第 12 页

solution. Visual Studio 2010 will happily open the file, but

you will have to reopen it every time you open the solution.

Alternatively, if you enable Environment Documents Show fiGure 3-20

Miscellaneous Files in Solution Explorer via the Options

dialog, the file will be temporarily added to the solution. The miscellaneous files folder to which

this file is added is shown in Figure 3-20.

Visual Studio 2010 will automatically manage the list of miscellaneous files,

keeping only the most recent ones, based on the number of files defined in the

Options dialog. You can get Visual Studio to track up to 256 files in this list, and

files will be evicted based on when they were last accessed.

build and run

The Projects and Solutions . Build and Run node, shown in Figure 3-21, can be used to tailor

the build behavior of Visual Studio 2010. The first option to notice is Before Building. With the

default option of Save All Changes, Visual Studio will apply any changes made to the solution

prior to compilation. In the event of a crash during the build process or while you’re debugging

the compiled code, you can be assured that your code is safe. You may want to change this option

to Prompt to Save All Changes if you don’t want changes to be saved prematurely, though this is

not recommended. This setting will inform you of unsaved modifications made in your solution,

enabling you to double-check those changes prior to compilation.

50 .

chaPter 3 opTionS And cuSTomizATionS

fiGure 3-21

To reduce the amount of time it takes to build your solution, you may want to increase the

maximum number of parallel builds that are performed. Visual Studio 2010 can build in parallel

only those projects that are not dependent, but if you have a large number of independent projects

this might yield a noticeable benefit. Be aware that on a single-core or single-processor machine this

may actually increase the time taken to build your solution.

Figure 3-21 shows that projects will Always Build when they are out of date, and that if there are

build errors the solution will not launch. Both these options can increase your productivity, but be

warned that they eliminate dialogs letting you know what’s going on.

The last option worth noting in Figure 3-21 is MSBuild project build output

verbosity. In most cases the Visual Studio 2010 build output is sufficient for

debugging build errors. However, in some cases, particularly when building

ASP.NET projects, you will need to increase verbosity to diagnose the build

error. New to this version of the Visual Studio 2010 is the ability to control the

log file verbosity independently of the output.

Vb options

VB programmers have four compiler options that can be configured at a project or a file level. You

can also set the defaults on the Projects and Solutions . VB Defaults node of the Options dialog.

Previous versions of VB had an Option Explicit, which forced variables to be defined prior to their

use in code. When it was introduced, many experts recommended that it be turned on permanently

because it did away with many runtime problems in VB applications that were caused by improper

use of variables.

Option Strict takes enforcing good programming practices one step further by forcing developers to

explicitly convert variables to their correct types, rather than let the compiler try to guess the proper

conversion method. Again, this results in fewer runtime issues and better performance.

iMPortinG and exPortinG settinGs

Once you have the IDE in exactly the confi guration you want, you may want to back up the settings

for future use. You can do this by exporting the IDE settings to a fi le that can then be used to

restore the settings or even transfer them to a series of Visual Studio 2010 installations, so that they

all share the same IDE setup.

We advise strongly that you use Option Strict to ensure that your code is not

implicitly converting variables inadvertently. If you are not using Option Strict,

with all the new language features, you may not be making the most effective use

of the language.

The Environment . Import and Export Settings node in the Options dialog

enables you to specify a team settings fi le. This can be located on a network

share, and Visual Studio 2010 will automatically apply new settings if the fi le

changes.

To export the current confi guration, select

Tools . Import and Export Settings to start

the Import and Export Settings Wizard,

shown in Figure 3 - 22. The fi rst step in the

wizard is to select the Export option and

which settings are to be backed up during

the export procedure.

As shown in Figure 3 - 22, a variety of

grouped options can be exported. The

screenshot shows the Options section

expanded, revealing that the Debugging and

Projects settings will be backed up along with

the Text Editor and Windows Forms Designer

confi gurations. As the small exclamation

icons indicate, some settings are not included

in the export by default, because they

contain information that may infringe on

your privacy. You will need to select these sections manually if you want them to be included in the

backup. Once you have selected the settings you want to export, you can progress through the rest

of the wizard, which might take a few minutes depending on the number of settings being exported.

Importing a settings fi le is just as easy. The same wizard is used, but you select the Import option on

the fi rst screen. Rather than simply overwriting the current confi guration, the wizard enables you to

back up the current setup fi rst.

fiGure 3 - 22

importing and exporting settings . 51

52 .

chaPter 3 opTionS And cuSTomizATionS

You can then select from a list of preset configuration files — the same set of files from which you

can choose when you first start Visual Studio 2010 — or browse to a settings file that you created

previously. Once the settings file has been chosen, you can then choose to import only certain

sections of the configuration, or import the whole lot.

The wizard excludes some sections by default, such as External Tools or Command Aliases, so that

you don’t inadvertently overwrite customized settings. Make sure you select these sections if you

want to do a full restore.

If you just want to restore the configuration of Visual Studio 2010 to one of

the default presets, you can choose the Reset All Settings option in the opening

screen of the wizard, rather than go through the import process.

suMMary

This chapter covered only a core selection of the useful options available to you as you start to shape

the Visual Studio interface to suit your own programming style; many other options are available.

These numerous options enable you to adjust the way you edit your code, add controls to your

forms, and even select the methods to use when debugging code.

The settings within the Visual Studio 2010 Options page also enable you to control how and where

applications are created, and even to customize the keyboard shortcuts you use. Throughout the

remainder of this book, you’ll see the Options dialog revisited according to specific functionality

such as compiling, debugging, and writing macros.

4

The Visual studio Workspace

what’s in this chaPter?

.

Using the code editor

.

Exploring the core Visual Studio tool windows

.

Reorganizing your workspace

So far you have seen how to get started with Visual Studio 2010 and how to customize the

IDE to suit the way that you work. In this chapter, you learn to take advantage of some of the

built-in commands, shortcuts, and supporting tool windows that will help you to write code

and design forms.

the code editor

As a developer you’re likely to spend a considerable portion of your time writing code, which

means that knowing how to tweak the layout of your code and being able to navigate it

effectively are particularly important. Visual Studio 2010 introduces an all new WPF-based

code editor that provides numerous new features from what was available in previous versions

of Visual Studio.

the code editor window layout

When you open a code file for editing you are working in the code editor window, as shown

in Figure 4-1. The core of the code editor window is the code pane in which the code is

displayed.

54 .

chaPter 4 The ViSuAl STudio WorkSpAce

fiGure 4-1

Above the code pane are two drop-down lists that can help you navigate the code file. The first

drop-down lists the classes in the code file, and the second one lists the members of the selected

class in the first drop-down. These are listed in alphabetical order, making it easier to find a method

or member definition within the file.

As you modify the code in the code editor window, lines of code that you’ve modified since the file

has been opened are marked in the left-hand margin (which can be seen in Figure 4-2) — yellow for

unsaved changes and green for those that have been saved.

regions

Effective class design usually results in classes that serve a single purpose and are not overly complex

or lengthy. However, there will be times when you have to implement so many interfaces that your

code file will become unwieldy. In this case, you have a number of options, such as partitioning the

code into multiple files or using regions to condense the code, thereby making it easier to navigate.

The introduction of partial classes (where the definition of a class can be split over two or more

files) means that at design time you can place code into different physical files representing a

single logical class. The advantage of using separate files is that you can effectively group all methods

that are related, for example, methods that implement

an interface. The problem with this strategy is that

navigating the code then requires continual switching

between code files.

An alternative is to use named code regions to condense

sections of code that are not currently in use. In Figure 4-2

you can see that two regions are defined, Constructor

and IComparable. Clicking the minus sign next to

#Region

condenses the region into a single line and

clicking the plus sign expands it again.

fiGure 4-2

outlining

In addition to regions that you have defi ned, Visual Studio 2010 has the ability to auto - outline

your code, making it easy to collapse methods, comments, and class defi nitions. Auto - outlining

is enabled by default, but if it ’ s not enabled you can enable it using the Edit . Outlining . Start

Automatic Outlining menu item.

Figure 4 - 3 shows four condensable regions. One is a defi ned

region called Constructor , however there are also three other

automatic regions, outlining the class, the XML comments, and

the constructor method (which has been collapsed). Automatic

outlines can be condensed and expanded in the same way as

regions you defi ne manually.

The Edit . Outlining menu provides a number of commands

to help in toggling outlining, such as collapsing the entire fi le to

just method/property defi nitions (Edit . Outlining . Collapse to Defi nitions) and expanding it to

display all collapsed code again (Edit . Outlining . Stop Outlining). The other way to expand and

condense regions is via the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+M, Ctrl+M. This shortcut toggles between the

two layouts.

fiGure 4 - 3

You don ’ t need to expand a region to see the code within it. Simply hover the

mouse cursor over the region and a tooltip displays the code within it.

One trick for C# developers is that Ctrl+] enables you to easily navigate from the

beginning of a region, outline, or code block to the end and back again.

code formatting

By default, Visual Studio 2010 assists you in writing readable code by automatically indenting

and aligning. However, it is also confi gurable so that you can control how your code is arranged.

Common to all languages is the ability to control what happens when you create a new line. In

Figure 4 - 4 you can see that there is a Tabs node under the Text Editor . All Languages node of the

Options dialog. Setting values here defi nes the default value for all languages, which you can then

overwrite for an individual language using the Basic . Tabs node (for VB.NET), C# . Tabs, or

other language nodes.

By default, the indenting behavior for both C# and VB.NET is smart indenting, which will, among

other things, automatically add indentation as you open and close enclosures. Smart indenting is not

available for all languages, in which case block indenting is used.

The Code editor . 55

56 . chaPter 4 The ViSuAl STudio WorkSpAce

Visual Studio ’ s Smart Indenting does a pretty good job of automatically indenting code as it is

written or pasted into the code editor, but occasionally you can come across code that has not been

properly formatted, making it diffi cult to read. To have Visual Studio reformat the entire document

and set the brace locations and line indentations, select Edit . Advanced . Format Document or

press Ctrl+K, Ctrl+D. To reformat just the selected code block, select Edit . Advanced . Format

Selection or press Ctrl+K, Ctrl+F.

When writing code, to indent an entire block of code one level without changing each line

individually, simply select the block and press Tab. Each line will have a tab inserted at its start.

To unindent a block one level, select it and press Shift+Tab.

fiGure 4 - 4

If you are working on a small screen, you might want to reduce the tab and

indent sizes to optimize screen usage. Keeping the tab and indent sizes the same

ensures that you can easily indent your code with a single tab keypress.

What is interesting about this dialog is the degree of control C# users have over

the layout of their code. Under the VB Specifi c node is a single checkbox entitled

“ Pretty listing (reformatting) of code, ” which if enabled keeps your code looking

uniform without your having to worry about aligning methods, closures, class

defi nitions, or namespaces. C# users, on the other hand, can control nearly