Visual Studio Notes

Adding Color to Bracket Pairs

Mads Kristensen wrote a Visual Studio Blog article to announce his Rainbow Braces Visual Studio extension that cycles through 4 unique customizable colors for matching curly brackets, square brackets, and parentheses. He also mentioned the Viasfora Visual Studio extension also provides this feature, although it does it in a different way and may provide additional features and options.

Breaking for CLR Exceptions

If you see exceptions in the Output → Debug window in Visual Studio when debugging an application, you can go to Debug → Windows → Exception Settings and check the box next to Common Language Runtime Exceptions so that it will break when any CLR exception is thrown. By default the only Common Language Runtime Exceptions checked are:

Microsoft.UI.Xaml.Markup.XamlParseException
System.NullReferenceException
System.Reflection.MissingMetadataException
System.Reflection.MissingRuntimeArtifactException
System.Windows.Markup.XamlParseException

Detect Dead Code

Use .editorconfig (Solution → Add → New EditorConfig) to define Code Analysis rules to detect dead code when building (link).

[*.cs]
dotnet_diagnostic.CA1801.severity = warning  # Unused parameters
dotnet_diagnostic.CA1804.severity = warning  # Unused local variables
dotnet_diagnostic.CA1811.severity = warning  # Private methods that are not called from any other code
dotnet_diagnostic.CA1812.severity = warning  # Internal classes that are not instantiated from any other code
dotnet_diagnostic.CA1823.severity = warning  # Unused private fields
dotnet_diagnostic.C6259.severity = warning   # Dead code in bitwise-OR limited switch

Custom Visual Studio Windows Title

Install the Customize Visual Studio Window Title extension to be able to customize the Window Title that shows up at the top of the Visual Studio windows and on the taskbar. There are a number of special tags that can be used, including solution file parent directory name, git branch name, git repository name, and environment variable values.

Install the extension in Visual Studio 2019 or Visual Studio 2022
Go to Tools → Options → Environment → General and check Use compact menu and search bar (requires restart)
Go to Tools → Options → Customize VS Window Title → Global rules
- Solution in break mode: [gitRepositoryName] (Debugging) - [ideName]
- Solution in design mode: [gitRepositoryName] - [ideName]
- Solution in running mode: [gitRepositoryName] (Running) - [ideName]
Go to Tools → Options → Customize VS Window Title → Solution-specific overrides * Enable solution-specific overrides: True

So now when I open C:\Users\username\Code\MySampleSolution.READONLY\MySampleSolution.sln my Visual Studio window has MySampleSolution.READONLY as its Windows Title.

If the VS solution is not in a GIT repository, the Windows title will be blank since gitRepositoryName is blank. If you want a non-blank Windows title, then create a SolutionName.sln.rn.xml file in the same directory as the SolutionName.sln file with this content:

<CustomizeVSWindowTitle>
  <SettingsSet
    PatternIfBreakMode="[parentPath] (Debugging) - [ideName]"
    PatternIfDesignMode="[parentPath] - [ideName]"
    PatternIfRunningMode="[parentPath] (Running) - [ideName]" />
</CustomizeVSWindowTitle>

Enclose Text in Statement

Enclose the selected text in a block surrounded by curly braces in an if/while/for statement.

Select lines of text
Type Ctrl-K Ctrl-S (Edit → IntelliSense → Surround With…)
Select if (or whichever statement is desired)

Git - Undo Last Local Commit

If you entered a Git Commit message and then forgot to stage any changed files before clicking on the Commit button, thereby accidentally clicking on Commit All instead of Commit Staged, and you want to undo the last local commit (local meaning that the commit has not been Pushed and is still listed under Outgoing in the Git Repository window):

Go to View → Git Repository
Right-click on the the latest commit that you want to keep (either in Outgoing or the top commit in Local History)
Click on Reset → Keep Changes (—mixed)

This will delete any commits under Outgoing that were committed after the selected commit and will show the files with their changes from the deleted local commits under Changes in the Git Changes window.

Use Reset → Delete Changes (—hard) if you want to delete the local commits and discard their changes.

Moral: Never click on Commit All (only Commit Staged)

GitHub - Re-Enter Credentials Issue

After clicking on Re-Enter Credentials when trying to clone a repository from GitHub, a browser window opens up trying to open a port on localhost resulting in an error page that says localhost refused to connect:

Browse to chrome://net-internals/#hsts
Enter localhost for Domain under Delete domain security policies
Click the Delete button next to it
Try clicking on Re-Enter Credentials again

Reference: Stack Overflow - localhost refused to connect Error in visual studio

Go to the Next Error, Search Result, or Reference

Use F8 and Shift-F8 to navigate errors, warnings, and messages in the Error List window (Edit.GoToNextLocation). Select the Current Document filter in the Error List window if you only want to navigate within the current document. F8 and Shift-F8 also work for Search Results and Find All References. Ctrl-Shift-F12 can also be used to view the next error (View.NextError).

See Tools → Options → Environment → Keyboard to map commands to keyboard shortcuts.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard Shortcut	Description
`Ctrl` + `D`	Duplicate Lines
`Shift` + `Alt` + `E`	Select Whole Line
`Alt` + `Up` `Alt` + `Down`	Move Selected Lines Up Move Selected Lines Down
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `L`	Delete Whole Line
`Ctrl` + `Shift` + `U` `Ctrl` + `U`	Make Uppercase Make Lowercase
`Shift` + `Alt` + `.`	Select Next Occurrence
`Shift` + `Alt` + `Up` `Shift` + `Alt` + `Down`	Vertical (box) Selection Up Vertical (box) Selection Down
`Ctrl` + `Alt` + mouse-click	Insert Multiple Cursors
`Shift` + `Alt` + `-` `Shift` + `Alt` + `=`	Contract Selection Expand Selection
`Ctrl` + `R`, `Ctrl` + `W`	View / Hide White Space
`Shift` + `Alt` + `L`, `Shift` + `Alt` + `S`	Lines Sort
`Shift` + `Alt` + `L`, `Shift` + `Alt` + `J`	Lines Join
`Ctrl` + `M`, `Ctrl` + `E` `Ctrl` + `M`, `Ctrl` + `S`	Expand Current Region Collapse Current Region
`Ctrl` + `M`, `Ctrl` + `L` `Ctrl` + `M`, `Ctrl` + `O`	Expand All Collapse All
`Ctrl` + `M`, `Ctrl` + `M`	Toggle Outlining Expansion - Expand/Collapse Current Section
`Ctrl` + `R`, `T`	Run Test for Current Unit Test Method

Source: Visual Studio Blog
See also Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts

My Command Shortcuts

Customize in Tools → Options → All Settings → Environment → Keyboard

Keyboard Shortcut	Command
`Shift` + `Alt` + `9` `Shift` + `Alt` + `0`	`Edit.PreviousMethod` `Edit.NextMethod`

My Visual Studio Configuration

These are my configuration tasks after installing or repairing Visual Studio 2022:

Tools → Import and Export Settings → Import selected environment settings
- \\server\userfiles\username\Backups\Visual Studio\team-settings.vssettings
Check Colorize document tabs by Project in Tools → Options → Environment → Tabs and Windows
Check Place ‘System’ directives first when sorting usings in Tools → Options → Text Editor → C# → Advanced
Install Extensions:
- Add New File (64-bit)
- Extensibility Essentials 2022
- File Differ
- Markdown Editor v2
- Rainbow Braces
- Roslynator 2022
- SonarLint for Visual Studio 2022
- VSColorOutput64
- Visual Studio Color Theme Designer 2022
- Customize Visual Studio Window Title
  - Check Use compact menu and search bar (requires restart) in Tools → Options → Environment → General
  - Go to Tools → Options → Customize VS Window Title → Global rules
    - Solution in break mode: [gitRepositoryName] (Debugging) - [ideName]
    - Solution in design mode: [gitRepositoryName] - [ideName]
    - Solution in running mode: [gitRepositoryName] (Running) - [ideName]
  - Go to Tools → Options → Customize VS Window Title → Solution-specific overrides
    - Enable solution-specific overrides: True
Install Themes:
- Marvel Theme
- MarvelFixed
  - Build and run bin\Debug\MarvelFixed.vsix
Tools → Import and Export Settings → Export selected environment settings
- \\server\userfiles\username\Backups\Visual Studio\2022-10-19-Export.vssettings

Option - Color Tabs by Project

When checked, each document open has a tab with a color indicating its project.

Tools → Options → Environment → Tabs and Windows
- Check Colorize document tabs by project

Option - Sort using Statements with System First

When checked, the using statements will be sorted with System first when sorting usings with Edit → IntelliSense → Sort Using (Ctrl-K Ctrl-E).

Tools → Options → Text Editor → C# → Advanced
- Check Place ‘System’ directives first when sorting usings in the Using Directives section

Option - Track Active Document in Solution Explorer

When checked, Solution Explorer will show the location (project/folder) of the currently viewed document and will change as different documents are viewed.

Tools → Options → Projects and Solutions → General
- Check Track Active Item in Solution Explorer

Regular Expressions for Find

Regular Expression	Description
`(^\|[^:/])//[^/]`	Find commented line

Use WinMerge as Diff/Merge Tool

This is how you configure Git in Windows to use WinMerge as your Diff/Merge tool.

Download and install WinMerge
Edit the global .gitconfig (typically in %USERPROFILE%\.gitconfig aka C:\Users\username\.gitconfig)
Use this command to find the location of the global .gitconfig:
- git config --global --list --show-origin --show-scope
Use this command to edit the global .gitconfig wherever it is:
- git config --global --edit
- (Warning: If you end up in the VIM text editor, use :q! to exit without saving)
Add these sections:

[difftool "winmerge"]
    name = WinMerge
    trustExitCode = true
    cmd = \"C:\\Program Files\\WinMerge\\WinMergeU.exe\" /e /u /wl /wr /dl \"$LOCAL\" /dr \"$REMOTE\" $LOCAL $REMOTE

[mergetool "winmerge"]
    name = WinMerge
    trustExitCode = true
    cmd = \"C:\\Program Files\\WinMerge\\WinMergeU.exe\" /e /u /wl /dl \"Incoming: $LOCAL\" /dr \"Current $REMOTE\" $LOCAL $REMOTE /o $MERGED

[mergetool]
    keepBackup = false

Update these sections:

[diff]
    tool = WinMerge

[merge]
    tool = WinMerge

When merging, make changes to the right side and save when done.