How do I customize the auto commenting text in Visual Studio?
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06-07-2019 - |
Question
When I type the trigger the auto comment feature in Visual Studio (by typing "'''" or "///"), most of the XML commenting details show up that I like. However, I typically add the history tag to the documentation so I can track and changes that are made to the method over time.
Is there any way I can customize the auto commenting feature so that it will add the history tag, and potentially some generic Name - Date - Change placeholder text?
Solution
I'd suggest using GhostDoc. It generates very smart comments using /// based on your method names and parameters. Also, it is fully customizable.
OTHER TIPS
I think that you could use a tool as dgarcia said but try to chose one that makes the version control insetad, Personally I'm not a huge fan of keep the "history" or track of the project using comments in the code.
If you like that way you could create your own customized version of the snippet, this is easier if you use a tool like Snippy
Copy this file to your
My Documents\Visual Studio 2005\Code Snippets[Language]\My Code Snippets\
Just be carefull to change the file if you gonna use it in VB.NET
Hope this help
Just as followup to the comment to Olivier. Here is a copy of the macro now, look for the '' Do History section to see where I inserted code.
''// InsertDocComments goes through the current document using the VS Code Model
''// to add documentation style comments to each function.
''
Sub InsertDocComments()
Dim projectItem As ProjectItem
Dim fileCodeModel As FileCodeModel
Dim codeElement As CodeElement
Dim codeElementType As CodeType
Dim editPoint As EditPoint
Dim commentStart As String
projectItem = DTE.ActiveDocument.ProjectItem
fileCodeModel = projectItem.FileCodeModel
codeElement = fileCodeModel.CodeElements.Item(1)
''// For the sample, don't bother recursively descending all code like
''// the OutlineCode sample does. Just get a first CodeType in the
''// file.
If (TypeOf codeElement Is CodeNamespace) Then
codeElement = codeElement.members.item(1)
End If
If (TypeOf codeElement Is CodeType) Then
codeElementType = CType(codeElement, CodeType)
Else
Throw New Exception("Didn't find a type definition as first thing in file or find a namespace as the first thing with a type inside the namespace.")
End If
editPoint = codeElementType.GetStartPoint(vsCMPart.vsCMPartHeader).CreateEditPoint()
''// Make doc comment start.
commentStart = LineOrientedCommentStart()
If (commentStart.Length = 2) Then
commentStart = commentStart & commentStart.Chars(1) & " "
ElseIf (commentStart.Length = 1) Then
commentStart = commentStart & commentStart.Chars(0) & commentStart.Chars(0) & " "
End If
''// Make this atomically undo'able. Use Try...Finally to ensure Undo
''// Context is close.
Try
DTE.UndoContext.Open("Insert Doc Comments")
''// Iterate over code elements emitting doc comments for functions.
For Each codeElement In codeElementType.Members
If (codeElement.Kind = vsCMElement.vsCMElementFunction) Then
''// Get Params.
Dim parameters As CodeElements
Dim codeFunction As CodeFunction
Dim codeElement2 As CodeElement
Dim codeParameter As CodeParameter
codeFunction = codeElement
editPoint.MoveToPoint(codeFunction.GetStartPoint(vsCMPart.vsCMPartHeader))
''//editPoint.LineUp()
parameters = codeFunction.Parameters
''// Do comment.
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.LineUp()
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart & "<summary>")
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart & "Summary of " & codeElement.Name & ".")
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart & "</summary>")
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart)
For Each codeElement2 In parameters
codeParameter = codeElement2
editPoint.Insert("<param name=" & codeParameter.Name & "></param>")
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart)
Next ''//param
''// Do history tag.
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.LineUp()
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart & "<history>")
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart & "Name MM/DD/YYYY [Created]")
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart & "</history>")
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbCrLf)
editPoint.Insert(Microsoft.VisualBasic.Constants.vbTab & commentStart)
End If ''//we have a function
Next ''//code elt member
Finally
DTE.UndoContext.Close()
End Try
End Sub
For some reason, after a save, rebuild, and a restart of Visual Studio, I'm not getting the history tag. Can anybody see something here I'm missing?
vb uses a xml file to load the defults. It is VBXMLDoc.xml and it depends on what version you are running as to the location of the file.