Visual Studio snippet for a TestMethod with a proper naming convention (naming convention was proposed by Roy Osherove)

Here it is, see this post for details on how to import it into your Visual Studio. Enjoy!

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CodeSnippets
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>Test method with a naming convention</Title>
      <Author>Roy Osherove, yevgeller</Author>
      <Description>Test method with the following naming convention: method under testing, condition, and expected results. The naming convention was taken from Roy Osherove's book "The Art of Unit Testing"</Description>
      <Shortcut>testmc</Shortcut>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Imports>
        <Import>
          <Namespace>
            Microsoft.VisualStudio.TestTools.UnitTesting;
          </Namespace>
        </Import>
      </Imports>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>NameOfMethodUnderTest</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the method that you want to test</ToolTip>
          <Default>YourMethod</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>ConditionYouAreTesting</ID>
          <ToolTip>Condition that you want to test</ToolTip>
          <Default>IsNull</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>ExpectedResult</ID>
          <ToolTip>The result that you expect</ToolTip>
          <Default>NullArgumentException</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
        <Code Language="csharp">
          <![CDATA[          
          [TestMethod]
          public void $NameOfMethodUnderTest$_$ConditionYouAreTesting$_$ExpectedResult$()
          {

          }
          ]]>
        </Code>
      </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Tips for easy class visualization during debugging (Visual Studio/C#)

Note to self, either put this above the class declaration

[DebuggerDisplay("{Id}: {Name}")]
public class Foo
{
  public int Id {get;set;}
  public string Name {get;set;}
  ...
}

or override ToString() method :) source

Code snippet for MVVM command in a ViewModel

Since code snippets are not that hard to do, here is another one. This one gets all the plumbing for a command in a ViewModel, I used DelegateCommand class to abstract all the INotifyPropertyChanged functionality. See my other posts on the subject. Call this one in VisualStudio by its shortcut, dcmvvm.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CodeSnippets
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>Plumbing for an MVVM DelegateCommand</Title>
      <Author>yevgeller</Author>
      <Description>Plumbing for an MVVM DelegateCommand for use in a ViewModel</Description>
      <Shortcut>dcmvvm</Shortcut>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>cmd1</ID>
          <ToolTip>Prefix for a private variable that holds command name.</ToolTip>
          <Default>your</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>cmd2</ID>
          <ToolTip>Prefix for a property Name that exposes the command to the View.</ToolTip>
          <Default>Your</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="csharp">
        <![CDATA[
        DelegateCommand _$cmd1$Command;
        public ICommand $cmd2$Command { get { return _$cmd1$Command; } }
        private void $cmd2$CommandAction(object obj)
        {
            throw new NotImplementedException();
        }
        //add the following line to ViewModel constructor or wherever else you initialize your commands:
        _$cmd1$Command = new DelegateCommand(this.$cmd2$CommandAction, this.Can$cmd2$);
        private bool Can$cmd2$(object obj)
        {
            return true;
        }
      ]]>
      </Code>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Code snippet file for a property that calls for OnPropertyChanged event

With minimal changes, this snippet will also work for PropertyChanged event. How to use:

1. Save the following contents into a .snippet file
2. Visual Studio -> Tools -> Code Snippets Manager (or Ctrl+K, Ctrl+B)
3. Import, find your file
4. While working on another ViewModel, type in propopc and enjoy

Note to self: while working on the next snippet, if variables don't show up in the result, make sure that they are included in the <Snippet> section

Helpful resource 1, helpful resource 2.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CodeSnippets
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>Property with a call to OnPropertyChanged</Title>
      <Author>yevgeller</Author>
      <Description>Property calling OnPropertyChanged method</Description>
      <Shortcut>propopc</Shortcut>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>var</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with a private variable.</ToolTip>
          <Default>_privateVar</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>type</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with a property type.</ToolTip>
          <Default>string</Default>
        </Literal>
        <Literal>
          <ID>propName</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with a property name.</ToolTip>
          <Default>MyProperty</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="csharp">
        <![CDATA[
  private $type$ $var$;
         public $type$ $propName$
         {
              get { return $var$; }
              set
              {
                  if ($var$ == value) return;
                  $var$ = value;
                  OnPropertyChanged("$propName$");
              }
         }
      ]]>
      </Code>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

One of the uses for Visual Studio's Output window

I am generating some dummy data for testing every time I build and run a program, and I need to look something up every time. Being a lazy programmer, I was wondering if there is a way in Visual Studio to display something during compile time. I found that if execute this code:

System.Diagnostics.Debug.WriteLine("Hello, World!");

Then it will be display along with a bunch of other compilation info in the Output Window. Oh, yeah, Output window in Visual Studio is also extremely useful for displaying XAML binding information.

Today I learned: Unit testing using Visual Studio Express for Windows Phone

Visual Studio Express 2012 for Windows Phone has built-in support for Unit Testing. Here is the article on MSDN. Here is how to set it up (quickly). VS has to have at least update 2, and all you need to do is to add another project to your solution, choose "Windows Phone Unit Test App". Then write your unit tests and run them using the "TEST" menu on the top bar.

Now if only they allowed access to visualstudio.com for Windows Phone projects or made VS 2013 for Windows Phone available for download.