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sl@sh
Tomato Guru
Switzerland
204 Posts |
 Posted - May 31 2013 : 02:31:40 AM
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I'm not sure this falls into the scope of VA, and I suspect it is quite a complex feature to implement. But I suppose asking doesn't hurt (much  ):
The scenario I'm thinking of is twofold:
1. while spending hours on a debug session, I'd like to be able to create some kind of link to a specific line in a file together with some comment about something I'd like to change or add later. Unfortunately even with "edit and compile", I cannot normally change the source file to that effect without disrupting the debugging session. Especially if the changes I have in mind require edits in multiple files, and maybe include entirely new methods or even classes.
2. While refactoring or introducing a complex new feature, I often need to change many different files, and there may be even more files that would need to be adapted as a copnsequence. When my changed file count raises above 8-10, it's easy to loose track of which files are related to what specific change. It would be cool to have some "change set" with a list of links to specific files (and locations within those files), so I can easily navigate to the change locations of one specific change set.
The idea I have is something similar to bookmarks, only that they can be managed in commented lists. Most notably they wouldn't affect the source code, so they could be added or changed during debugging. The UI I have in mind would include a list of annotations grouped by changeset, each with a comment, file and line. Double-clicking would open the file, and move the cursor to the correct line. Entering an annotation would be triggered by some hot key and require a comment and selection of an existing change set. Optionally a new change set could be created.
I've found it hard to believe there is no tool supporting a functionality like that. (or if there is I couldn't find it) I wonder if you guys would consider adding such a feature to VA. |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18751 Posts |
Posted - Jun 03 2013 : 11:17:35 AM
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Have you considered simply adding a version of // TODO - working here comments to the ends of lines where you need these markers?
You can ask the IDE to help you locate these TODO comment lines, and since these are just appended to the end of a line hopefully it won't cause to many problems for edit and continue. Since these are comments in the files, you don't have to worry about loosing them, or the markers getting offset when doing a source control update.
Have a look at:
IDE Tools menu -> Environment -> Task List
to see how to add other marker comments in addition to TODO. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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sl@sh
Tomato Guru
Switzerland
204 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2013 : 05:35:13 AM
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I had already tried all that a long time ago, but back then (using VS2003) TODOs were only listed for one file, so I all but forgot about it. Tried it again on our current version (VS2010) but it didn't work. Now that you mentioned it I tried again, but this time looked up Help, then Google, to locate the cause of the problem: apparently MS disabled the Task List view in C++ by default due to performance reasons! (see http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/feedback/details/551326/visual-studio-2010-c-task-list-problem ). Switched it back on and it works.
Thanks for reminding me of that functionality. |
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feline
Whole Tomato Software
United Kingdom
18751 Posts |
Posted - Jun 04 2013 : 11:00:30 AM
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It is quite some time since I used this IDE feature myself  It always sounded helpful, but somehow I never made much use of it.
Thank you for the update, I was not aware this was disabled by default, this is good to know. It does make sense that scanning all of the comments in the solution is a performance concern. Hopefully this will do what you want quickly and easily. |
zen is the art of being at one with the two'ness |
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linked annotations
