARY AND  SUPERFLUOUS CAN BE A FEATURE YOU FIND YOURSELF USING OVER AND OVER. THAT’S EXACTLY THE KIND OF FEATURE THE MAKE LOWERCASE AND MAKE UPPERCASE KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS ARE FOR VISUAL STUDIO. IT MIGHT NOT BE A FEATURE YOU EVEN USE EVERY DAY, BUT WHEN YOU DO FINALLY END UP NEEDING THIS ONE IT IS SUCH AN INCREDIBLY USEFUL FEATURE.

That’s the power of a good shortcut. Quick, simple, and powerful!

Make Lowercase

Ctrl + U

Make Uppercase

Ctrl + Shift + U

Note: The image above will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

If you have a favorite Visual Studio Tip or Trick be sure to share it in the comments. I’ll compile a list and post it for everyone once there are enough.

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

Here’s another powerful tip. Almost every application has a UI, and these days most applications have a rich UI. Its a lot easier to work with an advanced UI in an UI design editor. But it’s a lot easier to do something in a code editor. So what’s a developer to do?

You can always tell a keyboard shortcut is powerful and important when it is given a single key.

Toggle Code / Design Views

F7

Note: The image above will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

If you have a favorite Visual Studio Tip or Trick be sure to share it in the comments. I’ll compile a list and post it for everyone once there are enough.

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

This one is huge. You really need to learn this one, if you don’t already know and use it. Anytime you are working with code you, you will need to comment parts of and uncomment parts of it. It is just a part of a developer’s life. The mechanic will get his hands dirty, the carpenter will get splinters, and the developer will comment and uncomment code.

I guess the worst way you could comment and uncomment your code is to type it all by hand. Next worse would be to use the mouse and go to Edit menu, Advance menu item, then click Comment Selection or Uncomment Selection. Another option that is to use the Text Editor Toolbar (see below).

 

 

A little better I guess is to use the keyboard accelerator shortcut: Alt, then E, then V, then M for (Comment Selection), or E for (Uncomment Selection).

That’s four okay ways of comment and uncommenting your code, but what is the best way?

Comment Selection

Ctrl + K, Ctrl + C

Uncomment Selection

Ctrl + K, Ctrl + U

Note: The image above will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

If you have a favorite Visual Studio Tip or Trick be sure to share it in the comments. I’ll compile a list and post it for everyone once there are enough.

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

This Visual Studio window is so import it has two keyboard shortcuts. Can you guess what window it is? That’s right: it’s the Visual Studio Properties window.

So how many different ways can you come up with to open this window?

View Properties Window

• Use the mouse and show / hide the window
• Use the keyboard accelerators: Alt, then V, then W
• Use the Design View keyboard shortcut: Alt + Enter
• Use the keyboard shortcut: F4

Note: The image above will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

If you have a favorite Visual Studio Tip or Trick be sure to share it in the comments. I’ll compile a list and post it for everyone once there are enough.

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

Microsoft Word has two “interesting” features. One feature is you can generate random text, for example, =rand(3) will generate three random paragraphs of text. The other feature is that Word allows you to make what I like to call “Vertical Block Selections”. See the following picture for an example of both.

Pretty cool, huh? And did you know you can make vertical block selections in Visual Studio? Here’s how:

Vertical Block Selection

Alt + Mouse

Note: The images above and to the right will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

If you have a favorite Visual Studio Tip or Trick be sure to share it in the comments. I’ll compile a list and post it for everyone once there are enough.

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

So a couple days ago we covered how to display line numbers:

“31 Days of Visual Studio Tips & Tricks – Day 4: Display Line Numbers”.

So now how can we take this one step further. How about an easy way to go to a specific line of code? Think about how often as a developer you need to find a line in a large file of code. Sometimes you find out there is an error on a certain line of code and instead of scrolling down to this line manually you could use a special keyboard shortcut.

Go to Line

Ctrl + G

Definitely one of my favorite keyboard shortcuts for Visual Studio.

Note: The image to the right will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

If you have a favorite Visual Studio Tip or Trick be sure to share it in the comments. I’ll compile a list and post it for everyone once there are enough.

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

Many times developers will find themselves working with an object, and wanting to know more information about how it is defined and designed.

For example, you are working with a Customer object and you want to look at the Customer.cs file and find out what the Customer object has to offer. What methods, properties, and events does it have for you to work with?

There are several ways for learn more about our Customer class. One you could use the Solution Explorer and manually locate the wanted Customer.cs file. This is a slow process and requires you to already know name and location of the class you want to review. Sometimes it may not be as simple as added a .cs extension the object.

Another approach would be to right click on Customer object and choose Go to Definition. This will take you there automatically, so it is much quicker. But there is an even faster way, and this is the way you wan to use:

Go to Definition

F12

This keyboard shortcut is so important that it is assigned to a function key. This requires only one key press.

Note: The image to the right will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

If you have a favorite Visual Studio Tip or Trick be sure to share it in the comments. I’ll compile a list and post it for everyone once there are enough.

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

If you have used many Microsoft Office products you are probably familiar with the Clipboard Ring concept. Basically it allows the clipboard to contain multiple items, and when you use the keyboard shortcut you cycle back through previous items.

The Clipboard Ring is to a developer’s code what a Painter’s Palette is to the painter’s paint. It is a any easy way to access recently used items. This is a common need when writing code for any application. There are lots of times you are juggling two or three key pieces of code, and it is very nice to have quick access to them. It’s almost like having real-time IntelliSense.

Cycle Clipboard Ring

Cltr – Shift - V

Note: The image to the right will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

Alright, we’ve a lot of new reader submitted tips! Thanks guys. I quite a bit behind in score now. I’ll have to come up with a way to weight the scores to give me a chance now.

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

It is Independence Day today in the US, and we’re in Washington, D.C. to see us some awesome fireworks!

Since today is July, 4th, and we are on Day 4 I figured it would be good to do a VSTT that dealt with numbers. The best one I know is how to display line numbers in Visual Studio:

Display Line Numbers:

Go to the Tools menu, then click on the Options… menu item. Find the Text Editor item in the list on the left. Then I recommend choosing All Languages. Next find and check the Line Numbers checkbox in the Display section on the right.

The image to the right will take you to a full size image if you want to see this in more detail.

Feedback:

Alright, we’ve more reader submitted tips.  Thanks guys. Yeah, we are now tied. score: Me 4 / Readers 4.

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