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This page contains a brief presentation illustrating the main features CodeSMART 10 with VS10x Extensions adds to Visual Studio 2010.

  1. CodeSMART Integration with The Visual Studio 2010 IDE
  2. Structured Navigation with The CodeSMART Explorer Tools
  3. Enhancements To the Code Editor
  4. How To Locate Code with The CodeSMART Find Tools
  5. Refine Your VS.NET Projects with The CodeSMART Analyzer Tools
  1. Tedious Coding Tasks Simplified By The CodeSMART Code Generating Tools
  2. Source Code Perfectly Formatted and Documented with The CodeSMART Code Maintenace Tools
  3. Perfect Windows Forms UI Implementations with The CodeSMART Designer Tools
  4. And There Are Even More CodeSMART Tools...
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  • File: codesmart_vs_2010_eval.zip, Updated: Aug 20, 2010
  • (codesmart_vs_2010_eval.zip, upd: 20-08-2010)
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1. CodeSMART Integration with the Visual Studio 2010 IDE

1.1. General Integration Notes

CodeSMART is tightly integrated with Visual Studio - all its commands and tools are accessible through the main menu (1) and four toolbars (2) it adds to the environment. Other CodeSMART tools are hosted or display their results within special tool windows - for example, pictured below are (3) the CodeSMART 'Code Explorer' and (4) the CodeSMART 'Find and Replace' tool windows.
CodeSMART Integration in the Visual Studio 2010 IDE

2. Structured Navigation with The CodeSMART Explorer Tools

2.1. The VS10x Code Map

Have a look at the small sample below. Notice the way nested types are represented, as well as the implemented interface. The region sub-container is prefixed with a # for an easier identification. Members have distinctive icons, with special overlays for constructors, public items (not pictured in the below example) and members belonging to implemented interfaces.
The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
Most containers can be collapsed (exception: interface containers) in order to help you stay focused on items that are currently in development. What's worth to notice is that a collapse operation in the Code Map will also collapse the corresponding part in the code editor. Moreover, it works both ways, so if you for example collapse a class in the code editor, the corresponding container in the Code Map will get collapsed as well!
The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
The Code Map is also a navigational tool - if you double-click an item, its position in code will be brought into view. That is something you should expect, of course, but the Code Map also makes returning to the last viewed/edited members a breeze by highlighting the last 10 accessed or edited (C# only) items in various ways:

  • In the Code Map , with a blue foreground (brighter as the item was accessed more recently)
  • In the editor , with a bluish background color for the entire member body
  • On the Scroll Map (a special area added by the Code Map to the left of the vertical scrollbar), blue rectangles are added to represent the member position relative to the entire code file (you can align the scroll thumb with the blue marker to bring the item into view)
Please note that the above behavior is fully customizable, there's a Code Map Options dialog where this can be done.
The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
Now, highlighting recently accessed items may be good, but what if you have items you return to over and over? Well, you can apply a special highlight by marking them as favorite items. As with history, favorite items are emphasized in various ways:
  • In the Code Map , with a red foreground
  • In the editor , with a reddish background color for the entire member body
  • On the Scroll Map (a special area added by the Code Map to the left of the vertical scrollbar), red rectangles are added to represent the member position relative to the entire code file (you can align the scroll thumb with the blue marker to bring the item into view)
  • The behavior for the above last two emphasizing techniques is customizable.
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer

    2.2. The Code Flow Explorer

    The Visual Studio code editor doesn't have tools to assist the developer in navigating inside a method body. When working with fairly simple methods browsing their code inside the code window is usually enough to grasp a general idea about the code logic, but trying to navigate complex methods with hundreds of code lines, nested conditional blocks and loops, can be a very tedious job.

    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer can parse method code and output a tree representation thus offering instant access to the method's internal structure and logical code blocks. The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer

    2.3. The Designer Explorer

    With the CodeSMART Designer Explorer you can visualize a designer control hierarchy, select a control (which normally is not an easy job controls when controls overlap, are included in containers or simply are out of the visibility window) and benefit of several additional control-related operations and enhancements. The CodeSMART Designer Explorer

    2.4. Code Library Explorer

    The CodeSMART Code Library Explorer represents a convenient way to quickly store and retrieve code pieces written in VB, C#, C++, HTML, XML etc, thus providing a valuable help in reusing, managing and sharing prewritten code. It can be seen as a code repository in which you can store and organize different code items, group them in logical folders and share them within a team. The CodeSMART Code Library Explorer

    3. Enhancements To the Code Editor

    3.1. The VS10x Editor View Enhancer

    Allright, here's how the code editor normally looks like - yes, I know you know, but it's easier this way to see what goes in:
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
    And now, here's how it looks like with the VS10x Editor View Enhancer turned on:
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
    Type names are by default displayed with red foreground color and in bold, while method/property names are by default displayed with red foreground color. Type and member definitions lines get a semi-transparent distinctive image added to the left side. It's not shown here, but single-line property definitions don't get the red foreground, as that would have been a visual overkill since these single-line property definitions usually come in packs :-)

    And all these can be customized - if you want, you can even get extreme:
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer

    3.2. The VS10x Code Marker

    VS10x Code Marker allows you to mark (that is, apply a custom background in highlighter-style) any text area in the code editor. Four standard marker colors are available (yellow, green, cyan and magenta).

    In order to mark a piece of code, all you have to do is select it and pick the marker color from the code window popup menu:
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
    Here it is how code will look like after the operation described above (i.e. marked with a green highlighter):
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
    Please note that applying the marker can be done as well by using the VS10x Selection Popup (this one is detailed one page below):
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer

    3.3. The VS10x Method Block Highlighter

    By using the VS10x Method Block Highlighter you can highlight (that is, apply a custom background in highlighter-style) favorite methods in the code editor. Four standard marker colors are available (yellow, green, cyan and magenta).

    In order to highlight a method, make sure the cursor is positioned inside the method body, then pick the highlighter color from the code window popup menu:
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
    Here it is how the code will look like after the operation described above (i.e. the entire method body highlighted in green):
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
    As with the VS10x Code Marker, applying a Method Block Highlighter can be simply done by using the toolbar displayed by the VS10x Selection Popup.

    3.4. The VS10x Selection Popup

    VS10x Selection Popup is a Visual Studio 2010 extension that displays an unobtrusive popup in the immediate vicinity of a text selection, offering the user quick access to text operations like the classic cut-copy-paste-delete, as well as some more specific tasks like indent, unindent, case transformation and spaces to tabs conversions. Also, a quick information area displays the current selection size in characters.

    Moreover, a second row containing CodeSMART 10 commands is displayed (it currently contains Find, Find Selection In Component, Find Selection In Solution, Highlight Code, Create AutoText From Selection).

    Here's how VS10x Selection Popup works: when some text is selected in the code editor, a semi-transparent toolbar is displayed near the selection:
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer
    As the mouse pointer enters the toolbar area, this one becomes fully opaque:
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer

    3.5. The VS10x Super Copy Paste

    Whenever you copy a piece of text, the Super Copy Paste extension keeps track of that code piece and adds it to the copy history. Upon paste, the last copied text will be pasted and a popup will be displayed in the bottom-right corner of the code editor, allowing you toreplace the just-pasted buffer with one from the history list.

    Please note that if there is no history (i.e. only one copy operation was performed), then obviously no copy history popup will be displayed.

    Have a look below, notice the current code piece (the one that was last copied) that was just pasted (it is slightly highlighted) and the 2-item history list (it can grow up to 10 items). In order to replace the current pasted code piece with one from history, the corresponding index number (in this case, 1 or 2) has to be pressed at the keyboard. Simple and effective!
    The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer

    3.6. The AutoText System

    Many times during the process of code writing you have probably used identical or similar code blocks, or written the same long code sequence over and over. In such cases, an auto-text feature like the one found in many professional text editors could have saved you a lot of time. Typing a few letters and then hitting a special keyboard combination is obviously much more productive than writing the same code piece again and again. This is what the CodeSMART AutoText system was built for; here's a sample of this system in action: The CodeSMART AutoText Feature

    3.7. The VS10x Insert Debug Names

    Pressing Ctrl+" (beware, it's not fully tested on non-US keyboard layots) will bring an Intellisense-like popup offering you the chance to insert at the cursor position a string with the current code location (i.e. ClassName.FunctionName, with some variations). This can be extremely useful when debugging. The CodeSMART Code Flow Explorer

    4. How To Locate Code with The CodeSMART Find Tools

    4.1. Extended Find and Replace

    The Extended Find and Replace subsystem adds powerful search and replace capabilities to the Visual Studio environment. It can perform code searches and replacements at any scope (member, document, project, solution) with a set of user-defined filters. The search target can consist of a single code line or of multiple lines and can contain wildcards or regular expressions. After the operation finishes, a comprehensive result list is displayed and matches are highlighted in code. The CodeSMART Extended Find and Replace Two Extended Find and Replace panes hold result lists for two different find/replace operations. Results found within strings and comments (if these were not configured to be skipped) are displayed by using specific colors. Additionally, a history combobox can be used to access previous find/replace operations.

    4.2. Find References

    In the process of code writing as well as when analyzing prewritten code, knowing all the points where a certain code element is referenced can be extremely useful. There may be many purposes for such a task, like planning a refactoring, generally trying to understand a certain functionality, etc. The CodeSMART Find References tool can start from various code elements and output their list of references (works with both Visual Basic and C# projects). The CodeSMART Find References

    5. Refine Your VS.NET Projects with The CodeSMART Analyzer Tools

    5.1. Code Analyzer

    The CodeSMART Code Analyzer is a valuable tool that can be used to examine Visual Basic and C# code. It can be seen as a control quality tool for Visual Studio programmers who want to refine the code they write by making it smaller, faster and less error-prone. Code Analyzer features include detecting private dead code, code complexity issues, potential problems, optimization flaws and coding standards infringements. The CodeSMART Code Analyzer

    5.2. Designer Analyzer

    The CodeSMART Designer Analyzer can be used to examine Windows Forms components for known problems. It can be seen both as a UI quality control tool and as a UI standards enforcement tool. Several options are available and grouped by problem categories. The analysis result set is listed in a comprehensive window. The CodeSMART Designer Analyzer

    5.3. Spelling Checker

    What can be more embarrassing than delivering an application and realizing you have spelling errors in its user interface? Let's face it, we all felt bad because of this at least once in our lives. We did it too - so we decided it's the time to have a Spelling Checker feature in CodeSMART. The CodeSMART Spelling Checker

    5.4. Strings Review

    The Strings Review tool does somehow share part of its goals with the spelling checker. Its exact purpose is to offer a global and complete perspective on all the string constants used in code, but while the spelling checker focuses on individual words correctness, this new tool was designed to ease the phase of logical word combination (phrasing) analysis and correction. The CodeSMART Review Strings Tool

    6. Tedious Coding Tasks Simplified By The CodeSMART Code Generating Tools

    6.1. Simple Code Builders

    These represent a set of wizards for creating basic code constructs like class definitions, methods, properties and indexers. The CodeSMART Simple Code Builders

    6.2. Advanced Code Builders

    Advanced Code Builders represent a set of tools which can be used to insert complex code constructs into Visual Basic and C# projects. By using these tools you can considerably reduce the time and effort that's usually necessary to write certain code like interface implementations, overridden methods, object construction and destruction, custom exception classes, custom formatter classes, collection classes, etc. The CodeSMART Advanced Code Builders

    6.3. Generate Exception Handling Code

    Adopting an appropriate strategy for exception management can help you build successful and flexible applications that can be easily maintained and debugged. However, implementing a proper and consistent exception handling policy is not a trivial task - this is where the CodeSMART Exception Handling Tools come into play, as by using these tools you can:

    • define your own exception handling templates enriched with CodeSMART standard parameters.
    • designate a default template to be used for a specific programming language.
    • share the same templates within a development team.
    • explicitly mark different methods, properties and classes to use a specific exception handling template
    • automatically insert and remove exception handling code at different levels (current selection, method, class, document, project, solution).
    The CodeSMART Try-Catch Templates Manager

    7. Source Code Perfectly Formatted and Documented with The CodeSMART Code Maintenace Tools

    As projects become more and more complex, adhering to certain standards usually becomes a necessity. These standards may include specifications and recommendations on how code should be formatted and documented. CodeSMART has dedicated tools that can help you meet such requirements.

    7.1. Code Formatter

    The CodeSMART Code Formatter can be used to reshape Visual Basic and C# code based on certain standards. These standards can be specific to a single programmer or can be used for an entire programming team. The CodeSMART Code Formatter

    7.2. Sort Procedures

    Occasionally you may consider it necessary to rearrange code in a more logical and intelligible manner. The CodeSMART Sort Procedures tool comes to meet this requirement. The CodeSMART Sort Procedures

    7.3. XML Comments

    XML documentation (XML comments), are a mix of XML and comments used to document code. CodeSMART not only extends support for XML comments to Visual Basic developers (VS.NET 2002/2003) but also offers an unified and flexible way to standardize this powerful feature in both Visual Basic and C# through the XML Comment Templates (avalable in all versions of Visual Studio). The CodeSMART XML Comment Templates

    7.4. XML Comments Preview

    The XML Comments Preview tool provides an easy way to vizualize pre-formatted XML comments when editing or browsing code. The CodeSMART XML Comments Preview

    7.5. Regular Comments

    Comments standardization is a must for every company, and adoption of such a standard by a single user is an extremely intelligent decision that will definitely show its benefits in time. Regular Comment Templates are intended to complement the XML Comment Templates feature described above; also, CodeSMART can ease commenting tasks by automating the regular comment skeleton insertion process. The CodeSMART Regular Comment Templates Manager

    7.6. Code Commenting Analyzer

    No matter if you write simple functions or complex classes, using relevant comments as often as possible is a requirement that every application developer should conform to. The CodeSMART Code Commenting Analyzer tool can help in getting a global perspective on code commenting at a certain scope by indicating in-method contiguous blocks of code that exceed a certain maximum length and have no comments, as well as code definitions that either have no comment defined or have an incorrect one from a standards point of view. The CodeSMART XML Analyzer

    8. Perfect Windows Forms UI Implementations with The CodeSMART Designer Tools

    8.1. Tab Order Designer

    Configuring/reconfiguring tab order on a Windows Forms designer by managing each control's TabIndex property value can be a very tedious task. The CodeSMART Tab Order Designer tool can help you automate this process - you can either set the order manually by simply sorting the control list or you can let the tool automatically establish the tab order. The CodeSMART Tab Order Designer

    8.2. Hotkey Designer

    The CodeSMART Hotkey Designer allows you to automatically manage hotkeys on a designer. The tool provides several hotkey generation methods along with the possibility to preserve (lock) some already defined hotkeys. The CodeSMART HotKey Designer

    8.3. Property Tips

    The Property Tips lists a preset group of properties and their values in a special window that is displayed as a tooltip whenever the user pauses the mouse cursor over a designer control. The CodeSMART Property Tips window

    8.4. Designer Assistant (only for VS.NET 2002/2003)

    These tools are intended to ease working with controls while in designer mode. They offer a simple and quick way to identify a control, modify its size and position by using the keyboard in predefined fine or fast modes.
    The CodeSMART Designer Helpers

    9. And There Are Even More CodeSMART Tools...

    9.1. AutoSave and AutoBackup (only for VS.NET 2002/2003)

    CodeSMART offers the possibility to automate two mechanisms that can prove indispensable in application development: saving your work and creating backup copies. The CodeSMART AutoSave and Backup feature

    9.2. Code Statistics

    The CodeSMART Code Statistics subsystem provides useful information about code at various scopes ranging from component up to the entire solution. The CodeSMART Statistics Report

    9.3. Iterative Code Inserter

    There are times during the coding process when the need to insert similar pieces of code in every method at a certain scope arise. For example, imagine your program generates a GPF. Probably having the possibility to trace code execution and see which is the last method that gets called before the GPF occurs could help. However, manually inserting tracing code into each method may take quite a long time. CodeSMART features an Iterative Code inserter/remover subsystem - by using it you will be able to insert and afterwards remove special code chunks at a certain scope in just a few seconds. The CodeSMART Custom Code Inserter