I recently upgrading ASP.NET MVC 2 solution from Visual Studio 2008 to Visual Studio 2010 (Ultimate Edition). I found that debugging was very slow. Depending on project size, it took around 30 seconds to initialize and another 5 seconds on each page request in my experience.

I tried disabling IntelliTrace (what is IntelliTrace?)

and…. voila! it got its awesome performance back!

asp.net · asp.net mvc · Tips & Tricks · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips

Changing default browser used in debugging ASP.NET MVC 2 is a bit tricky in Visual Studio 2010. To use ScottGu’s steps, you will need to add new ASPX page first. But unfortunately if you delete the page then close the application, anytime you rerun the application then the change you did will lost (it backs to use the default browser set in OS).

In my case I have Firefox set as my default browser but I need to use Internet Explorer as default browser for debugging. The trick I do is by doing these:

1. Open the project properties
2. Go to Web tab
3. Set the Start Action to use Start external program and then pass the Internet Explorer executable path and the url as Command line arguments.
4. Set the Servers’ specific port to the same port set in the url in step 3.

(click to view the image in original size)

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asp.net · asp.net mvc · Tips & Tricks · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips

In my previous blog post I wrote that the requirement to enable multi-targeting feature in Visual Studio 2010 is .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 installed in the machine. But why does it not enable the Target Framework dropdown in File –> New –> Project / Web Site dialog of Visual Studio 2010 Express edition? Is multi-targeting not supported in Visual Studio 2010 Express edition?

Visual C# 2010 Express

Visual Web Developer 2010 Express

If you’re a Visual Studio 2010 Express edition user, unfortunately you cannot take advantage of the Target Framework dropdown in the File –> New –> Project / Web Site dialog (as specified in http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb398197.aspx). But it doesn’t mean that multi-targeting is not supported.

By default Visual Studio 2010 Express edition will create the projects with .NET Framework 4 targeted. To change the target framework you can do it from Project Properties (Solution Explorer –> [right click your project] –> Properties)

Visual C# 2010 Express

Visual Web Developer 2010 Express

Hope this helps.

Tips & Tricks · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips

Visual Studio 2010 RTM has a bug in calculating available memory when developer try and do Cut or Copy text operations.

"Insufficient available memory to meet the expected demands of an operation at this time, possibly due to virtual address space fragmentation. Please try again later."

A patch available now for it that you can download from:
http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/Downloads/DownloadDetails.aspx?DownloadID=29729

More information about this issue and the patch can be found at:
http://blogs.msdn.com/b/visualstudio/archive/2010/06/25/patch-available-for-cut-or-copy-displaying-insufficient-memory-error-in-vs-2010.aspx

Tips & Tricks · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips

You got answer on MSDN forums telling you to run devenv /ResetSettings in Visual Studio 2008 command prompt but after searching you computer you can’t find it. Where the heck is it?

Look at below picture, you will be able to find it easily.

If it doesn’t help,

Visual Studio 2005
Start Menu –> All Programs –> Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 –> Visual Studio Tools –> Visual Studio 2005 Command Prompt

Visual Studio 2008
Start Menu –> All Programs –> Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 –> Visual Studio Tools –> Visual Studio 2008 Command Prompt

Visual Studio 2010
Start Menu –> All Programs –> Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 –> Visual Studio Tools –> Visual Studio Command Prompt (2010)

Tips & Tricks · VS2005 · VS2008 · VS2010

Visual Studio team has released Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools extension. This is a great extension to increase your productivity and bring back some Visual Studio 2008 feature such as close button in the tab well.

Here is the description I copied from the extension page.

Visual Studio 2010 Productivity Power Tools

A set of extensions to Visual Studio Professional (and above) which improves developer productivity.

• Document Well 2010 Plus (More Info)
  One of the key pieces of feedback that we have received over several versions of Visual Studio is that users want to be able to customize the behaviour of their document tabs.  From the ordering of tabs to the position of the close buttons, user can now configure dozens of different options for their tabs.  Go to Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Document Tab Well to configure these options as you prefer:
  • Tab Well UI
    • Scrollable tabs
      Maintain spatial consistency of the documents that are included in the document well.
    • Vertical tabs
      Document tabs are shown vertically, allowing you to fit more tabs than are normally visible when shown horizontally.
    • Pinned tabs
      Allows you to pin tabs to keep them always visible and available.
    • Show close button in tab well
      Similar to Visual Studio 2008, will show a close button in the document well that will close the active tab.
  • Tab Behavior
    • Remove tabs by usage order (LRU)
      When a new tab is inserted and existing tabs don’t fit in the document well, instead of removing the tab at the end of the well it will remove the least recently used tab. This ensures that frequently used tabs are readily available.
    • Show pinned tabs in a separate row/column
      Pinning tabs can quickly cause you to run out of space for regular tabs. The option allows you to always show pinned tabs in a separate row (or column, if displayed vertically) from regular tabs.
  • Sorting
    • Sort tabs by project
      Tabs will be sorted by the project they belong to, thus keeping them always together in the document tab well.
    • Sort tabs alphabetically
      Tabs will be sorted alphabetically. When Sort By Project is turned on, tabs will be sorted first by project and then alphabetically.
    • Sort tab well dropdown alphabetically
      The drop down menu at the right end of the document well is sorted alphabetically. This option allows ordering as the tabs are laid out in the document well.
  • Tab UI
    • Color tabs according to their project or according to regular expressions
      This option permits tabs to be colored according to the project they belong to. This is particularly useful when sorting tabs by project, as it allows you to immediately identify different groups of project documents.
      You can also configure regular expressions and assign a color to each one. If the name of a tab matches the configured regular expression, it will be colored with the assigned color.
    • Miscellaneous options that modify tab UI
      • Show document/toolwindow icon in tab
      • Show close button in tab
      • Modify dirty indicator style
        This option allows you to select from a set of different dirty indicators that you might prefer over the asterisk.
      • Modify minimum and maximum tab size
        Allows you to modify minimum and maximum tab size. Try setting minimum and maximum sizes to the same value, and you will have evenly spaced tabs.
• Searchable Add Reference Dialog
  The new Add Reference dialog makes it faster and easier for you to find the reference that you are looking for and add it to your VB, C# or F# project.  From the Solution Explorer, simply right click on the References node, select the Add Reference command to see the updated Add Reference Dialog. 
• Highlight Current Line
  As the resolution of monitors increases, it’s becoming more difficult to find the caret in the code editor.  The highlight current line extension makes it easy to find the caret by highlighting the line that the caret is on in the editor.  You can even configure the default colour by changing the setting for “Current Line (Extension)” and “Current Line Inactive (Extension)” in Tools Options Fonts & Colors. 
• HTML Copy (More Info)
  This extension provides support for the HTML Clipboard format when copying code from the editor.  This means that you’ll no longer have to go fix up the formatting of your code when you paste it into a TFS bug form or any other HTML based control. 
• Triple Click
  It’s never been easier to select a line of code from the mouse by simple triple-clicking anywhere on the line. 
• Fix Mixed Tabs
  Some developers prefer tabs, others prefer spaces, and nobody likes mixing tabs & spaces.  This extension promotes developer harmony by warning as they are open or save a file that has a mixture of tabs & spaces.  The information bar also provides an easy way to fix the file to suit your preference. 
• Ctrl + Click Go To Definition
  This extension gives the editor a web browser by adding clickable hyperlinks to symbols in your code as you hold down the Ctrl key.
• Align Assignments
  This extension is useful for making your code a little more readable by aligning the assignments when you type Ctrl+Alt+] such that it takes this:
  
  And turns it into this:
  
  Please note: This may conflict with your formatting settings. E.g. in C# you will need to disable: Tools->Options->Text Editor->C#->Formatting->Spacing->"Ignore spaces in declaration statements"
• Colorized Parameter Help
  This extension improves consistency with the editor by applying syntax highlighting to the contents of the Parameter Help window for C# &VB. 
• Move Line Up/Down Commands
  This extension maps the Alt+Up Arrow & Alt+Down Arrow keys such that they will move the current line of code or the selected lines up and down through the editor. 
• Column Guides
  Since Visual Studio 2002, there has been a not so secret registry key which allowed user to draw a vertical line in the code editor.  This is very useful to remind developers that their full line of code or comments may not fit one a single screen. Thanks to this extension this feature has returned with UI configure it.  Simply place the cursor at the appropriate column and select Add Guideline from the context menu 

When this post is written the version is 10.0.10608.1630 and it’s stable based on my experience.

Download it now for FREE at

http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/d0d33361-18e2-46c0-8ff2-4adea1e34fef

Extensions · productivity · Tips & Tricks · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips

In this blog post, I want to show you how to change the path of the Local Help Library.

Let’s say you want to move the location of the local content being stored. You can simply move the files and change the path.

Where is it stored now? run the Help Library Manager

Then click Settings

That is the current location. You can copy the contents of that folder to somewhere. (for this example, I move my help contents to D:\DUMMY FILES\HelpLibrary\)

Then open Registry Editor

and then go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE –> SOFTWARE –> Microsoft –> Help –> v1.0

Change the value of LocalStore with the path of the new location

In this case I changed it to D:\DUMMY FILES\HelpLibrary\

Okay, now go to the new location then edit the /manifest/queryManifest.3.xml using Notepad

Modify the following to match the new location

So, for this example it will become like this

That’s it!

You can test it by running Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Documentation

Tips & Tricks · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips

If you’re one of the fans of Multiple Document window layout in previous versions of Visual Studio, you will miss that feature in Visual Studio 2010.

Below is the options of Visual Studio 2008

And this is the option of Visual Studio 2010

Yep the setting of Multiple document is no longer there.

That would not be a big issue. Visual Studio 2010 has new feature Floating Window. You can make the editor window to float by simply right clicking the tab title and choose Float.

The editor window is now floating. You can drag anywhere.

To dock it back, you can do from Window –> Dock as Tabbed Document

This feature is better isn’t it? You can even drag it to the external display

Tips & Tricks · VS2008 · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips

It’s been few weeks after Silverlight 4 release. Now you can grab the final release Silverlight 4 Tools for Visual Studio 2010. That tool will also install the the final release of WCF RIA Services 1.0

If you have previously installed the tools, you don’t need to worry, it will uninstall them automatically.

Silverlight 4 · VS2010 · WCF RIA Services

Sometimes not well-coded extensions/add-ons can cause very annoying error. If you got any error in running Visual Studio 2010, especially if you use lot of 3rd party extensions/add-ons, then running Visual Studio 2010 in Safe Mode will be worth to try.

The Safe Mode will disable all extensions, that way you will know whether the error you got is Visual Studio error or caused by installed extensions.

To run Visual Studio in Safe Mode, you can type devenv.exe /safemode in Visual Studio command line or from Run window.

More about running Visual Studio in Safe Mode:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms241278.aspx

Tips & Tricks · VS2010 · VS2010-Tips