Free boutique: Productivity Power Tools animation demonstration

Productivity Power Tools is a Visual Studio extension officially launched by Microsoft to improve developers' Productivity. To some extent, it makes up for and improves the shortcomings of Visual Studio. For example, the tag auto-completion and copy reference seem small, but it really helps me reduce a lot of trouble. There are not a few articles in the blog that recommend this extension. This article is somewhat similar, just for your convenience. I have provided GIF animation for some of the better features.

Many useful functions of this extension have been directly added to the Visaul Studio IDE of the next version. That is to say, the sooner you use this tool, the earlier you can experience the functions of Visual Studio in the next version. Believe it or not, I believe it.

 

This article will be based on Visaul Studio 2012. If you are using Visual Studio 2010 or 2013, this article may not be appropriate.

 

Article Index

• Function Management
• Mark auto-completion
• Row up and down
• Replication class
• Enhanced scroll bar
• Copy reference
• Copy to project reference
• Copy code path
• Open in the folder
• Modify project files
• Quick Start
• Add reference line
• Scroll with the mouse key
• Email code
• Delete recently opened projects and files
• Download this extension

 

Function Management

This extension contains a variety of features. If you think a feature is useless to you or will interfere with your normal operation, you can choose to disable it. All you need to do is open the tool/option/Productivity Power Tools and configure it as needed.

Mark auto-completion

Simple Description

1. Supports (), {}, [], <>, "", and ''.

2. You can use the Tab key to quickly locate the end tag.

3. You can use Shift + Enter to automatically add ";" at the end of the code line and position the cursor in the next line.

 

Animation demonstration

Row up and down

Simple Description

Before using an extension, you can only use Shift + Alt + T to move a row down. Now, you can simply position the cursor in the row to be moved, and then use alt + ↑ ↓.

 

Animation demonstration

Replication class

Simple Description

When copying a class file, the original Visual Studio does not rename the class in the file. After the file is pasted, Visaul Studio prompts an error due to repeated class names, at the same time, the new class file is Copy of xxx, which is not conducive to quick locating of this file in solution manager. By using this extended "Copy class" operation, the class name is automatically renamed, and the class file is named xxx + number.

 

Animation demonstration

Enhanced scroll bar

Simple Description

This is a new feature in 2012 that allows us to quickly locate code. If there are tens of thousands of lines in a file, the method of moving the scroll bar and searching is obviously inefficient.

 

 

Different colors on the scroll bar indicate different meanings.

Blue: Current Position of the cursor

RED: Incorrect location

Green: Newly Added code

Yellow: changed and unsaved code

 

Animation demonstration

Copy reference

Simple Description

When some references need to be added to multiple projects at the same time, we can directly copy and paste them. (It can only be used between different projects in the same solution)

 

Animation demonstration

Copy to project reference

Simple Description

When one Project needs to be referenced by another Project, you can directly use "Copy as Project Reference ". (It can only be used between different projects in the same solution)

 

Animation demonstration

Copy code path

Simple Description

Sometimes, you may need to know the Path of the current file. In this case, you can use "Copy Path" in Solution Explorer ".

 

Animation demonstration

Open in the folder

Simple Description

To quickly Open a file in a Folder, you only need to select the file in Solution Explorer, and then right-click and select "Open Containing Folder.

 

Animation demonstration

Modify project files

Simple Description

Before using this tool, you must first find the. csproj file in the folder and select to open it in the editor to modify a project. Now you only need to right-click the Project and select "Edit Project File. After you click this option, the current project will be uninstalled (if there are unsaved changes, you will be reminded whether to save them). After modification, remember to reload the project.

 

Animation demonstration

Quick Start

Simple Description

This function is a feature of Visual Studio 2012. It aims to perform some operations quickly, because some operations are hidden in deep places, such as setting fonts, you may need to select Tools, options, and environments before you can find them, but you can use "Quick Start" to quickly set the font. This extension further enriches the command sets supported by "Quick Start", such as setting fonts for demonstration, restoring fonts quickly, restoring development environment settings, and enabling or disabling automatic line breaks.

 

Animation demonstration

CommandDescriptionCollapseRegionsAll # region folding in the current documentExpandRegionAll # region in the current documentTxtFont-Reduce the font of the text editor by 2 (minimum to 6)TxtFont0Reset the font of the text editor to 10TxtFont +Increase the font of the text editor by 2 (up to 60)TxtFontResetResets the font of the text editor to the default value of the current topic.EnvFont-Reduce the font size of the development environment by 2 (minimum to 5)EnvFont0Reset the font of the development environment to 9EnvFont +Increase the font of the development environment by 2 (up to 59)EnvFontResetResets the font of the text editor to the default value of the current topic.InsTabsOffUse spaces instead of tabs (for all languages)InsTabsOnWhen you type a Tab, use the "keep using" Tab (effective for all languages)LineNumOffDisable line number display in the Text Editor (effective for all languages)LineNumOnOpen the line number of the Text Editor (effective for all languages)PresentOffDisable the demo mode and restore the font to the size before the demo mode.PresentOnTurn on the demo mode and zoom in the font to view it on the projector.ResetToBasicReset VS settings to Visual Basic development settingsResetToC ++Reset VS settings to Visual C ++ development settingsResetToC #Reset VS settings to Visual C # development settingsResetToF #Reset VS settings to Visual F # development settingsResetToGeneralReset VS settings to General development settingsResetToJavaScriptReset VS settings to JavaScript for Windows 8 Apps development settingsResetToLightSwitchReset VS settings to LightSwitch development settingsResetToSQLReset VS settings to SQL Server development settingsResetToWebReset VS settings to Web development settingsResetToWebCodeReset VS settings to Web (Code Only) development settingsSwitchCodeSwitch between the designer and the Code Behind header fileTabSize-Reduce the Tab Indentation by 2 (effective for all languages)TabSize0Reset the Tab indentation to 4 (effective for all languages)TabSize +Increase the number of Tab indentations by 2 (effective for all languages)WordWrapOffDisable Automatic line feed (effective for all languages)WordWrapOnEnable Automatic line feed (effective for all languages)

This table is excerpted from how to use Productivity Power Tools 2012 to improve your work efficiency.

 

 

Add reference line

Simple Description

If you have requirements on the number of characters in each line, for example, you can only display the characters on a single screen, you need to manually wrap the lines in a column to ensure the display effect. But how can we know whether to wrap the line? Do I have to go to the number of digits every time? Or check the information in the Visual Studio status bar? The efficiency is really low! With this extension, you only need to add a reference line at the position where you need to wrap the line, so that you can see it at a glance. If you need to set reference lines in column 80th, you must first allow the cursor to be positioned in column 80th; otherwise, the reference line cannot be inserted or deleted. It is easy to allow the cursor to locate a column. You can simply press the Space key until that column is located. Alternatively, you can enable virtual spaces of Visaul Studio.

 

Animation demonstration

Scroll with the mouse key

Simple Description

Just as you can scroll between the mouse and the mouse in a browser.

 

Animation demonstration

Email code

Simple Description

If your project team often uses the email system to communicate code with each other, this shortcut will greatly facilitate your operations. You only need to select the Code Snippet you want to email to the other party, right-click and select "Email Code Snippet", and then the mail client will jump out, and automatically paste the code you selected into the mail body.

 

Animation demonstration

Delete recently opened projects and files

Simple Description

If you do not want to leave a history record, you can directly Delete the record and select the record to be deleted in the dialog box that appears. To perform the delete operation, Visaul Studio automatically restarts once and automatically saves unsaved changes. Restart means that the history of all file operations will be lost. After the restart, you cannot use Ctrl + Z to undo the operation. Therefore, before deleting the record, make sure that your operation on the file has been confirmed.

I don't know if it is a Bug. When VS restarts, a warning dialog box will pop up (and the project will jump out every time it restarts ):

Download this extension

For VS 2010, click

For VS 2012, click

For VS 2013, click

 

This article is from the free boutique: Productivity Power Tools animation demonstration.