Visual Basic Blog

Did you know? You can now manage your snippet highlighting (Lisa Feigenbaum)

March 15, 2008 Mar 15, 2008 03/15/08

Lisa Feigenbaum

Do you use code snippets (introduced in VB 2005)? If you do, then you've probably noticed the green highlighting that stays around for the lifetime of the file. We've heard *a lot* of feedback that once you are done customizing the snippet, it is distracting to see this highlighting stay around. To address this, VB 2008 has improved the ...

Did you know? VB IntelliSense now filters as you type! (Lisa Feigenbaum)

January 11, 2008 Jan 11, 2008 01/11/08

Lisa Feigenbaum

Our goal in designing VB2008 IntelliSense was to make users of the feature the most productive that they could be. One problem we found in watching people use the feature, is that sometimes intelliSense displays so many items that it is hard to know whether or not you're close to the item you're looking for. You basically have to read them all...

Did you know? What you can do with Debugger Datatips… (Lisa Feigenbaum)

January 10, 2008 Jan 10, 2008 01/10/08

Lisa Feigenbaum

There's a lot of cool functionality built into VS debugger datatips that often goes unnoticed... For example, did you know that not only can you *see* values in the expanded datatips, but you can also edit them? Watch the following walk-through... While debugging, hover over a variable to view its debugger datatip: Next press the '+' to ...

Did you know? Ctrl+Tab to navigate windows in VS (Lisa Feigenbaum)

January 9, 2008 Jan 9, 2008 01/9/08

Lisa Feigenbaum

Just like Alt+Tab for Windows you can use Ctrl+Tab for Visual Studio. Ctrl+Tab will show you the active tool windows *and* the active files, so it is a good navigation tool for both. VS2008 has even added a cool miniature-sized visualization to this view, so that you can better determine which item you're after. Windows: Visual Studio:  ...

Did you know? IntelliSense is now transparent in VS2008! (Lisa Feigenbaum)

January 9, 2008 Jan 9, 2008 01/9/08

Lisa Feigenbaum

With the help of one little hotkey, you can now make the VS2008 IntelliSense list transparent! Just press CTRL. This is especially convenient when you need to see the code underneath the list. Watch it in action :)  ...

Did you know? IntelliSense Everywhere (Lisa Feigenbaum)

January 8, 2008 Jan 8, 2008 01/8/08

Lisa Feigenbaum

I've decided to start a "Did you know?" series with tips & tricks. First off is my favorite IDE feature in VB2008: IntelliSense Everywhere! Did you know about all the new places where you can now find intelliSense in VB2008? If you're like me, once you try 2008 IntelliSense you won't be able to go back to 2005. VB's mission statement is to...