coderush

Roy Osherove (a TDD expert) recently ran a load of sessions in the UK and posted how by getting delegates to try going “mouse-less” when using VS2008, he observed a 3x increase in productivity. Think about that – that’s a remarkable statistic if true. Firstly, most people don’t associate keyboard usage with efficiency + productivity, and secondly, most of us (I certainly) wouldn’t have thought that you could use the keyboard to replace the mouse. Then I thought about it and tried to see what I use the mouse for and what I use the keyboard for when using VS, and came up with a list of things that I do use the keyboard for: - find references go to definition tab management navigate through errors compiling run unit tests But there are some areas that I don’t use the keyboard for, and thought about trying to start using it instead. Here are some areas that I found useful to keyboard-ify. Have a look through these and try them out – some of them are excellent, and I didn’t even know existed in VS until I spent 15 minutes digging around. File Navigation This is as basic as navigating through a file. This sounds silly – of course you can use the cursor – but sometimes you want to move a few pages down at a time, or perhaps to the end of the current method etc. Scroll up / down (keeping caret fixed): CTRL + UP / DOWN Move to scope boundary (if the caret is on a start brace, automatically move to end brace): CTRL + ] Incremental Find (finds the next word in the current file - as-you-type!): CTRL + I I’d like the ability to move from the middle of a method to the start / end of it, though. Intellisense Either to get intellisense for a keyword you’re typing, or just to get the helpful tooltip that is shown when hovering over any symbol in VS. Quick Info (same as hovering over a symbol): CTRL + K, CTRL + I Parameter Info (what you get when entering parameters in a method, but on demand): CTRL + K, CTRL + P Complete Word (if you’re halfway through a keyword and want VS to finish it for you): CTRL + SPACE Outlining This includes collapsing and expanding different areas of your code, including regions, classes, methods and properties. Collapse / expand current region: CTRL + M, M Collapse all methods / properties in class: CTRL + M, O Expand all methods / properties in class: CTRL + M, P Solution navigation This includes finding files that are currently open, as well as moving to another file in the current solution without needing to resort to Solution Explorer. Switch to other open file visually: CTRL + TAB Switch to other frame (e.g. solution explorer, test results): CTRL + TAB, UP/DOWN/LEFT/RIGHT List open files in pop-up menu: CTRL + ALT + DOWN Open solution explorer: CTRL + W, CTRL + S Solution find (find anything in the solution – CodeRushXpress only): CTRL + SHIFT + Q I’m going to try using the above for a week or two and see how I get on with it.