As I’ve been writing the Object Browser Tip Series, I noticed that there were a lot of commands available under Tools – Options – Environment – Keyboard…  Just type in ObjectBrowser and you’ll see what i mean.

Technically, this is a bug, since not all these commands need keyboard shortcuts.  For example, the ability to sort objects by access level probably doesn’t need a keyboard shortcut.  But since they do, let’s have some fun…

If you bind any of the Object Browser Settings commands to a keyboard shortcut, you’ll see that shortcut in the drop down menu.  Oh, the things I’ve discovered writing this Tip of the Day series =D

How you can take advantage of this:  If you use the object browser a lot to search, you might find it meaningful to clear the search via the keyboard shortcut. 

View.ObjectBrowserClearSearch – clears the search combo, hence clearing the object browser filter.

If you have a particular keybinding or command that you use in this list, please leave a comment below and share with the group.

Technorati Tags: VS2005Tip,VS2008Tip

In yesterday’s tip, I talk about how you can export and import your Object Browser settings.  If you examined the .vssettings file for just the Object Browser Settings category in Import / Export Settings, you may have seen

<PropertyValue name="DefaultPresentationLanguage">VB</PropertyValue>

The Object Browser tries to show the language of the current project.  If this is not possible or multiple languages exist,  the Object Browser uses the “DefaultPresentationLanguage” to decide what syntax to use.

In the example below, there’s no solution shown, so the Object Browser is forced to use this setting.

Using DefaultPresentationLanguage=VB, we see the Object Browser use VB syntax.

Using DefaultPresentationLanguage=VC#, we see the Object Browser use C# syntax.

Technorati Tags: VS2005Tip,VS2008Tip

Over these past couple of weeks, we’ve taken a close look at customizing your Object Browser experience, from sorting to searching to filtering, among other options.

Your customizations can be saved out to a .vssetings file via the Tools – Import / Export Settings dialog, under General Settings – Object Browser Options.

Good news is that the xml stored in the created .vssettings file for the object browser settings is human readable, in case you need to make a quick tweak.

      <PropertyValue name="ObjectBrowserViewNamespaces">false</PropertyValue>
      <PropertyValue name="ObjectBrowserShowHiddenTypesAndMembers">true</PropertyValue>
      <PropertyValue name="ObjectBrowserTypesSortAlphabetically">true</PropertyValue>
      <PropertyValue name="ObjectBrowserTypesSortByType">false</PropertyValue>
      <PropertyValue name="ObjectBrowserTypesSortByAccess">false</PropertyValue>
      <PropertyValue name="ObjectBrowserTypesGroupByType">false</PropertyValue>
       …

Technorati Tags: VS2005Tip,VS2008Tip

Today’s tip you’ve probably tried on your own, just in hopes that it would work.  But just in case you never thought about it, like in the Solution Explorer (which works btw, and i’m still singing my tip of the day songs), yes, the Object Browser supports type-ahead selection.

Back in the 2003 days, I was on a quest for a while to have all lists in Visual Studio support type-ahead selection.  I did what I could, so if you see a list that should support it and it doesn’t, definitely file a bug in Connect.   Maybe one day my quest will be completed.

Technorati Tags: VS2005Tip,VS2008Tip

Just like yesterday’s tip that talked about going to an object or function’s definition, you can find all the references of what you have selected in the Object Browser.

In the General Development Settings, Edit.FindAllReferences is bound to Shift+F12.  When you press Shift+F12, it’ll bring up the Find All References Tool Window. 

This is the same as doing a Find Symbol from the Find in Files tool window.

Technorati Tags: VS2005Tip,VS2008Tip

On the context menu of both the Member Pane (right panel) and the Object Pane (left panel), you’ll see the Go To Definition command.  You can use this command to navigate directly into the code where whatever you have selected is defined (or you’ll get a nice error message).

In the General Development Settings, the Edit.GoToDefinition command is bound to F12.  Pressing F12 in the image above will take us to where the bar function is defined.

Technorati Tags: VS2005Tip,VS2008Tip

On the context menu for either the Object Pane (left) or Member Pane (top-right), you can sort by four different options: Alphabetically, Object Type, Object Access, or Group by Object Type.

Alphabetically is self-explanatory.  Object type will have the following effect.  Notice how Classes appear first in the list, then Structures, then Enums.

Next is sort by Object Access.  Notice in the example below how the first three classes of the foobar namespace are public, but the fourth is private.

And lastly, is Group by Object Type. As shown in the Microsoft.VisualBasic.dll, all objects are grouped by what type of creature they are.

And of course you can rinse and repeat for the Members pane.

Now we’ll move to the second toolbar in the Object Browser, which is all about searching. 

But the search scope depends on what you have selected in the Browse combo box, or in other words the Object Browser Scope.  For example, if you try to search for System.Web in a Console Application, you’ll won’t be very successful.

But there’s also another way to search… it’s using the Find and Replace tool window’s Find Symbol functionality.  Those of you following the tip of the day for a while will remember this one.  You’ll notice the picture closely resembles the Object Browser search functionality.

Technorati Tags: VS2005Tip,VS2008Tip

This tip is new for Visual Studio 2008.

You can learn more about extension methods in the documentation for both Visual Basic and C#.

In the Object Browser Settings, you’ll see the Show Extension Methods option.

Now, when you have an extension method in your code (or in my example, a module, since i’m using VB), you’ll see the following:

and you’ll get the downward-pointing icon.

Technorati Tags: VS2008Tip