Click here to Skip to main content
15,867,453 members
Articles / Visual Studio
Tip/Trick

Making F1 do something useful in Visual Studio

Rate me:
Please Sign up or sign in to vote.
5.00/5 (49 votes)
12 Feb 2011CPOL 62.1K   32   21
F1 in Visual Studio takes forever, and rarely comes up with anything useful. Replace it with a Google MSDN search!
For Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010:

1) Open VS, and on the Menu bar select "Tools...Macros...New Macro Project"
2) Call the project "GoogleSearchMSDN"
3) I'm so sorry about this, but VB is involved here. Not my fault, honest!
4) Rename the default Module1 to "DoGoogleSearchMSDN" - right click on the module name in the left hand pan, select "Rename"
5) Enter the following code as the module body:
Sub GoogleSearchMSDN()
    Dim url As String
    Dim searchFor As TextSelection = DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection()
    If searchFor.Text <> "" Then
        url = "www.google.com/search?q=MSDN+" + searchFor.Text
    Else
        url = "www.google.com/search?q=MSDN"
    End If
    DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.URL", url)
End Sub

6) Build and save your module.
7) Use the menu bar again: "Tools...Options...Environment...Keyboard"
8) In the "Show commands containing:" textbox, type "Google" - you should see your new macro.
9) Go to the "Press shortcut keys" box, and press F1
10) Press OK.

F1 now searches for "MSDN" plus whatever you highlighted.

[edit]Took out the "C#" reference in the "searches for" comment at the end - mine does, because I put that in the URL... :-O -- OriginalGriff [/edit]

License

This article, along with any associated source code and files, is licensed under The Code Project Open License (CPOL)


Written By
CEO
Wales Wales
Born at an early age, he grew older. At the same time, his hair grew longer, and was tied up behind his head.
Has problems spelling the word "the".
Invented the portable cat-flap.
Currently, has not died yet. Or has he?

Comments and Discussions

 
GeneralReason for my vote of 5 Sweet, real sweet! Thank you Origin... Pin
Vic Rauch12-Feb-11 17:59
Vic Rauch12-Feb-11 17:59 

General General    News News    Suggestion Suggestion    Question Question    Bug Bug    Answer Answer    Joke Joke    Praise Praise    Rant Rant    Admin Admin   

Use Ctrl+Left/Right to switch messages, Ctrl+Up/Down to switch threads, Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right to switch pages.