Most of us use Visual Studio but do we really know how to USE it? This session looks at the top tips and tricks that can jet propel your use of the IDE. Marvel as we move from simple editor features that you never think about all the way to arcane command prompt tricks that you can use to improve your programming experience.

2. http://www.amazon.com/Coding-Faster-Getting-Productive-
Microsoft/dp/0735649928/

3. Agenda
Why?
Visual Studio 2010 Productivity
Productivity for Any Version
Final Thoughts

4. Why?

5. How I Got Involved…
Sara Ford and I met at
DevLink in 2009 to discuss
how to continue the series
After several months of
conversations I agreed to
carry on the series
VS2010 Tips and Tricks
went live on Jan 1, 2010
http://blogs.msdn.com/ZainNab

6. Why?
Quick Test:
Which product do you spend more time in:
Visual Studio or (Word, Excel, Power Point)?
Most of the content out there doesn’t really focus on
Visual Studio as a product that you live in daily
If I can shave just a little time off your coding efforts
then you can go home, be with your family, play video
games, or whatever you want to do -- earlier

7. Visual Studio 2010

8. Start Page
Pin projects
Close after load

9. New Project Dialog
Recent Templates
Online Templates
Sort by
Search

10. Zoom
CTRL + Mouse Wheel
New feature that enhances
the size of your code
Very useful for pair
programming
(or similar scenarios)

11. Reference Highlighting
Automatic highlighting of a
symbol
Can be used with declarations
and references, and many other
symbols
CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
(forward)
CTRL+SHIFT+UP ARROW
(reverse)

12. Box Selection
SHIFT + ALT + [ARROW]
AKA “Vertical Selection”
Two new features:
Zero-length selection
Copy single /
Paste multiple

13. Improved IntelliSense
Changed from “begins
with” to “includes”
Sensitive to Pascal Case

14. Tools

15. Document Tabs to the Right
Tools -> Options ->
Documents
Puts new tabs to the right
of existing ones

16. Multi-Monitor Support
Can now drag document
windows out of the IDE
Each window is
independent

17. Call Hierarchy
(C++, C# Only)
CTRL + ALT + K
Available in C#
Used to see calls to and
from a method
Great way to see calls at
design time

18. Searching the Toolbox
/ = Collapse All
* = Expand All
Type any text to search
NOTE: “begins with”
TAB = Find Next

19. Debugging

20. Breakpoint Labels

21. Searching Breakpoints

22. Import / Export Breakpoints

23. Data Tips

24. Tips for Almost Any Version

25. Move or Select
Between Matching Braces
CTRL + ]
CTRL + SHIFT + ]
Quickly move between
matching braces
C++, C# Only

26. Don’t Copy a Blank Line

27. Errors in the Output Window
Navigates errors in the
Output Window
F8
(forward)
SHIFT + F8
(reverse)

28. File Tab

29. Command Prompt History
F7
Show the list of
commands used
during any
command line
session
Allows for quick
access to
commands