Microsoft Visual Studio Intermediate: Working With Editors

Name: Microsoft Visual Studio Intermediate: Working With Editors
Author: Mark Young

Learn how to work with Visual Studio code editors

Preview the first lesson free — get full access to all 4 lessons.

Course: On-Demand

Hello, my name is Mark, and in these lessons, we will talk about working with editors. In this lesson, I will give you an introduction to the Visual Studio editor. Before we start, let's just define what an editor is. Simply put, an editor is a computer program that allows us to open, modify, and save any file based on the file type. When we talk about a resource type, we're really talking about the file type. So, for example, if we look at a simple web application, we might have resources such as . json files, .cs, which is C -sharp source code, or just simply .txt files, which are text files. In a simple text file, we have very basic functionality. So we can go into the text file and add some text. We can save the file. We can delete, and so on. But there's nothing more really going on here. There's no color coding. There's no context. It's just a plain text file. Since within Visual Studio we're working with many different resource types, we have lots of different functionality based on the resource type with which we're working. So, for example, if we open up a C -sharp source code file, we immediately see some differences. One thing you'll notice is that we now have color -coded keywords and class names, whereas in our text file, all the text was black and white. If we hover over one of these color -coded keywords, we'll also notice that it gives us a tooltip that gives us additional information based on which keyword or class name our cursor sits on. One other thing to compare is the context menus, that is, the menu when we right -click on any given area within the screen. You'll see all of the different options that we have here in our CS source code editor. And if we compare that to a text file, our context menu is much shorter. It's important to emphasize that each editor is based on its own set of resource types. So if we look again at the resource types in our Solution Explorer to the right -hand side, .cs for C -sharp source code uses a different editor than . txt. We can take a look at all of the editors out of the box for Visual Studio if we go up to Tools in the menu bar, down to Options, and we look at our Text Editor menu option. Under Text Editor, you'll see options that are categorized first, generically, which apply to all text editors, General, Advanced, Code Cleanup, all languages. But then underneath that, starting with Android XML, in my case, you'll notice a whole list of very specific resource types. ASP .NET Web Forms, C -sharp, which is one of those that we were looking at, C and C++, and so on. Each one of these has a section of options that are both generic, general, and then range from generic to quite complex with regard to things like rule setting and code The color coding that we were looking at is a little bit tricky. It's still resource type specific, however, it lives in a different place. It would live up in Environment, Fonts, and Colors. And so what you'll see is we're looking at the settings for Text Editor, and then we have all these options related to the type of keyword, but also the type of resource. So C and C++, labels, keywords, member functions, etc. But then also CSS related information, F -sharp resource type related information, and so on. So if we're looking to change the color coding for a resource type, we would go to Environment. But going back to Text Editor, to reiterate, as we navigate down the hierarchy from Text Editor to the specific resource type, the options become more specific to that resource type, and in many cases much more complex. Such as under our C -sharp code where we can configure rules to implement naming and formatting conventions. For example, to enforce code consistency. Stay tuned for our next lesson, where we'll delve a little bit deeper into configuring some of these options as they relate to project organization. Thanks for watching!

Intermediate Provider : Mark Young 4 Lessons · 33m in Arabic, German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Chinese

Course Description

Each software development project is tailored to meet the specific requirements of the company or organization undertaking it, making every effort unique. These requirements, guided by the company's goals and influenced by the dynamics of the development team responsible for building and maintaining the software deliverable, shape the distinct nature of each software development endeavor. By recognizing the diverse set of needs and factors involved and how to edit them to fit your needs, you can ensure that the resulting software aligns with your objectives.

In this course, you will learn how to work with editors that are specific to your development needs. We will explore how to configure different editors and how to optimize a shared development workspace that facilitates productivity and consistency in the software development and maintenance workflow. By the end of this course, you will be able to identify the editors most useful to your development team/efforts and work with them productively and consistently across teams.

What You'll Learn

Differentiate resource-specific editors and understand their capabilities
Configure different editors to fit your development needs
Identify which editor configurations work best for you and your team and why
Optimize a shared development workspace for productivity and consistency
Navigate code within the Visual Studio editor
Work with editors productively and consistently across teams

Key Takeaways

Each software development project is shaped by the company's goals and the dynamics of its development team, making every effort unique.
Editors can be configured and edited to fit the specific needs of your development work.
Optimizing a shared development workspace facilitates productivity and consistency across the software development and maintenance workflow.
By the end of the course, learners can identify the editors most useful to their team and use them productively and consistently across teams.

Frequently Asked Questions

What will I learn in this course?

You will learn how to work with editors specific to your development needs, how to configure different editors, and how to optimize a shared development workspace that supports productivity and consistency in the software development and maintenance workflow.

What topics does this course cover?

It covers an introduction to the Visual Studio editor, editors and resources configuration (Parts 1 and 2), and code navigation.

Who is this course for?

It is suited to development teams and individuals who want to identify the editors most useful to their efforts and work with them productively and consistently across teams.

What skills does this course help build?

It addresses skills including using a code editor, Java editors, Microsoft Expression Studio, Microsoft Visual Studio, the Visual Editor, and Visual Studio Online.

What level is this course?

This is an intermediate-level Microsoft Visual Studio course focused on working with editors.