Inheritance Navigator

A lightweight Visual Studio extension for navigating type hierarchies quickly and efficiently.

Jump to base types or derived types directly from the current caret position using a clean popup selector window.

Features

• Navigate to base types
• Navigate to derived types / implementations
• Clean popup selection window
• Keyboard-first navigation
• Works with classes and interfaces
• Preserves context at caret position

Installation

Install from:

• Visual Studio Marketplace
• Or build the .vsix file and install manually

After installation, restart Visual Studio.

Usage

1. Place the caret inside a class or interface.
2. Trigger the command via keyboard shortcut.
3. A popup window appears listing:
   • Base types (if navigating upwards)
   • Derived types / implementations (if navigating downwards)
4. Use arrow keys to select.
5. Press Enter to navigate.

Adding Keyboard Shortcuts (Important)

You must manually assign keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio.

Steps

1. Go to:

   Tools → Options → Environment → Keyboard

2. In Show commands containing, search for:

   Tools.NavigatetoBaseType
   Tools.NavigatetoDerivedType

3. Assign your preferred shortcuts (recommended):

   • Alt + Home → Tools.NavigatetoBaseType
   • Alt + End → Tools.NavigatetoDerivedType

Critical: Remove Conflicting Shortcuts

For Alt + Home and Alt + End to work correctly, you must:

• Search for Alt+Home
• Remove ALL existing assignments
• Search for Alt+End
• Remove ALL existing assignments

Only after removing all existing mappings should you assign these shortcuts to:

Tools.NavigatetoBaseType
Tools.NavigatetoDerivedType

If existing bindings remain, the extension may not trigger correctly.

Keyboard Navigation Inside Popup

• Up / Down → Move selection
• Enter → Navigate
• Escape → Close window

Designed for fast, mouse-free usage.

Supported Types

• Classes
• Interfaces
• Abstract classes
• Multiple interface implementations

Technical Notes

• Uses Roslyn SymbolFinder
• Supports transitive hierarchy traversal
• Built with WPF and MVVM
• Optimized for fast keyboard navigation
• Minimal UI footprint

Why Inheritance Navigator?

Visual Studio navigation is powerful but often mouse-heavy.

Inheritance Navigator focuses on:

• Speed
• Keyboard-first workflow
• Lightweight hierarchy traversal
• Clean popup-based selection