Comment/Uncomment Macro .NET

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Introduction

These macros provide a quick way to comment/uncomment a block of code, add a header to a function, and set the layout of a file for VS.NET. With a single click (or key press), a line or a number of lines can be commented or uncommented. With a single click to a highlighted function declaration, a header will be provided giving details of the author, the date it was created, and a description. With a single click, a new .c/.cc/.cpp/.h/.hpp file will be given a standard layout. The layout consists of copyright information, description of the file, and sections for defines, globals, prototypes, header files etc.

The macros are easy to customise, thusly tailored to everybody's unique coding style.

Background

There seems to be a few comment/uncomment macros for MS VC++6 already out there but none seem to handle the file layout or provide an easy way to write a header for a function. However, there seems to be no such macros for VS.NET (or MS VC++ 7 +).

Using the code

The first thing to do is install it. Download the .zip file and extract the contents to wherever you like. I would suggest unzipping to "C:\Program Files\Microsoft Visual Studio 8\VC\VSMacros80". Next, load the macro file into the workspace: Tools->Macros->Load Macro Project. To make the use of these macros easier, I advise creating a new toolbar with these commands on: Tools->Customize->New. Give it a name, e.g., "Comment Helper". Next, click on the Command tab of the open dialog, scroll down to Macros, and scroll down to the bottom of the Commands pane, and choose the four "Macros.CommentHelper" functions:

Make sure to save your workspace. Assign accelerator keys if you like. The macros are now loaded and easily accessible.

Simply place the cursor on any line and press the Comment Out button, or select several lines and press the button. Hey presto, they are commented out.

Simply place the cursor on any line and press the Comment In button, or select several lines and press the button. Hey presto, they are commented in. The macros will not comment in lines that are not commented out.

Open a new .c/.cc/.cpp/.h/.hpp file, and press the SetFileLayout button, hey presto, instant file layout occurs:

Lastly, adding a header to a function. Double click a function's name in its declaration:

Press the AddFunctionHeader button. Enter a description of the function's purpose, and you're done...

Points of interest

The code was written with extensibility in mind, and whilst it's far from perfect, it should be easy enough to extend the functions and also modify them to cater for anyone's unique coding style habits.

I had planned on adding the C multi-line style comments, but decided against it on the fact that when these lines are viewed in the Find text pane, it is not clear whether the lines are commented or not. But if each line is commented out with C++ single line comments, then it is very obvious the line is commented out!

History

• 20^th August 2006: Submitted to CodeProject for submission. Currently only supports .c/.cc/.cpp/.h/.hpp files.