Sara Ford's Weblog
My adventures embracing open source on CodePlex and at Microsoft
Did you know… You can use Ctrl+F9 to enable or disable a breakpoint - #265
In the general development settings, I didn’t see this command under the Debug menu. So, in...
Author: saraford Date: 07/23/2008
Did you know… You can use IntelliSense to verify your breakpoint name in the New Breakpoint window - #264
In the New Breakpoint window, there’s a checkbox “Use IntelliSense to verify the function...
Author: saraford Date: 07/22/2008
Did you know… You can press Ctrl+B to set a breakpoint at the desired function - #263
In case you want to set a breakpoint at a given function, and not at the current line, you don’t...
Author: saraford Date: 07/21/2008
Did you know… You can press F9 to set a breakpoint on the current line - #262
Using the General Development Settings, the command Debug.ToggleBreakpoint will set (or delete) the...
Author: saraford Date: 07/18/2008
Did you know… You can press Ctrl+Alt+B to open the Breakpoint Window - #261
Under Debug – Windows, you’ll find the Breakpoint window. Using the General Development...
Author: saraford Date: 07/17/2008
Did you know… You can set a breakpoint by clicking in the indicator margin - #260
Ah, time to get up and stretch. We’re in a new series, and it’s all about debugging. Let’s...
Author: saraford Date: 07/16/2008
Did you know… You can export all of your Toolbox customizations? - #259
In earlier Toolbox tips, I talked about how you can customize your Toolbox. Now you can export...
Author: saraford Date: 07/15/2008
Did you know… What the Start Page "Commands” setting really control? - #258
When you go to Tools – Import / Export Settings – Export (or Import when you have a .vssettings file...
Author: saraford Date: 07/14/2008
Did you know… How to turn on and off Simplified Tools Options - #257
Depending on the development settings you chose at first launch, like Visual Basic, you may see the...
Author: saraford Date: 07/11/2008
Did you know… What option is saved in the Output Window Options? - #256
Kinda makes me wonder why the category wasn’t called Output Window Option instead of Options. ...
Author: saraford Date: 07/10/2008
Did you know… You can bring over your Visual Studio 2005 settings either at First Launch or Anytime? - #255
In 2008, there’s an option in the First Launch dialog to bring over your Visual Studio 2005...
Author: saraford Date: 07/09/2008
Did you know… What the “Allow VS to download RSS content” does on the First Launch dialog and how to change it back? - #254
On the first launch dialog, you may have noticed this checkbox for opting in for VS to download RSS...
Author: saraford Date: 07/08/2008
Did you know… What the Visual Studio “First Launch” dialog does? - #253
I still plan to cover the more interesting categories in the Import / Export settings...
Author: saraford Date: 07/07/2008
Did you know… You can save your Menu and Command Bar customizations to a file? - #252
A while back, I did a series of tips on how to customize your Menus and Command bar. Some of...
Author: saraford Date: 07/04/2008
Did you know… You can save your file extension mappings to a file? - #251
In an earlier tip, I talked about how you can map any file extension to a specific editor to get...
Author: saraford Date: 07/03/2008
Did you know… You can save your list of External Tools to a file? - #250
In an earlier tip, I mentioned how you can create and manage your list of External Tools. You...
Author: saraford Date: 07/02/2008
Tips now featured on the MSDN Pulse – the Israeli developers newsletter (in Hebrew)
Starting with this month’s issue, selected tips will be translated into Hebrew and featured in the...
Author: saraford Date: 07/01/2008
Did you know… You can save all your Command Window aliases to a file? - #249
In a much earlier tip, I talked about how to create a command window alias and how to view them....
Author: saraford Date: 07/01/2008
Did you know… You can use team settings to keep Visual Studio settings on different machines in sync - #248
Under Tools – Options – Environment – Import and Export Settings, you’ll see an option called Use...
Author: saraford Date: 06/30/2008
Happy Birthday CodePlex!
Today is the 2nd anniversary of the CodePlex launch announcement. I brought in some birthday...
Author: saraford Date: 06/27/2008
Did you know… You can copy the full file path from the final wizard page when exporting settings? - #247
Today’s tip is more like a “tip” than my usual “micro-functionality” daily tips. After you do...
Author: saraford Date: 06/27/2008
Did you know… Visual Studio automatically saves all your current settings every time you close VS? - #246
On the Tools – Options – Environment – Import / Export Settings (yes, the Tools – Import / Export...
Author: saraford Date: 06/26/2008
Did you know… You can save your current settings prior to doing an Import or Reset? - #245
Sometimes, Tip of the Day isn’t about stating the obvious; it’s about stating the non-obvious. ...
Author: saraford Date: 06/25/2008
Did you know… What’s the difference between Resetting Settings and Importing Settings? - #244
Whenever I demo Tools – Import / Export Settings, I’m usually asked what’s the difference between...
Author: saraford Date: 06/24/2008
Tip of the Day now available in Russian and Spanish
Thanks to Andy Gonzalez on the Globalization team for translating the tips into Spanish....
Author: saraford Date: 06/23/2008
Did you know… You can add your own files to the Import / Export Settings – Reset page list? - #243
If you go to the Reset page on the Tools – Import / Export Settings Wizard, you’ll see the list of...
Author: saraford Date: 06/23/2008
Are there any women with projects on CodePlex?
I’m sitting here looking at women’s swag apparel wondering how many women we have as project owners...
Author: saraford Date: 06/20/2008
Did you know… You can bind macros to keyboard shortcuts (or how to quickly increase / decrease your text editor font size) - #242
This was tip #21, my final tip, for the TechEd VS 2008 IDE Tips and Tricks talk. If you go to Tools...
Author: saraford Date: 06/20/2008
Did you know… You can use the immediate window as a glorified calculator or side-debugger within your debugger - #241
This was tip #20 in my TechEd VS 2008 IDE tips and tricks talk. When you want to do more than just...
Author: saraford Date: 06/19/2008
Did you know… Remove unused using statements? - #240
This was tip #17 in my TechEd VS 2008 IDE Tips and Tricks Talk In C#, there’s the option to remove...
Author: saraford Date: 06/18/2008
Did you know… You can set conditional breakpoints? - #239
This was tip #16 for my TechEd VS IDE Tips and Tricks talk. I believe this has been around since...
Author: saraford Date: 06/17/2008
Did you know… You can use data tips to edit a variable’s content- #238
This was tip #19 in my TechEd VS 2008 IDE Tips and Tricks talk. Whenever you are debugging and want...
Author: saraford Date: 06/16/2008
21 signs a geek girl is into you
This cracked me up this morning. https://on365.co.uk/data-centre-content/ My personal favorites...
Author: saraford Date: 06/13/2008
Did you know… You can use Tracepoints to log “printf” or “console.writeline” info without editing your code? - #237
his was tip #15 in my TechEd 2008 VS IDE Tips and Tricks talk. This is a new feature for VS2008. On...
Author: saraford Date: 06/13/2008
Did you know… VS has a file window layout mode that you can customize? - #236
This is a part of tip #12 of my TechEd 2008 IDE tips and tricks talk. Visual Studio comes with 4...
Author: saraford Date: 06/12/2008
Did you know… You can set a breakpoint on a function from the Find Combo Box? - #235
Today’s tip was a part of tip #8 from my TechEd 2008 IDE Tips and Tricks talk on using Visual Studio...
Author: saraford Date: 06/11/2008
Did you know… You can insert a snippet via “tab tab” - #234
This was tip #7 from my TechEd 2008 VS IDE Tips and Tricks. A few months ago, I had dinner...
Author: saraford Date: 06/10/2008
Did you know… How to increase your Visual Studio environment fonts for presentations? - #233
Thanks to everyone who attended my talks on Friday. Wow. What a great turnout and...
Author: saraford Date: 06/09/2008
Did you know… What settings are contained in the “New Project Dialog Preferred Language” category? - #232
Oh boy… i’m doing 2 talks at TechEd today! One is the big Visual Studio 2008 IDE Tips and...
Author: saraford Date: 06/06/2008
Visual Studio 2008 IDE Tips and Tricks - Deck, Tips, Shortcuts, and Content
If you are reading this, you either attended my talk or you're looking at the slide deck, and that's...
Author: saraford Date: 06/05/2008
Did you know… How to find what development settings you last reset to? - #231
Tuesday’s tip discussed how to reset your settings, but maybe you don’t remember what you picked...
Author: saraford Date: 06/05/2008
Did you know… What the difference between “Automatic” and “Default” is in the Tools – Options – Environment – Fonts and Colors? – #230
Of all the pieces of UI in Visual Studio, I think these two options confuse me the most. ...
Author: saraford Date: 06/04/2008
Did you know… How to reset your environment settings via Tools – Import/Export Settings? - #229
Today, Charlie is doing the Visual Studio 2008 IDE Tips and Tricks talk at TechEd, hence why Import...
Author: saraford Date: 06/03/2008
Did you know… View.Forward (Alt+Right Arrow) and View.Backward (Alt+Left Arrow) global commands also work in the Object Browser - #228
In an earlier tip, I discussed how you can navigate forward and backward with the Alt+Minus and...
Author: saraford Date: 06/02/2008
Did you know… Why the Object Browser has so many commands you can bind to (and how to create a keyboard shortcut to clear the search results) - #227
As I’ve been writing the Object Browser Tip Series, I noticed that there were a lot of commands...
Author: saraford Date: 05/30/2008
Did you know… What the “Default Presentation Language” setting does the Object Browser settings? - #226
In yesterday’s tip, I talk about how you can export and import your Object Browser settings. ...
Author: saraford Date: 05/29/2008
3 Talks at TechEd 2008 – Wish Me Luck!
Tuesday starts TechEd 2008, where I’ll find myself presenting three(!) talks. The third talk...
Author: saraford Date: 05/28/2008
Did you know… You can export all your Object Browser customizations in a .vssettings file? - #225
Over these past couple of weeks, we’ve taken a close look at customizing your Object Browser...
Author: saraford Date: 05/28/2008
Did you know… The Object Browser Supports Type-Ahead Selection? - #224
Today’s tip you’ve probably tried on your own, just in hopes that it would work. But just in...
Author: saraford Date: 05/27/2008
Did you know… You can do a “Find Symbol” search (Shift+F12) in the Object Browser? - #223
Just like yesterday’s tip that talked about going to an object or function’s definition, you can...
Author: saraford Date: 05/26/2008