Prerequisites
"Go To" Menu
Navigating our way around a large code base can be quite a chore. To make our job easier, VS2017 has added a new "Go To" menu. This new menu effectively wraps up links with keyboard shortcuts to a new dialog, allowing you to search for a keyword in:
- All – Ctrl+T
- Files – Ctrl+1, Ctrl+F
- Types – Ctrl+1, Ctrl+T
- Members – Ctrl+1, Ctrl+M
- Symbols – Ctrl+1, Ctrl+S
![]()
"Go to All" Dialog
The new "Go To All" dialog will save us heaps of time trying to find that method or file which we know the name of, but can’t seem to remember where exactly it is.
We can either leave this dialog set to search for all, or we can narrow the selection to -
- Line
- Files
- Type
- Symbols
- Members
![]()
Filtered IntelliSense
With the addition of IntelliSense Filtering, it should now be simpler to drill down the results you’re especially interested in.
We can filter the IntelliSense list by -
- Locals and Parameters
- Constants
- Properties
- Fields
- Methods
- Interfaces
- Classes
- Modules
- Structures
- Enums
- Namespaces
- Keywords
![]()
Predictive IntelliSense
The IntelliSense list is now more careful about selecting which item we are intending to type, by predicting and selecting the most likely item you would like based on our current context.
"Find All" References
The Find All References results have had a complete makeover, resulting in a far more usable experience all around. The results are now color-coded and grouped, also allowing us to search and filter the results to find the exact matches to what we are interested in.
![]()
Run-To-Click
A nice enhancement to debugging comes in the form of Run-To-Click. Now, instead of needing to right click and select Run To Cursor, simply hovering over any subsequent line while in a paused state will show the new "Run-To-Click" icon. Hitting this will automatically run the code on to this position and stop again.
![]()
Run-To-Click Perf Tips
Like Visual Studio 2015, Performance Tips are automatically shown once the execution is completed. These are also exposed for the new Run-To-Click feature, indicating how long has it elapsed since the previous breakpoint was hit – .
As always, clicking the "Performance" ToolTip will open the diagnostics panel with all the relevant information.
![]()
Conclusion
Visual Studio 2017 seems particularly focused on boosting productivity and resolving performance issues with large, enterprise-grade solutions.