Moving faster in the IDE while programming

Here’s some possibly lesser known tips to move fast while programming (C++, Visual Studio)

Windows

1. Add explorer to the quick launch bar. Under target, use “%SystemRoot%\explorer.scf”. Under start in, use “%HOMEDRIVE%%HOMEPATH%”. Both without the quotation marks. This way you can get to C: with one click, rather than starting at My Documents
2. Similarly, in explorer, you can add local directories to the favorites list. I added the base directory to my game there.
3. If you don’t have the show desktop button in the quick launch bar, add it.

Visual Studio

1. Hit ctrl-tab and hold down tab to go between the most recent windows
2. ctrl-minus to go back to the last cursor position (can be done repeatedly). ctrl-shift-minus to go forward
3. ctrl-shift-v to get a list of recently copied items.
4. Memorize and use the hotkeys for find in files.

Visual Assist

1. Use alt-g to goto on a keyword or token. If the results are wrong, right click, go to definition or declaration. Between the two you can get to where you need to be.
2. Use VAssistX under the menu bar, then go to refactor. Renaming there is very useful. You can also get this by getting a tooltip for a variable or function, then clicking the down pointing black arrow that usually comes up.
3. Shift-alt-o to bring up a list of files, searchable by name.

UltraMon and multiple monitors

1. Under options, select Smart Taskbar, use Smart Taskbar, and Mode: Standard. This gives you two task bars.
2. Under options / Hotkeys / Move window to next monitor, I’ve bound alt+n. This way I can view 2 fullscreen documents without reaching for the mouse
3. Both of my monitors run at 1600×1200
4. When multiple copy/paste isn’t enough, I open UltraEdit as a notepad and can move quickly. UltraEdit also has a more powerful find/replace tool than Visual Studio and is better for dealing with multiple line replaces.