Is there a way to syntax highlight an If - End If statement in VB.Net - vb.net

I am trying to read through some code and it would be helpful if the editor in VS 2008 would highlight the If statement by using the cursor and double clicking the End If statement (or something like that).
I believe I could do something like this in Java using Eclipse - it was very good at highlighting a code block by clicking next to one of the curly braces.
Anyone know how to do this kind of thing?

I don't think this is possible by default in regular pure Visual Studio installation - statement blocks are not highlighted in VB.NET.
There are many text-highlighting plugins (like Visual Assist X etc.) some of them are free, maybe some of them provide this feature.
I use Expression Studio 3, in the code editor all the bloks have a visible indentation, I wish this could be in VS too...
I think that VS 2010 has implemented it so don't waste time on creating your own plug-in (unless you do it for fun...).

Related

Visual Studio Intellisense constantly popping up

Using VB.NET in Visual Studio 2019. Type a single space character anywhere in the codebase and a popup displays a long list of options. You have to constantly click away or press ESC. This quickly gets annoying.
Tools > Options > Text Editor > Basic > General > Auto list members stops these unwelcome popups...but now "member of" functions are not listed at all! For example:
Dim test As String = "fred"
test. ' Nothing is displayed when the dot is typed, but expected `Length`, etc
Is it possible to get Intellisense for "member of" only, but otherwise switched off and no other automatic listing (so nothing would be displayed when you are just typing away).
What a shambles to do so much with a single setting. If someone from Microsoft is reading this, check out how Borland's Delphi 7 handled this...an IDE of speed and beauty.
Very annoying that it distracts you that much. Im sorry to hear that.
Unfortunately, the final answer is that it cannot be solved, because microsoft would never consider an unpopular opinion.
The 'popup' is one of the most important features why people moved away from notepad in the first place. Every IDE will have it, and if they dont, they soon might. it is rarely unwelcomed.
With that in mind, microsoft didnt intend visual studio to be used without it.

Is it possible to enable syntax highlighting for Microsoft Visual Basic?

I am working on a very old project which needs to be updated. Because the program needs to be backwards compatible, the changes need to be made in this older IDE.
There is no built in syntax highlighting that I see. Is there a plugin or menu that I have missed?
Within VB Editor, go to Options then Editor Format and adjust colours.
There are also some 3rd party softwares out there that will enable you to edit your code with syntax highlighting.
UltraEdit Visual Basic Editor

How do I output code while debugging in Visual Basic 2010?

When I'm debugging my application something is not right, and I can't continue.
So is it possible to see the output code of my app while I'm testing it to see what is wrong?
I open the output window but nothing happens in there it's just stay blank.
In two words: I want to see what my app is actually doing while I'm testing it.
I'm using Visual Studio 2010.
So is it possible to see the output code of my app while im testing it to see what is wrong?
Yes, but you actually have to output something, otherwise nothing will show up. In VB.NET (which is the language you're using if you have Visual Studio 2010), this is accomplished with the following code:
Debug.Print("Here is some text that will be output.")
The documentation for the Debug.Print method is here. In order to call it like that, you will also have to have imported the System.Diagnostics namespace. You do so by placing the following line at the top of your code file (with all the other statements that look like it):
Imports System.Diagnostics
The output will automatically appear in the Output Window. If you still don't see anything, ensure that output is not being redirected to the Immediate Window instead: Tools -> Options -> Debugging -> General -> uncheck the option "Redirect all Output Window text to the Immediate Window".
Confusingly, you use the word "code" in your question, saying that you wish to "see the output code of [your] app while testing it". I'm not sure if by "code" you actually mean "output", in which case the solution above will work for you.
If you actually mean code, as in your program's source code, then you can use the Break toolbar button (or press Ctrl+Break) in the IDE to pause the execution of your program. This will automatically dump you back into the code editor with the currently-executing line of code highlighted.
Visual Studio has some very powerful debugging tools. If you don't already have a general idea of how to use them, I strongly recommend picking up a book on either it or VB 2010 that will teach these things to you. They can be very confusing to learn by trial and error, but are not all that difficult if you have a good guide. Spend that time debugging your code, not figuring out how to use the IDE.

Move line Up/Down shortcut in Visual Studio 2012

In VS2010 I had a shortcut set up Alt+Up/Down to move lines of code up or down, just like I used to have in Eclipse in my Java days.
Now since Power Tools and macros (which is how I set up this shortcut in VS2010) are not available in VS2012, how do I get this to work?
I've seen somebody mentioned that Resharper can do this, but for the love of fire and water, I can't find the command names in the list of commands that can do that.
I have tried ReSharper_MoveUp/MoveDown and that does not move lines up/down:
This moves blocks of text up and down. I just want line-by-line up or down, no fancy logic there.
Before
After ALT+Up (when cursor is on WriteLine line) I would like to see this:
I have seen these threads: What's the equivalent for eclipse's ALT+UP/DOWN (move line) in Visual Studio?, Visual Studio: hotkeys to move line up/down and move through recent changes, but none of the suggested solutions work in VS2012.
Any other ideas?
UPD 7 Nov 2012: . Extensions are catching up with Visual Studio 2012. Now I know at least 3 extensions that provide this functionality:
MoveLine Extension. Link provided by Carl G
Move Line Extension with modifications to 2010 version. By gius
Productivity Power Tools 2012. Have not actually tried this, but this blog post states it does the line move up/down
UPD 15 Nov 2012: Just stumbled across another extension that claims it does what is required here. Have not tried it though: LineMan Extension
UPD 10 May 2015 Just installed VS2015 RC and this is built-in already:
For those who arrived on this question using Visual Studio 2013 or above, the feature is built right into the program. Just use AltUp and AltDown to move the line with your cursor—or the selected lines—up and down.
If you wish to rebind it in Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard, the keys are Edit.MoveSelectedLinesUp and Edit.MoveSelectedLinesDown. You may need to remove your new combination from other existing keys first.
Update: huzzah, Productivity PowerTools VS2012 is now available and offers this functionality (along with another personal favorite, Tools.AddEndTokenAtTheEnd.)
MoveLine Extension (compatible with VS 2012; I had to manually restart my VS in order to see the commands in VS's keyboard shortcut tool.)
Install ReSharper.
Open Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard (as shown in a picture)
Find "ReSharper.ReSharper_MoveUp"
In "Use new shortcut in:" choose: "Text Editor"
Click in "Press shortcut keys:" and press your shortcut (for example Alt+ArrowUp)
Press "Assign" button
Same with with "ReSharper.ReSharper_MoveDown"
P.S. Works fine for single lines and multiple selected lines, but removes selection after moved 1 line. Hope there are way to move multiple lines multiple times in one selection.
If you have Resharper, then you can hit Ctrl + Shift + Alt + ↑ to move the current line up. or Ctrl + Shift + Alt + ↓ to move one line down.
This works in VS 2012 Premium with Visual Studio keyboard scheme in Resharper 7 (7.0.97.60 to
be precise).
Edit: This is mapped to 'ReSharper.ReSharper_MoveUp'/'MoveDown' commands.
In Visual Studio 2017(atleast) I have below
You can use Move Line Command extension.
Just follow formula349's comment:
I was able to get this working with 2012 as-is.
Rename the package to .zip and unzip all files into a folder. Edit the extension.vsixmanifest file and look for the SupportedProducts XML node. Change the Version="10.0" to Version="11.0".
Re-zip the folder contents and rename back to .vsix. Works great!
While a lot of people seem to be recommending misc. Visual Studio Extensions and Resharper, I would like to point out there is a native hotkey that accomplishes this goal. I came to this question trying to find the answer, as my Resharper replaced my default hotkeys with their MoveUp and MoveDown versions.
And while Resharper's hotkeys do move things up and down, they are not what the original poster are looking for, and they are not what I wanted. These hotkeys move methods and blocks of code, not individual lines.
Visual studio has two hotkey commands to move your selected lines upwards or downwards.
These hotkeys are:
Edit.MoveSelectedLinesDown
Edit.MoveSelectedLinesUp
I am using Visual Studio 2013 however, so I am unaware if these exist in an older version. If 2012 does not have these hotkeys then perhaps an extension is the only solution.
Either way, I had an issue locating the exact hotkey within visual studio's list and it took me a good while to find these, so I hope that my solution manages to help someone else in a similar situation to my own.
Shift+Del and then Ctrl+V
Shift+Del does the cut (same as Ctrl+X) operation on the current line on which cursor is positioned.
Then you can use Ctrl+V to paste it at any place you like.
Good thing is that you don't need to select the complete current line, just the cursor needs to be positioned on the line.
One downside to using this shortcut is that you won't be able to see the line moving ( up or down ) lively in front of your eyes.
ReSharper's move up and move down shortcuts are smart - instead of just moving the current line (which can easily result in broken code), it will move the current statement up and down in the list of statements that make up the method body. This is much more powerful than just moving a single line of code.
But this doesn't help you get your statement inside the if block. Here you need to do one of two things.
Firstly, move the statement above the if block, then use Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Right to push it down in scope. The statement will now be inside the if block, and you can use up and down to move it around in there. You can also use Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Left to pull it up in scope, outside of the if block.
Alternatively, you can put the text caret on the outside of the closing brace of the if block and use Ctrl+Shift+Alt+Down to move the brace down, stepping over following statements, including them inside the if block.
These keys can do a lot more than just move a single statement. If you put the text caret on a method or class declaration, Up and Down will move the entire method or class declaration up and down. If you put the text caret in the parameter list of a method, Left and Right will rearrange individual parameters (and then Alt+Enter can invoke the Change Signature refactoring).
More details in the help pages.

Auto-Completion in Unix VI editor

After using graphical IDE's like Visual Studio, I'm used to pressing CTRL+Space to auto-complete a variable or function name. Now, I know such a thing isn't completely possible in VI, but I heard there was a list of commands that could be mapped that allowed automatic completion of variables and functions in the current file opened. Does anyone know what this sequence is?
Just noticed that you said "vi"; I hope that "vim" is also okay.
It depends on the particular programming language, but in general, the magic word is Omnicomplete.
Put this into .vimrc:
filetype plugin on
set ofu=syntaxcomplete#Complete
Press Ctrl+N or Ctrl+P to trigger the completion. This is insanely customizable; you might like the tips here that make it work more like other IDEs.