X# in New Visual Studio All-In-One Search

IKavanagh · Post by **IKavanagh** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 8:41 am

Hey,

I was wondering if it would be possible or was on the cards to include X# types and members in the new Visual Studio All-In-One Search? It only seems to work with X# files and not any of the types or members within them.

robert · Post by **robert** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:14 am

Ian,
We are looking into this.
Unfortunately, this is not documented by Microsoft at this moment.
So we will need to reverse engineer this and be prepared for breaking changes between builds.

It is probably easier to create our own search window, or to use the XSharp specific VS extension that Infominds has published: https://github.com/InfomindsAg/XSharpPowerTools

Robert

IKavanagh · Post by **IKavanagh** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 11:22 am

Thanks Robert. It would be a nice feature if you were able to do it. We do use the XSharpPowerTools extension from Infominds and it is fine to have two different keyboard shortcuts for X# and C# search.

robert · Post by **robert** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 12:10 pm

Ian,
Over here you can find a reply from someone from MS, justifying why they have not documented the API.
Maybe you can add your comment there too:
https://developercommunity.visualstudio ... -N10288205
I will investigate what he calls the "Goto Api' for our next build.

Robert

IKavanagh · Post by **IKavanagh** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 2:28 pm

Thanks Robert. I will do.

Hopefully, with enough pressure, they can release documentation to make your life easier.

ic2 · Post by **ic2** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:26 pm

Hello Robert,

robert post=25424 userid=253 wrote: Unfortunately, this is not documented by Microsoft at this moment.
So we will need to reverse engineer this and be prepared for breaking changes between builds.
It is probably easier to create our own search window, or to use the XSharp specific VS extension that Infominds has published: https://github.com/InfomindsAg/XSharpPowerTools

I think it is better to find any solution outside Visual Studio, where possible. You will probably save a lot of time you now lose over trying to get things working within VS and the end result is usually way better than anything standard in VS, as we can see in this extension. And then I haven't even taken into consideration that Microsoft basically says "We don't document it because we produce ... (fill this in yourself) software and when we don't document it less people complain when it doesn't work anymore after an update." Brilliant!

The same happens for their documented features. I assume that using Goto/Peek definition is documented yet it often goes wrong once, when you publish a new version and I don't think you have changed anything in your code, right?

I had the same with the WebVIew2. I used it as documented but when I updated lately I had to move some initialization code to a OnLoaded method, otherwise the await webView.EnsureCoreWebView2Async(null) let the program crash. Of course this took again considerable time to figure out.

Summarizing: if it can be added into the Power Tools everyone benefit I think.

Dick

robert · Post by **robert** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 4:31 pm

Dick,
I don't agree that we should do everything ourselves. When there is a dialog inside VS for something, I want to use that. That is what people that work with multiple languages (e.g. C# and X#) would expect.
And XSharpPowerTools is not something we deliver.

Robert

ic2 · Post by **ic2** » Tue Feb 28, 2023 7:19 pm

Hello Robert,

robert post=25437 userid=253 wrote: I don't agree that we should do everything ourselves. When there is a dialog inside VS for something, I want to use that. That is what people that work with multiple languages (e.g. C# and X#) would expect.

I understand that. But if you need to invest a lot of time in trying to get something working with undocumented and unstable VS included features and you risk that it goes wrong all the time in next releases, both from VS & X#, then shouldn't you consider it?

Isn't it possible to redirect a menu option or shortcut key to your own code? If Volkmar is fine with extending his extension you (probably/most likely?) end up with a better working option, with less time to develop & maintain and with minimal changes from what VS users are used too.

Dick

HansjoergP · Post by **HansjoergP** » Wed Mar 01, 2023 10:55 am

I think also like Robert that we should use the standard dialog of VS where possible. The power tools we have made can never replace the many search possibilities of VS. In the meantime they are only a good workaround for some problems.

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