Awesome Visual Studio Macros [closed]

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Closed 8 years ago.

For a small community discussion, what are some essential Visual Studio macros you use?

I just started learning about them, and want to hear what some of you can't live without.

Answer 1

I use Jeff's FormatToHtml macros if I'm going to be pasting a code example into a blog post or an email.

Answer 2

Outlining: Collapse to definitions but expand regions

Are you working in one of those shops that insists on regions around everything, so that when you collapse to definitions, you can't see any code?

What you really need is a collapse-to-definitions-but-expand-regions macro, like this one:

Sub CollapseToDefinitionsButExpandAllRegions()
    DTE.ExecuteCommand("Edit.CollapsetoDefinitions")
    DTE.SuppressUI = True
    Dim objSelection As TextSelection = DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection
    objSelection.StartOfDocument()
    Do While objSelection.FindText("#region", 
        vsFindOptions.vsFindOptionsMatchInHiddenText)
    Loop
    objSelection.StartOfDocument()
    DTE.SuppressUI = False
End Sub

Put this in a regular macro module, assign it to a hot key, and your code is back.

(Except...if you work with some really nefarious individuals who put regions inside methods, this will unfortunately expand those methods. If anybody knows a way to write this to avoid that, feel free to edit.)

Answer 3

Not a macro on its own, but useful:

Public Sub WriteToOutputWindow(ByVal pane as String, ByVal Msg As String)
    Dim owPane As OutputWindowPane

    Dim win As Window = DTE.Windows.Item(EnvDTE.Constants.vsWindowKindOutput)
    Dim ow As OutputWindow = win.Object
    Try
        owPane = ow.OutputWindowPanes.Item(pane)
    Catch
        owPane = ow.OutputWindowPanes.Add(pane)
    End Try
    If Not owPane Is Nothing Then
        owPane.Activate()
        owPane.OutputString(Msg & vbCrLf)
    End If
End Sub

Answer 4

Show build duration in the Output window

Put this code in your EnvironmentEvents module. This will write the duration directly to the build window for any action on a solution (build, rebuild, clean, deploy).

You can change the IsBuild function to specify the actions you want to see this information for.

Dim buildStart As Date

Private Function IsBuild(ByVal scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) As Boolean
    Return scope = vsBuildScope.vsBuildScopeSolution
End Function

Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildBegin(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildBegin
    If (IsBuild(Scope, Action)) Then
        buildStart = Date.Now
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub BuildEvents_OnBuildDone(ByVal Scope As EnvDTE.vsBuildScope, ByVal Action As EnvDTE.vsBuildAction) Handles BuildEvents.OnBuildDone
    If (IsBuild(Scope, Action)) Then
        Dim buildTime = Date.Now - buildStart
        WriteToBuildWindow(String.Format("Build time: {0}", buildTime.ToString))
    End If
End Sub

Private Sub WriteToBuildWindow(ByVal message As String)
    Dim win As Window = DTE.Windows.Item(EnvDTE.Constants.vsWindowKindOutput)
    Dim ow As OutputWindow = CType(win.Object, OutputWindow)
    For Each owPane As OutputWindowPane In ow.OutputWindowPanes
        If (owPane.Name.Equals("Build")) Then
            owPane.OutputString(message)
            Exit For
        End If
    Next
End Sub

Answer 5

I used to employ a lot of macros in VS 2002/2003. One example would be Region creation - I always like my classes to be divided into the following regions - "Private members", "Public Properties", "Public Methods" and "Private methods". So, I have a macro mapped to a shortcut key that creates these regions in any new class file.

Refactoring support in VS 2005/2008 (and the facility of adding common code snippets) as well as the use of Addins like DXCore and SlickEdit allow me to work without having to create too many macros anymore.

Answer 6

Insert GUID, great for WiX work, add to menu as button or as key shortcut.

Sub InsertGuid()
    Dim objTextSelection As TextSelection
    objTextSelection = CType(DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection(), EnvDTE.TextSelection)
    objTextSelection.Text = System.Guid.NewGuid.ToString.ToUpper(New System.Globalization.CultureInfo("en", False))
End Sub

Organise usings for all .cs files in a solution - Original Author: djpark.

Sub OrganizeSolution()
    Dim sol As Solution = DTE.Solution
    For i As Integer = 1 To sol.Projects.Count
        OrganizeProject(sol.Projects.Item(i))
    Next
End Sub

Private Sub OrganizeProject(ByVal proj As Project)
    For i As Integer = 1 To proj.ProjectItems.Count
        OrganizeProjectItem(proj.ProjectItems.Item(i))
    Next
End Sub

Private Sub OrganizeProjectItem(ByVal projectItem As ProjectItem)
    Dim fileIsOpen As Boolean = False
    If projectItem.Kind = Constants.vsProjectItemKindPhysicalFile Then
        'If this is a c# file             
        If projectItem.Name.LastIndexOf(".cs") = projectItem.Name.Length - 3 Then
            'Set flag to true if file is already open                 
            fileIsOpen = projectItem.IsOpen
            Dim window As Window = projectItem.Open(Constants.vsViewKindCode)
            window.Activate()
            projectItem.Document.DTE.ExecuteCommand("Edit.RemoveAndSort")
            'Only close the file if it was not already open                 
            If Not fileIsOpen Then
                window.Close(vsSaveChanges.vsSaveChangesYes)
            End If
        End If
    End If
    'Be sure to apply RemoveAndSort on all of the ProjectItems.         
    If Not projectItem.ProjectItems Is Nothing Then
        For i As Integer = 1 To projectItem.ProjectItems.Count
            OrganizeProjectItem(projectItem.ProjectItems.Item(i))
        Next
    End If
    'Apply RemoveAndSort on a SubProject if it exists.         
    If Not projectItem.SubProject Is Nothing Then
        OrganizeProject(projectItem.SubProject)
    End If
End Sub