Visual Studio 2008/2010: show method names in search results in In In files

Question

I dreamed that I could see the names of the constructor / method / property along with the search results (Visual Studio Find In Files function), if applicable / available.

For example, if I searched for _dreamProvider in Sleep.cs, I would get something like this in the "Search Results" window:

Sleep.cs (5): protected IDreamProvider _dreamProvider;

Sleep.cs (10): Sleep (IDreamProvider): _dreamProvider = dreamProvider;

Sleep.cs (68): BeginColdSweats (int): var d = _dreamProvider.Create (DreamTypes.Nightmare);

Sleep.cs (74): BeginSomniloquy (int, string): var d = _dreamProvider.Create (DreamTypes.Epic);

This may come in handy if you want to immediately see in what contexts a code snippet is used (and not just a specific character), especially when analyzing legacy code and / or refactoring.

I could not find a VS addon that would bring this understanding of the structure of the code in the search results. And for this there is no special settings registry icon .

Do you know any VS add-ons or some hacks to achieve this or something like that?

thanks

Answer 1

ReSharper offers this type of feature "Search Usage ...":

http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/documentation/help20/UsageSearch/findResultsWindow.html

Answer 2

Have you tried CTRL + ,

Finding and moving code in Visual Studio 2010

Go to (Ctrl + comma), new for Visual Studio 2010 - this is a powerful way to search, especially if you're not exactly what you are looking for. This helps you find elements in your code using the "fuzzy" search capabilities. For example, if you type Foo Bar instead of FooBar, Navigate To will still return useful results. This is an intelligent, incremental search that refines as you type and find any characters (for example, file name, type and name) that match your search conditions.

Answer 3

Resharper does it