Sara Ford's Weblog
My adventures embracing open source on CodePlex and at Microsoft
Did you know... You can customize the commands on the context menus? - #140
I had to do some research to remember how to do this, but now we’ll all know. Three cheers for...
Author: saraford Date: 01/30/2008
OSCON 2008 Here I come again... I hope!
It’s funny to read blog posts from a year ago, like my OSCON 2008 Here I come… I hope! Well,...
Author: saraford Date: 01/28/2008
Did you know... You can display any toolbar at any time - #138
Right-click anywhere on the toolbar area, either on a toolbar itself or in the unused portion of the...
Author: saraford Date: 01/28/2008
Did you know... You can hide or show the default buttons from any toolbar? - #137
Yep, we’re in the "did you know…" toolbars series. Like yesterday’s tip focused on the...
Author: saraford Date: 01/25/2008
My open source podcasts from CodeMash 2008 now available
First, thanks to Chris Woodruff who tirelessly hosted podcast after podcast after podcast the entire...
Author: saraford Date: 01/25/2008
CodePlex team learns to cook a 5 course meal at Kaspars today
We had a team morale event today in Seattle at Kaspars. It was so much fun. We all got...
Author: saraford Date: 01/25/2008
Did you know... you can make a toolbar floating? - #136
First, you’ll want to put the mouse over the grip control. You’ll notice that the mouse...
Author: saraford Date: 01/24/2008
CodePlex Feature Requests Collected from CodeMash – Vote for what you want
At CodeMash 2008, I had an incredible opportunity to meet 1-1 with many various users of CodePlex,...
Author: saraford Date: 01/23/2008
Did you know... There are 4 window layouts that you can save - #135
There are four different window layout states Design view – what you see when you launch Visual...
Author: saraford Date: 01/23/2008
Ultimate Ears - my little review on the super.fi earphones
Ken Levy got me a set of super.fi Ultimate Ears earphones a while back to try out. At first, I...
Author: saraford Date: 01/23/2008
Did you know... You can dock a tool window to the top of the IDE? - #134
I kinda implied this tip in a previous tip when i introduced all of the various IDE docking targets,...
Author: saraford Date: 01/22/2008
Announcing the Lundi Gras Geek Dinner in South Mississippi!
I’m heading home for Mardi Gras, so Keith Elder and I are organizing a "Geek Dinner" in...
Author: saraford Date: 01/21/2008
Did you know... You can show auto-hiding Tool Windows via the Tool Window auto-hide channel - #133
This is one of those features i always forget about. The window management dev and I were...
Author: saraford Date: 01/21/2008
Did you know... How to just undock a single tool window from a group? - #132
This tip is similar to the one we saw in the Tools – Options – Environment – General series called...
Author: saraford Date: 01/18/2008
Did you know... You can auto-hide all of your tool windows with one command? - #130
Update 17 Jan 2008: Note there isn’t a way to re-show all your tool windows, when you apply...
Author: saraford Date: 01/16/2008
Did you know... Shift+Click automatically docks an auto-hiding tool window? - #129
So, I’m going through our Window Management test cases, looking for good tips and tricks, when I saw...
Author: saraford Date: 01/15/2008
Finally, tip numbers on all tips
I stated earlier that i would add numbers to each tip. However, the Saints ended up playing...
Author: saraford Date: 01/15/2008
always research a hair style before getting one (fauxhawk correction)
In an earlier post about CodeMash, i mentioned that I got a fauxhawk, because it is a mohawk for...
Author: saraford Date: 01/13/2008
A Great Time at CodeMash
Quite possibly the best conference I’ve ever been to. Even though I attended very few...
Author: saraford Date: 01/13/2008
Did you know... How to close just the selected files you want? - #127
Okay, not one of my better tip of the day titles, but it is my way of introducing the Windows...
Author: saraford Date: 01/11/2008
Attending CodeMash
There's just not enough coffee for west coast people who attend conferences on the east coast. This...
Author: saraford Date: 01/10/2008
Did you know... You can open up a Windows Explorer browser directly to the active file? - #126
Yep, we’re in the file tab channel context menu series for tip of the day. Hmm, i wonder what...
Author: saraford Date: 01/10/2008
Did you know... You can copy a file's full path from the File Tab Channel? - #125
Now this is a feature I absolutely cannot live without. This was one of the two best features...
Author: saraford Date: 01/09/2008
Did you know... You can "Close all but this" on files in the File Tab Channel? - #124
This is a really, really useful feature. But i’ll always remember how difficult it was for me...
Author: saraford Date: 01/08/2008
Did you know... Press Ctrl+Alt+Down Arrow to drop down the File Tab Channel File Menu - #123
A fellow program manager and I were trying to out "did you know…" each other about Visual...
Author: saraford Date: 01/07/2008
Did you know... use Ctrl+Tab to bring up the IDE Navigator to get a bird's eye view and navigation of all open files and tool windows in Visual Studio? - #122
In Visual Studio 2005, we introduced the IDE Navigator. It’s that window that pops up when you...
Author: saraford Date: 01/04/2008
Did you know... How to customize what Visual Studio opens to? (or how to make the start page not show up when VS opens) - #121
Under Tools – Options – Environment – Startup, you’ll find the At startup: combo box. You can...
Author: saraford Date: 01/03/2008
Did you know... You can change the RSS feed on the Visual Studio Start Page? - #120
Go to Tools – Options – Environment – Startup and in the Start Page News Channel: change to the...
Author: saraford Date: 01/02/2008
Did you know... How to show the Miscellaneous Files Project in the Solution Explorer? - #119
For those of you following the Tip of the Day series, say it with me now, “under the tools – options...
Author: saraford Date: 01/01/2008
Did you know.... How to customize what directory the File - Open - File dialog opens to? - #118
Today’s tip is pretty straightforward. Under Tools – Options – Environment – Documents,...
Author: saraford Date: 12/31/2007
Did you know... How to edit a read-only file in VS? - #117
In Tools – Options – Environment – Documents, there’s the option Allow editing of read-only files;...
Author: saraford Date: 12/28/2007
Did you know... How to automatically refresh an open document in the editor? - #116
Under Tools – Options – Environment – Documents, there’s the option to Detect when file is changed...
Author: saraford Date: 12/27/2007
Did you know... How to reuse the same editor window when opening files? - #115
Go to Tools – Options – Environment – Documents, and check the Reuse current document window, if...
Author: saraford Date: 12/26/2007
Did you know... You can speed up or slow down how fast a tool window slides to a from a docked position? - #114
On the Tools – Options – Environment – General page, you’ll find an animate environment tools...
Author: saraford Date: 12/25/2007
Did you know... How to customize auto-hiding and closing docked tool windows? - #113
In the Tools – Options – Environment – General page, you’ll find the checkboxes Close button affects...
Author: saraford Date: 12/24/2007
The Twelve Yats of Christmas (12 days of Christmas - New Orleans Style)
I’m in New Orleans right now (Miss Gulf Coast to be exact), and I just heard The 12 Yats of...
Author: saraford Date: 12/24/2007
Did you know... You can hide the Visual Studio status bar? - #112
I’m not sure what the user scenario is for hiding the status bar, but if you need / want to hide it,...
Author: saraford Date: 12/21/2007
Did you know... How to customize the number of items shown in the recent files lists? (and where to find those lists) - #111
Yes, you’ve guessed it, we’re in a series of related tips… with the lowest common denominator being...
Author: saraford Date: 12/20/2007
Did you know... Visual Studio supports a MDI mode? - #110
In Visual Studio, there’s a setting to toggle Visual Studio from the default tabbed document mode to...
Author: saraford Date: 12/19/2007
Did you know... how to open something in the binary editor - #109
for those of you following the tip of the day series, it’s time for something a little bit...
Author: saraford Date: 12/18/2007
Did you know... how to insert a code snippet around a block of code? - #108
C# and XML support the Edit.SurroundWith command that will insert the desired snippet around the...
Author: saraford Date: 12/17/2007
Did you know... How to share code snippets with your team? - #107
I like this tip because it isn’t really how to use features, but rather how to combine features to...
Author: saraford Date: 12/14/2007
Did you know... How to browse code snippets and add new ones - #106
All code snippets are found in the Code Snippet Manager. It is found at Tools – Code Snippet...
Author: saraford Date: 12/13/2007
Did you know... You can insert a code snippet via its shortcut keyword - #105
Update: thanks to Bill for catching that VB doesn’t show snippet shortcuts in the statement...
Author: saraford Date: 12/12/2007
DevTeach Open Source Panel recording now available on .NET Rocks!
Although I chose the wrong line at the border to reenter the US, adding an extra 45 minutes to the...
Author: saraford Date: 12/12/2007
Did you know... How to change default values and variables in a code snippet - #104
When you insert a code snippet, the editor highlights the fields (variables, values, etc) you can...
Author: saraford Date: 12/11/2007