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Adding Your Own Code Snippet In Visual Studio 2008

While developing an application using the Visual Studio, it is a common scenario that you might need the code that you have used in a lot of your previous projects. Because it saves you from writing the same code again and again. Maintaining previous codes is a difficult task.

The good news is that the Visual Studio provides an option to save code snippets which you can use in your later projects. In this tutorial, I will explain how to create your own code snippet and how can we use it later.

Creation Of Code Snippet

Visual Studio stores the code snippets in an xml file. There are some predefined tags where each tag serve a particular purpose. If you want to create your own code snippet then you have to use those predefined xml tags.

The first step is to create an xml file say "test.xml" and add the following code in the file

<CodeSnippets xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
	<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0"></CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

These are the 2 tags that should be included in every xml file when you are creating your own code snippet.

It should be noted that I am writing this tutorial to make user familiar with the process of adding your own code snippet. So, I will not include each and every detail.

Second thing is to add the name of the code snippet to uniquely identify it. For that, the header tag should be added. So, the above code is changed to

<CodeSnippets xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
	<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
		<Header>
			<Title>MyCode</Title>
		</Header>
	</CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

So, the name of this code snippet is "MyCode". Finally, add the code which you want to reuse it. The code should be defined in Snippet tag and the code should be enclosed in Cdata xml element.

Let us say, we add the following code.

public DataSet GetResultSet(string query) {
	DataSet resultSet = new DataSet();
	using(OleDbConnection connection = new OleDbConnection("")) {
		connection.Open();
		using(OleDbDataAdapter adapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(query, connection)) {
			adapter.Fill(resultSet);
		}
	}
	return resultSet;
}

So Snippet section becomes

<Snippet>
    <Code Language="CSharp">
			<![CDATA[
				public DataSet GetResultSet(string query)
				{
					DataSet resultSet = new DataSet();
					using (OleDbConnection connection = new OleDbConnection(""))
					{
							connection.Open();
							using (OleDbDataAdapter adapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(query, connection))
							{
									adapter.Fill(resultSet);
							}
					}
						return resultSet;
					}
			] ]>
		</Code>
</Snippet>

Check the code tag inside the Snippet. This tag specifies the language. Here I am adding the C# code so I am specifying value of Language attribute as "Csharp". For VB code change the Language attribute value to VB.

So the whole XML code is

<CodeSnippets
	xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
	<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
		<Header>
			<Title>MyCode</Title>
		</Header>
		<Snippet>
			<Code Language="CSharp">
				<![CDATA[
						public DataSet GetResultSet(string query)
						{
								DataSet resultSet = new DataSet();
								using (OleDbConnection connection = new OleDbConnection(""))
								{
										connection.Open();
										using (OleDbDataAdapter adapter = new OleDbDataAdapter(query, connection))
										{
												adapter.Fill(resultSet);
										}
								}
								return resultSet;
						}
					] ]>
			</Code>
		</Snippet>
	</CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

The snippet file is a XML file with .snippet file extension. So rename the file from "test.xml" to "test.snippet".

Now our code snippet is ready now we have to include it in visual studio.

For that, Click and tools and then "Code Snippets Manager…".

Picture showing 'Code Snippets Manager..' option in tools menu

Click to Enlarge

Code Snippets Manager window will come

Picture showing Code Snippets Manager pop up window

Click to Enlarge

Add your snippet by clicking on "Add" button, choose the folder name and click ok.

For example, my code snippet "test.snippet" is in Snippet folder so when add the folder the Code Snippet Manager window will look like that

Picture showing 'Snippet' folder in Code Snippets Manager pop up window

Click to Enlarge

Click Ok.

Use Code Snippet In Your Project Later

To use the snippet in your code place the cursor(caret cursor) and press ctrl + K + X and a context menu will appear and you can see the name of the folder which you have added

Picture showing how 'Snippet' folder is displayed when 'CTRL + K + X' is pressed

Click to Enlarge

When you click on the folder you will see your code snippet with the name which you have defined in the header section of the XML file.

Click to Enlarge

When you click on the snippet the code is inserted into that location.

Summary

Adding code snippet in Visual studio is an easier way to maintain your code snippet.

Posted By -	Karan Gupta

Posted On -	Saturday, December 31, 2011

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