Create Custom Code Snippet In Visual Studio 2015 - Part Three

Before reading this article, please go through the following articles:

• Create a Custom Code Snippet In Visual Studio 2015 - Part One
• Create Custom Code Snippet In Visual Studio 2015 - Part Two

In previous articles, we looked into custom C# code snippet and built-in functions available for it in Visual Studio 2015. Here, we will go further and look into elements and attributes available for extending a code snippet.

We can use Header section for specifying general information about the code snippet as shown below:



HelpUrl contains a URL that contains more information about the code snippet.

Keyword contains custom keyword for the snippet and is used by Visual Studio to represent a standard way for online content providers to add custom keywords for searching or categorization.

Shortcut contains shortcut text used to insert the snippet and can have alphanumeric characters, hyphens ( - ), and underscores ( _ ).

SnippetType specifies how Visual Studio inserts the code snippet, it can have one of the following values:

1. SurroundsWith: allows the code snippet to be placed around a selected piece of code.
2. Expansion: allows the code snippet to be inserted at the cursor.
3. Refactoring: specifies that the code snippet is used during Visual C# refactoring.

We can use code elements for defining short code blocks, which can contain two reserved keywords within it and can be used only once.

$selected$: It represents text selected in the document that is to be inserted into the snippet when it is invoked.

$end$: It marks the location to place the cursor after the code snippet is inserted.



In above snippet, $selected$ will be replaced by text selected, while code snippet is invoked and cursor will be placed at$end$ after inserting it.

Let’s create an enum than select text Days and invoke snippet ESwitch by using shortcut Ctrl+K, Ctrl+X:



$selected$ is replaced with Days and cursor is placed at $end$ marker.

Similarly, we can use other elements like function element for defining a function to be executed when the literal or object receives focus in Visual Studio.

For a complete list of available code snippet elements, please refer here.

Code snippets increase productivity by reducing the amount of time spent in typing repetitive code. I am ending the article on code snippets, I hope this article will be helpful for all.