Category Archives: Tools

ReSharper and code generation

I don’t know why I’ve found this feature only today, but I wanted to share another great feature of ReSharper. Let say you need to implement a C# structure. You may start with the following code:

public struct ServerItem
{
    public string Id { get; private set; }
    public DateTime? Added { get; private set; }
    public int ChildCount { get; private set; }
}

Then you start thinking, “I need to setup a constructor…” You can do it manually, but you can also ask ReSharper do to the job for you. All you have to do is press ALT+Enter (this might depend on your configuration obviously…)

ReSharper will generate the constructor for you:

public struct ServerItem
{
    public ServerItem(string id, DateTime? added, int childCount)
        : this()
    {
        this.Id = id;
        this.Added = added;
        this.ChildCount = childCount;
    }

    public string Id { get; private set; }
    public DateTime? Added { get; private set; }
    public int ChildCount { get; private set; }
}

Fine. Then you remember that you also need to setup equality members properly… You have to override Equals, GetHashCode… This is not complicated but it can become cumbersome and it often feels like a waste of time. Here is the ReSharper way of doing this:

1. Press ALT+Enter

2. Choose “Equality members” and setup the code generation:

And BOOOM ! You’re done:

public struct ServerItem
{
    public ServerItem(string id, DateTime? added, int childCount)
        : this()
    {
        this.Id = id;
        this.Added = added;
        this.ChildCount = childCount;
    }

    public string Id { get; private set; }
    public DateTime? Added { get; private set; }
    public int ChildCount { get; private set; }

    public bool Equals(ServerItem other)
    {
        return Equals(other.Id, this.Id) && other.Added.Equals(this.Added) && other.ChildCount == this.ChildCount;
    }

    public override bool Equals(object obj)
    {
        if (ReferenceEquals(null, obj))
        {
            return false;
        }
        if (obj.GetType() != typeof(ServerItem))
        {
            return false;
        }
        return Equals((ServerItem)obj);
    }

    public override int GetHashCode()
    {
        unchecked
        {
            int result = (this.Id != null ? this.Id.GetHashCode() : 0);
            result = (result * 397) ^ (this.Added.HasValue ? this.Added.Value.GetHashCode() : 0);
            result = (result * 397) ^ this.ChildCount;
            return result;
        }
    }

    public static bool operator ==(ServerItem left, ServerItem right)
    {
        return left.Equals(right);
    }

    public static bool operator !=(ServerItem left, ServerItem right)
    {
        return !left.Equals(right);
    }
}

The code-generation features of ReSharper has been there for a long time… But because I just found out the power of them, I wanted to briefly showcased them in this post 🙂

If you like typing XAML you will love ReSharper 6.1 !

Resharper is an amazing tool for any .Net developers. The latest version 6.1 has been released just a couple of weeks ago and I wanted to share with you a brief overview of the new workflow available in the XAML world !

Visual Studio 2010 introduced 2 new design time properties: d:DesignInstance and d:DesignData. Those properties can be used in order to specify a design time DataContext in order to have more help during the creation of a binding.

For example, when you create a binding using the Property dialog of VS2010 you can browse your DataContext to select the right property (image from this blog post from Karl Shifflet):

Resharper 6.1 is now able to use those metadata in order to improve the experience you have while typing XAML (which I personally do a LOT!). Here is how it works:

  • you create a new ViewModel with a simple property (this property has just get/set because we don’t need much more in the context of this post…)

  • you setup a binding in your view

At this point the ReSharper magic comes into play…

  • ReSharper warns you the DataContext is unknown

  • Offer the ability to fix this

  • Note that like in C#, you can very easily resolve namespace issues

  • Then notice that the warning is gone (the Title property is no longer underlined)

  • You can now add a new binding

  • You can then ask ReSharper to create the property in your ViewModel

  • Choosing the first option will get you to the ViewModel definition

Now that I’ve upgraded my installation to version 6.1, I think this is a must have !

That’s all for today ! Hope it helps 🙂

 

 

R# can create resources for you in XAML

I was aware for some time now that R# offers some support for editing XAML but I didn’t know the following features until recently.When you create a StaticResource in XAML, R# is able to help you by generating some code for you. The famous R# “bubble” shows up offering various options to create the resource:

Then the resource is automatically created for you:

Note that it works with converter too:

R# 5.0 has been released a couple of weeks ago. Go ahead and grab your copy !