Here are some productivity shortcuts to help clarify DevStudio
v5.0's great features . If you know of more shortcuts, or have any
questions don't hesitate to email Jetstream Software at techtips@jetsoft.com.
Power searching
Shortcut
Description
Ctrl-D
Sets the focus to the search combo box at the top of the screen
where you can type text to search for in the current document.
F3, Shift-F3
Searches forward (F3) and backward (Shift F3) for the
text that is currently in the search combo box.
Ctrl-F3, Shift-Ctrl-F3
Searches forward (Ctrl-F3) and backward (Shift-Ctrl-F3)
for the text currently selected in the editor window.
F1 in the search combo
If you hit Ctrl-D to the search combo, type in some
text, then hit F1. Help will be displayed on that text.
F4, Shift-F4
Moves forward and backward in a list of results - such
as the list of compiler errors (and takes you to the line that caused
the error), search results, etc.
Ctrl-H
Opens the search and replace dialog for the current
document.
Ctrl-F
Opens the search dialog for the current document.
F8
Find in Files is great but they make you either use
the mouse on the edit menu, or learn Alt-E, I. What a pain! I customize
the keyboard to make F8 Find In Files. If you happen to start a lengthy
search you hit F8 again to cancel the search.
F8 can be mapped via the Tools/Customize menu. Note the F8 is normally
mapped to SelectChar which is completely useless in 99% of the work
day. Note also that the Editor combo defines the scope of the customization.
Make sure to select Main.
Getting from here to there
Shortcut
Description
F2, Shift-F2, Ctrl-F2, and Shift-Ctrl-F2
You can use Ctrl-F2 to set a bookmark, and Shift-Ctrl-F2
to clear a bookmard. Use F2 to go to the next bookmark, and Shift-F2
to go to the previous bookmark. Don’t get to fancy though, bookmarks
are not saved with your file.
Ctrl-G
Lets you go to a particular line number, bookmark, etc.
in the current document.
Ctrl-E and Ctrl-]
Jumps the cursor between the first and last parentheses
or curly brace of any statement.
Ctrl-J and Ctrl-K
Ctrl-J goes to enclosing #ifdef and Ctrl-K goes to enclosing
#endif. If you want to select the text as you move, hold down shift.
Right-click the test of a header file #include line
By right-clicking any file name, then choosing the "Open"
command from the context menu, you can instantly open any file that
is in your include paths.
Working with Text
Shortcut
Description
Ctrl-C to copy without selection
The fastest way to copy a row is to turn on a feature
(under the Tools/Options menu under the Compatibility tab) called
‘Enable Copy without selection’. This means that if your
insertion point is on a line and you Ctrl-C to copy, the entire line
will be copied.
Use the selection margin to select a line of text
Another great way to select a line is to turn on the
‘Selection Margin’ (in Tools/Options under the Editor tab).
You can then click on the margin to select a line, just like in Word.
Ctrl-Arrow key, Shift-Ctrl-Arrow key
Ctrl-Arrow key will move cursor one-word at a time left
or right. Holding down shift will select as you move.
Use Alt and the mouse to select columns of text.
It’s rare, but when you need to select a column
of code, it can be tedious if your editor doesn’t support it
like VC. Alt-select will let you select a column of code. You can
delete, cut, copy and paste the columns of code.
Drag-and-drop selected text using the mouse.
Just like Word, you can drag-and-drop selected text
to move it. Hold down Ctrl while you drag to copy the text.
Ctrl-L
Deletes the line of text where the cursor is in the
current document.
Use Auto-Indent to allow VC to format text for you.
You can set up VC to format files just the way you like
them. Even if you like to indent your curly braces (under Tools/Options
in the Tabs tab).
Tab and Shift-Tab
If you have a block of text selected and want to change
its indent, then just hit the Tab key to move it in, and Shift-Tab
to move it out.
Alt-F8
Have some bad code that you want to format quickly?
Let VC do all the work - just select the text and hit Alt-F8
and all your code will snap into place.
Ctrl-U and Shift-Ctrl-U
Changes text to uppercase (Ctrl-Shift-U) or to lowercase
(Ctrl-U).
Know your advanced editing options
Under the Edit/Advanced menu you can select from a plethora
of cool options, some of which have shortcuts discussed here.
Displaying "As you like it"
Shortcut
Description
Customize colors using Tools/Options under the Format
tab
One of the coolest things about DevStudio is that you
can customize the colors that are displayed in the text editor. I
recommend two important changes: Change numbers to maze and string
literals to gray. This can actually prevent the coding errors with
not closing a string, or using magic numbers in your code.
Customize colors of user data types using usertype.dat.
You can also write your own coloring files. There are
great instructions at www.codeguru.com,
and a sample file that will syntax color MFC! You can also look up
‘Syntax Coloring’ on MSDN.
Ctrl-Tab, Shift-Ctrl-Tab
You can switch to the next window (Ctrl-Tab) or the
previous window (Shift-Ctrl-Tab) in your editor.
Ctrl-PageDown, Ctrl-PageUp
You can switch to the next window (Ctrl-PageDown) or
the previous window (Ctrl-PageUp) in the output pane (Debug, Build,
Find In Fiels 1, etc).
Projects and Browsing
Shortcut
Description
F12, Shift-F12, Ctrl-+, Ctrl--, Ctrl-*
Once you have browse information built, you can browse
around your source with ease. F12 goes to the definition of
a function or variable, Shift-F12 goes to the first reference.
Use Ctrl-+ (that's Ctrl and the '+' on the numeric keypad) to go to
the next definition or reference, Ctrl-- (that's Ctrl and the '-'),
and Ctrl-* (that's Ctrl and the '*') to "pop" back up the
stack of definitions or references.
Use the file pane or class pane of ClassView to open
files.
By double-clicking the file in the file list of a project,
you can get to it faster and know that you're working on the file
that VC is actually compiling.
Method breakpoints in the class pane of ClassView
If you right-click on a method in the class pane you
can set a breakpoint at the start of that method without even having
to open the file!
Ctrl-F10
If you are stopped in a method, don't want to set a
lot of break points, and want to stop on a certain line - put the
insertion point on that line then hit Ctrl-F10 and the debugger will
break on that line.
F9
Toggles the breakpoint on the current line.
Shift-F9
Displays the value of a variable at run-time in the
QuickWatch window.
F11, Shift-F11
Steps into a function during debugging (F11) or out
to the enclosing function (Shift-F11).
Use Autoexp.dat to customize your data tips at run-time
VC gives data tips for CString etc, but you can for
your own classes. Just look under \DevStudio\SharedIDE\bin
for the autoexp.dat and follow the directions in the file.
View Unicode strings and Hexidecimal values
Under the Tools/Options menu in the Debug tag you can
turn on Unicode or Hexidecimal display.
Use Error Lookup to determine the cause of your Win32/OLE
woes.
The Tools menu contains an Error Lookup utility that
you can drag-and-drop error values or variables to at run time to
determine what Win32 and OLE error codes mean.
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