Have you ever opened someone else’s source code (maybe an open source, code sample, or even other team mate) and the code just isn’t aligned? This can happen because of spaces and tabs. By default, Visual Studio shows a tab as four spaces. So without white space visible (Tricks #003) four spaces, looks the same as a tab. If a previous developer (who maybe wasn’t even using Visual Studio) had tabs setup differently.

This quick 50 second video, shows you how to instantly convert spaces to tabs, or tabs to spaces. Either way you like it, Visual Studio is there to make you happy.

[CTRL]+[R],[W] = Show / Hide White Space

Edit | Advanced | Tabify Selected Lines = Convert Spaces to Tabs

Edit | Advanced | Untabify Selected Lines = Convert Tabs to Spaces

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Visual Studio has a ton of Keyboard shortcuts built in. In fact, there are HUGE PDF Prints available for VS2005 C# and Visual Basic, as well as VS2008 C# and VS2008 Visual Basic. If you want to change or add to the current keyboard shortcuts, this video shows you how.

Visual Studio 2010 Keyboard Shortcuts for Download (Microsoft)

Massive List of 2012 Predefined Keyboard Shortcuts for VS2012 (Microsoft)

One of the first custom keyboard shortcuts I add is [CTRL]+[ALT]+[P]. This shortcut isn’t used for anything, so I’m not overriding anything built in, but I bind it to “Debug.AttachToProcess” which is much faster than navigating to Debug | Attach to Process.

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This is a great option for comments. If you like to write comments, and like them to all line up on the right side of your code, then this trick is for you. The video makes a reference back to showing/hiding white space, which was covered in Trick Number 003.

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Sometimes scrolling to the right for long lines of text hides other text that you want to see at the beginning of the line. Using word wrap allows you to see all text on a line, one the screen at once. Some like it, some don’t – but that’s why it’s an option 🙂

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Quick Find by default uses the options set in [CTRL]+[F] Find window. This quick video shows you how they work, and will help you quickly navigate your Quick Finds.

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