Visual Assist

Productivity tool for C/C++ and C#

Visual Assist fills gaps in the coding experience of Microsoft Visual Studio, making a great IDE a phenomenal IDE.

Download Visual Assist from this marketplace (gallery) page to install the extension into Microsoft Visual Studio 2019-2015.

Download an .exe installer from www.wholetomato.com if you want to install Visual Assist into mulitple IDEs or to install into Visual Studio 2013-2005.

Sample Features by Category

Navigation

Move about your code efficiently and easily—to any file, method, symbol, or symbol reference in your projects and solutions. Navigate with commands like Find Symbol in Solution, Open File in Solution, an upgraded version of Find References, and Goto Related.

Go to related locations of any symbol, including base classes, derived classes, constructors, and members.

Navigate throughout a solution to VA Hashtags in comments. VA Hashtags are user-defined, shared bookmarks that move with code. Use the feature also as task manager.

Navigate among VA Hashtags using a dedicated tool window or local context menu.

Refactoring

Reduce the complexity of your code, improve its readability, and make it extensible without changing its external behavior. Refactor with commands like Rename, Encapsulate Field, Introduce Variable, and Change Signature.

Use Change Signature to add, remove and reorder parameters in definitions and call sites.

Code Generation

Generate code quickly with commands like Add Missing Case Statements, Implement Interface / Virtual Methods, and Create from Usage.

Create methods, variables, and enums without leaving your place in code.

Coding Assistance

Write code with assistance that doesn't get in your way. Select using enhanced member listboxes, surround selections with code snippets, quickly grow selections on logical boundaries, and accept suggestions that appear before you type.

Suggestions include relevant bits of nearby code.

Code Understanding

Make sense of complex or unfamiliar code with an assortment of informative fields, highlights that update as you move about code, and enhanced syntax coloring.

Decipher code faster with bold, italics, and more meaningful colors.

Debug Assistance

Use debugger enhancements in Visual Assist to shorten the time required to debug native C/C++. Browse PDBs efficiently; resolve symbols in text-only call stacks; and use the VA Step Filter step over trusted methods in argument lists.

Tool Windows

Access tool windows for a hierarchy of header files, list of recently visited places, and an outline of the current file that allows drag-and-drop to rearrange its contents.

VA Code Snippets

Expand frequently typed segments of code with a more powerful version of the like-named feature in the IDE. Expand symbols from the current context, prompt for user input, and edit VA Snippets in a custom editor.

Code Correction

Correct typing mistakes as you make them, including incorrect symbol case, invalid pointer notation, and spelling errors in strings and comments.