Something Techy

VS.net 2003 shortcut keys

aravinthan@rediff.com — Fri, 28 Jan 2005 01:37:00 GMT

Was thinking this list of shortcut keys that might help speed up the development time.. rather increase the productivity.. so here goes the shortcut keys..

VS.net 2003 Shortcut keys :

Tool window shortcut keys

The following shortcut key combinations allow you to display specific tool windows.

Command Name	Shortcut Keys	Description
Tools.CommandWindowMarkMode	CTRL + SHIFT + M	Places the Command window in a mode allowing for the selection of text within the window.
View.ClassView	CTRL + SHIFT + C	Displays the Class View window.
View.CommandWindow	CTRL + ALT + A	Displays the Command window, which allows you to type commands that manipulate the IDE.
View.DocumentOutline	CTRL + ALT + T	Displays the Document Outline window to view the flat or hierarchical outline of the current document.
View.Favorites	CTRL + ALT + F	Displays the Favorites window, which lists shortcuts to Web pages.
View.Output	CTRL + ALT + O	Displays the Output window to view status messages at run time.
View.PropertiesWindow	F4	Displays the Properties window, which lists the design-time properties and events for the currently selected item.
View.PropertyPages	SHIFT + F4	Displays the property pages for the item currently selected.
View.ResourceView	CTRL + SHIFT + E	Displays the Resource View window.
View.ServerExplorer	CTRL + ALT + S	Displays the Server Explorer window, which allows you to view and manipulate database servers, event logs, message queues, Web services, and many other operating system services.
View.ShowWebBrowser	CTRL + ALT + R	Displays the Web browser window, which allows you to view pages on the Internet.
View.SolutionExplorer	CTRL + ALT + L	Displays Solution Explorer, which lists the projects and files in the current solution.
View.TaskList	CTRL + ALT + K	Displays the Task List window where you customize, categorize, and manage tasks, comments, shortcuts, warnings and error messages.
View.Toolbox	CTRL + ALT + X	Displays the Toolbox, which contains controls and other items that can be included or used with your code.

Project shortcut keys

The following shortcut key combinations can be used to add new items to a project, build a project, or open files or projects.

Command Name	Shortcut Keys	Description
Build.BuildSolution	CTRL + SHIFT + B	Builds the solution.
Build.Compile	CTRL + F7	Creates an object file containing machine code, linker directives, sections, external references, and function/data names for the selected file.
File.AddExistingItem	SHIFT + ALT + A	Displays the Add Existing Item dialog box, which allows you to add an existing file to the current project.
File.AddNewItem	CTRL + SHIFT + A	Displays the Add New Item dialog box, which allows you to add a new file to the current project.
File.NewFile	CTRL + N	Displays the New File dialog box where you can select a new file to add to the current project.
File.NewProject	CTRL + SHIFT + N	Displays the New Project dialog box where you can create projects and add them to the current solution.
File.OpenFile	CTRL + O	Displays the Open File dialog box where you can select an existing file to open.
File.OpenProject	CTRL + SHIFT + O	Displays the Open Project dialog box where you can add existing projects to your solution.
Project.Override	CTRL + ALT + INSERT	Allows you to override base class methods in a derived class. Available for C#.

Window management shortcut keys

The following shortcut key combinations can be used to move, close, or navigate within tool and document windows.

Command Name	Shortcut Keys	Description
View.FullScreen	SHIFT + ALT + ENTER	Toggles Full Screen mode on and off.
View.NavigateBackward	CTRL + -	Goes back to the previous document or window in the navigation history.
View.NavigateForward	CTRL + SHIFT + -	Moves forward to the document or window next in the navigation history.
Window.ActivateDocumentWindow	ESC	Closes a menu or dialog box, cancels an operation in progress, or places focus in the current document window.
Window.CloseDocumentWindow	CTRL + F4	Closes the current MDI child window.
Window.CloseToolWindow	SHIFT + ESC	Closes the current tool window.
Window.MoveToDropDownBar	CTRL + F2	Moves the cursor to the drop-down bar while the editor is in Code view.
Window.NextDocumentWindow	CTRL + F6 CTRL + TAB	Cycles through the MDI child windows one window at a time.
Window.NextPane	ALT + F6	Moves to the next tool window.
Window.NextSplitPane	F6	Moves to the next pane of a split pane view of a single document.
Window.NextTab	CTRL + PAGE DOWN	Moves to the next tab in the document or window.
Window.PreviousDocumentWindow	CTRL + SHIFT + F6 CTRL + SHIFT + TAB	Moves to the previous document in the Editor or Designer.
Window.PreviousPane	SHIFT + ALT + F6	Moves to the previously selected window.
Window.PreviousSplitPane	SHIFT + F6	Moves to the previous pane of a document in split pane view.
Window.PreviousTab	CTRL + PAGE UP	Moves to the previous tab in the document or window.

Text Editors

Edit.FormatDocument	CTRL + K, CTRL + D	Applies the indenting and space formatting for the language as specified on the Formatting pane of the language in the Text Editor section of the Options dialog box.
Edit.FormatSelection	CTRL + K, CTRL + F	Correctly indents the selected lines of code based on the surrounding lines of code.
Edit.HideSelection	CTRL + M, CTRL + H	Hides the selected text. A signal icon marks the location of the hidden text in the file.
Edit.CommentSelection	CTRL + K, CTRL + C	Marks the current line of code as a comment, using the correct comment syntax for the programming language.
Edit.ClearBookmarks	CTRL + K, CTRL + L	Removes all unnamed bookmarks in the current document.
Edit.ColllapseToDefinitions	CTRL + M, CTRL + O	Automatically determines logical boundaries for creating regions in code, such as procedures, and then hides them.
Edit.NextBookmark	CTRL + K, CTRL + N	Moves to the next bookmark in the document.
Edit.IncrementalSearch	CTRL + I	Starts Incremental search. If Incremental search is started, but you have not typed any characters, recalls the previous pattern. If text has been found, searches for the next occurrence.
Edit.FindInFiles	CTRL + SHIFT + F	Displays the Find in Files dialog box.
Debug.Watch1	CTRL + ALT + W, 1	Displays the Watch1 window to view the values of selected variables or watch expressions.
Debug.Watch2	CTRL + ALT + W, 2	Displays the Watch2 window to view the values of selected variables or watch expressions.
Debug.SetNextStatement	CTRL + SHIFT + F10	Sets the execution point to the line of code you choose.
Debug.ShowNextStatement	ALT + NUM *	Highlights the next statement to be executed.
Debug.QuickWatch	CTRL + ALT + Q	Displays the Quick Watch dialog box with the current value of the selected expression. Available only in Break mode. Use this command to check the current value of a variable, property, or other expression for which you have not defined a watch expression.
Debug.Breakpoints	CTRL + ALT + B	Displays the Breakpoints dialog box, where you can add and modify breakpoints.
Debug.CallStack	CTRL + ALT + C	Displays the Call Stack window to display a list of all active procedures or stack frames for the current thread of execution. Available only in Run mode.
Debug.Immediate	CTRL + ALT + I	Displays the Immediate window, where you can evaluate expressions and execute individual commands.

Failed to open .Vcproj

aravinthan@rediff.com — Thu, 23 Dec 2004 02:49:00 GMT

When you try to open a Visual C++ .NET project, you receive the following error message:

Project <.vcproj pathname> failed to open.

where <.vcproj pathname> is the path of the .vcproj file for the Visual C++ .NET project.

This post is addressed to solve this problem.

There are many cause associated with this error.

1. Invalid XML version entries in the registry that might cause the problem..

a. For this problem, we might need to install the misrosot’s security update for the MSXML4. This can be found from the following KB Article:http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q306905

b. After installing the above one, you might need to clean up some registry entries, all the clsids given below should have the

i. Inprocserver32 (Default value) point to “%SystemRoot%\System32\msxml3.dll”

II. The version key (Default value) has a value of 3.0.

The following are the CLSIDs you might need to clean up.

HKCR\CLSID\{F6D90F11-9C73-11D3-B32E-00C04F990BB4}

HKCR\CLSID\{F5078F32-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221}

HKCR\CLSID\{F5078F34-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221}

HKCR\CLSID\{F5078F19-C551-11D3-89B9-0000F81FE221}

2. Invalid .vcproj file or corrupted file.

a. This might happen because:

The path in the Output Directory property in the Property Pages is wrapped in quotation marks (""). However, the IDE wraps the path with an additional pair of quotation marks when it saves the settings back to the .vcproj file. In addition to the Output Directory property, the Intermediate Directory property, and the Extensions to Delete on Clean property show the same behavior.

Resolution:

The settings for OutputDirectory, IntermediateDirectory, and DeleteExtensionsOnClean are stored in the .vcproj file. This is an XML file that you can open with Notepad, or with any other text editor. To correct the configuration setting strings, follow these steps: 1. In Notepad, or a text editor of your choice, open the .vcproj file.

2. Find the attributes for OutputDirectory, IntermediateDirectory, and DeleteExtensionsOnClean in the Configuration section.

3. Remove the extra quotation marks around the attributes of OutputDirectory, IntermediateDirectory and DeleteExtensionsOnClean.

4. Save the file, and then close Notepad.

Note If there are multiple configuration sections in your .vcproj file, remove the extra quotation marks from the attributes from all the sections

3. Above two solutions don’t solve my problem:

Then you are in the same state as I was when I faced this problem!

Now the trick that solved the problem was to remove a tag from the .vcproj XML file.

1. Open the .vcproj file in the notepad.

2. Search for section in the .vcproj file.

3. Remove all the assembly references from this section.

The reference section might look as shown below:

We might need to make this reference section empty. Remove all the AssemblyReference Tags.

In the end you might end up with the following reference section

Now save your .vcproj and exit out of notepad.

Now try opening the saved .vcproj, it should be able to open up.

4. Even after step 3 I am unable to open the .vcproj what can I do.

Sorry, I don’t have any other answer for that.

Call Context setdata - Remoting - Strange problem

aravinthan@rediff.com — Thu, 29 Jan 2004 21:38:00 GMT

I have an object "A" that inherits from the ILogicalThreadAffinative interface and this object is set in the Callcontext.setdata in my mainmethod.
Now i create another object "B" in the main method which contains an remote object "C" (hosted as bycall activation in a windows service). IN the constructor of the object B, I make a method call using "C" (note "C" is an activate by call remote object). At this jucture I get an exception stating

Unhandled Exception: System.TypeInitializationException: The type initializer for "B" threw an exception. ---> System.Run
time.Serialization.SerializationException: Cannot find the assembly CreateAppDomain(the assembly which has all the objects), Version=1.0.1488.36469, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=null.

I feel that the object C is unable to get the type of the object "A" and is failing. If I place the object A (which is in a separate assembly) in the same folder as that of the object B then the error is not appearing. I assume it is able to find the type of the object.
But I do not want to place these assemblies together. Is there any way out? or Am I doing something wrong? Is this a known issue?

Strangely.. i havent used the object "A" in the object "C" i dont know why its still looking for the type of object "A" !! if at all its looking for it.

Any pointers is highly appreciated.