Re: Save Development Time With These Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts

ES send me a link to the MS VS08 keyboard shortcut poster, thanks ES! :>

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=E5F902A8-5BB5-4CC6-907E-472809749973&displaylang=en

Re: Save Development Time With These Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts

Another comprehensive link. http://www.dofactory.com/ShortCutKeys/ShortCutKeys.aspx#textnav

Whitespace navigation

This article was fantastic for me. I too am somewhat of a keyboard junkie in the sense that I hate to have to switch from the keyboard to the mouse and then back to the keyboard to perform some mundane type of operation. However, I am not a fan of non-standard physical keyboards because I learned early on that I never want to be dependent upon a non-standard piece of hardware because that hardware is rarely available and not something that you can fit in your pocket.

With respect to the chords as you call them, I have been looking for a a way to navigate whitespace backwards (like [Ctrl + left arrow] but I only want it to back backwards to the end of the last word and not the beginning), so I could record some quick macros when I am modifying code.

Are you aware of any type of chord for performing that type of operation???

This article was fantastic because it showed me that there was a 'Select Whole Word' operation, which was more than sufficient for my needs. If I setup my macros to always start from the beginning of the line, I can pretty much use the select whole word operation to satisfy my needs.

The only issue I did run into was that [Ctrl+Shift+W] was already mapped. This was very easy to do and I don't use the menu item that it was mapped to anyway, so I am not all that concerned with the remapping. However, similar to my distate for using non-standard hardware, I am not a fan of using non-standard keyboard mappings because they too are not portable from system to system (in the sense that they are not available when I am using someone else's system). I know that they can be exported and imported for the systems that are completely under my control, but when I go to one of my consultants desks and need to modify some code I don't want to get overly frustrated that there system is not setup the way mine is.

Re: Save Development Time With These Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts

Thanks Jim for the feedback (sorry for the delay in replying :<).

re non standard HW
Very true, which unforutunately for me means I usually have to go buy my own keyboard and mouse when I change jobs. I personally love the MS keyboard 4000 and Explorer mouse (lots of extra keys/buttons and very customizable). Although it means I'm tied to that hardware, I find it much more productive. But that's just me. :>

re navigating words
Something I just found recently was CodeRush Xpress (look at this blog entry for more information, Are you looking to get more out of Visual Studio? Do you use a special refactoring tool? http://www.pchenry.com/Home/tabid/36/EntryID/64/Default.aspx). With an ALT+arrow keys you'll navigate case words which will include the end. Unfortunately it's not perfect (it won't jump immediately to the end of the word) but it is an alternative and you might find something better in the full product.

re chords
Oh, sorry, I didn't mean to come across as that being my term. That's in fact what MS calls those things (here's one reference I found to it, http://tjoe.wordpress.com/2007/10/07/totw-visual-studios-shortcuts/). Don't want to confuse things more if I can help it. :>

re select entire word
Very cool, glad I was able to help out. You mentioned CTRL+SHIFT+W was mapped for you? Are you using the C# Development Settings? It wasn't setup/bound like that for me after a virgin install. Odd. I'm not disagreeing with you, just that I haven't seen that before.

re remapping keystrokes
I used to remap JBuilder to the hilt in my Java days. After switching versions every 6m, I got VERY tired of having to remap all my special keystrokes. :< Then I started learning the default ones, I figured it was easier to "join'em" than bean'em. In fact I used to use a Belkin Nostromo N50 (http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=123019) but like you said, when someone came over to help me out, they were utterly confused at my keyboard mappings. :< I still have the unit but haven't hooked it up in years. I might do it again someday but no plans yet.

Have a good week and thank you for your comments! :>

Re: Save Development Time With These Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts

I forgot about the keystroke for collapsing/expanding the Toolbox. Using numpad "/" and "*" you can expand/collapse all the Toolbox entries.Check out Sara Ford's blog entry for futher details.

http://blogs.msdn.com/saraford/archive/2008/04/03/did-you-know-you-can-use-to-expand-all-and-to-collapse-all-in-the-toolbox-186.aspx