In this blog entry, I list the essential tips and tricks that every developer who uses Visual Studio 2008 should know. I wanted to keep this list brief. I also wanted to focus on only those tips and tricks that I use on a daily basis. Almost all of these tips and tricks are just as useful regardless of whether you are building an ASP.NET Web Forms or ASP.NET MVC application.

Stephen Walther on ASP.NET MVCEssential Visual Studio Tips & Tricks that Every Developer Should Know

  1. You don’t need to select a line to copy or delete it
  2. You can add a namespace automatically by pressing CTRL-.
  3. Never create properties by hand
  4. You can remove and sort unnecessary using statements
  5. Use CTRL-k+c to comment out code
  6. You can close all documents except the current one
  7. You can open a database by double-clicking the database file in App_Data
  8. You can copy a file or folder into a project by dragging and dropping
  9. Use CTRL-SPACE to perform statement completion
  10. Add new items by pressing CTRL-N or CTRL-SHIFT+A
  11. You don’t need to type file extensions when adding a file