Some of the lesser known shortcuts of Visual Studio.NET to make coding easy and fun...

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I have always been a key-board savvy person and don't like using the mouse until necessary!!! While programming, there are quite a few things which makes our life really, really easy, provided you do the hard thing today, i.e, learn the shortcuts. In this entry I am trying to list out some of my favorites. For a complete list, just search the documentation that comes along ;o)

NOTE:In the list given below When you find three keys like CTRL+K+C as a shortcut, you should keep CTRL pressed, press K and and then press C one by one.

Comments
CTRL+K+C = Comments the complete selection as per the language
CTRL+K+U = UnComments the selection

Bookmarks
CTRL+K+K = Create Bookmark => Pressing it again toggles the bookmark
CTRL+K+N = Go to the next bookmark
CTRL+K+P = Go to the previous bookmark
CTRL+K+L = Clear All bookmarks

Viewing => If you really wanna get the best out of it, create #Regions.
CTRL+M+O = Collapses everything to Definition
CTRL+M+P = Removes all Outlining Information
CTRL+M+H = Hides the Selection
CTRL+M+U = Un-hides (Shows) the hiddnen Selection
CTRL+M+M = Toggles Outlining Expansion
CTRL+M+L = Toggles all procedures to the same expanded or hidden state.

Searching
CTRL+F = Regular Find Dialog box
CTRL+SHIFT+F = Find in Files
CTRL+H = Find and Replace
CTRL+SHIFT+H = Find and Replace in Files
CTRL+/ = Puts the cursor in the Find/Command Box. Type something and hit Enter to find it. Hit enter again, to find the next instance of the string. The benefit of this over CTRL+F is that you don't have any Dialogbox to deal with.

Toolbox
CTRL+ALT+X = Displays the Toolbox window
CTRL+UP = Move to the previous Toolbox tab
CTRL+DOWN = Move to the next Toolbox tab
UP/Down = Move to the correct control. After the control is selected, press ENTER

CTRL+ALT+L = Solution Explorer
F4 = Properties

Of course, there are many other shortcuts and above all, you can customize them to your taste. I don't want to overwhelm you by listing all. The above list though is something which I really can't do without!!!

Until next time...
-Rahul Soni