Mastering Visual Studio 2012

Tabs
The new Preview tab minimizes tab bloat, and Tab Rafts keep your tabs afloat. Welcome to Module 3 of mastering Visual Studio 2012. My name is Deborah Kurata and this module looks at Tab Rafts and the other new tab management features in Visual Studio 2012. Do you use one or more monitors as you are working with Visual Studio? If so, you will be happy to hear that Visual Studio 2012 improves multi monitor support with Tab Rafts. As you will see, these rafts allow you to better manage multiple tabs across several monitors. Visual Studio uses tabs to display multiple code files and designers for editing. When working with a large project or with multiple monitors, it can be challenging to manage all of those tabs. Visual Studio 2012 added some features to help. Pinning keeps your tabs where you need them. The new window feature adds multiple tabs of the same code file. The Preview tab minimizes tab bloat. And Tab Rafts, also known as Floating Tab Wells, helps manage your tabs on multiple monitors. Let's take a look. Feel free to open one of your solutions and work along with these demonstrations.

Search
Search and ye shall find. Welcome to Module 4 of Mastering Visual Studio 2012. My name is Deborah Kurata, and this module looks at the many new searching features in Visual Studio 2012. Searching in Visual Studio 2012 has been revamped and extended. You can search Visual Studio menus and options. The code window searching has been improved, and you can search tool windows. This module demonstrates the following search features. The Quick Launch allows you to find and quickly launch a menu option, or an option from the Tools Options dialogue. The code editing search was changed to an in document find and replace control. And searching was added to many of the tool windows. Let's see these features in actions. Feel free to open one of your solutions, and work along with these demonstrations.

Options, Extensions and NuGet Packages
Welcome to Extreme Makeover Visual Studio 2012 Edition. My name is Deborah Kurata, and module five of Mastering Visual Studio 2012 shows you how to use options and extensions to modify the look of Visual Studio. This module also covers a brief overview of NuGet. When opening Visual Studio 2012 for the first time most people immediately notice the menu casing. The minimalistic use of color, and the reduction in the tool bars. If you don't like the way Visual Studio 2012 looks, you have many choices for adjusting it. So although options and extensions are not new to Visual Studio 2012, this module shows you how to use these features to modify the look of Visual Studio 2012. This module demonstrates the following makeover features. First it provides an introduction to extensions. Then it demonstrates how to change the menu casing using the VS commands extension. Then how to change the color theme using Visual Studio Options and the Color Theme Editor Extensions. Then we will demonstrate how to adjust the toolbars and finally a brief introduction to NuGet. Note that the extensions are not available in the free express editions of Visual Studio. Let's see these features in action. Feel free to open one of your solutions and work along with these demonstrations.

Code Map
When adding a complex feature, running down a hard to catch bug, or diving into someone else's code, you may wish you could just see the paths through the code, without all the code getting in the way. If you've ever had this wish, then the Code Map is for you. Welcome to module 8 of Mastering Visual Studio 2012. My name is Deborah Kurata and this module focuses on the new Code Map features in Visual Studio 2012. The Code Map allows you to see the flow of your code. You can select any method and view all of the calls to that method, or all of the callers of that method in a visual diagram. From the Code Map, you can quickly jump to any method in your code. The down side, you can only create a Code Map with Visual Studio 2012 Ultimate Edition. You can however, view a Code Map and use it to navigate your code with Visual Studio 2012 Premium or Professional. The Code Map features in Visual Studio include visualizing your code. That feature came with Visual Studio 2012 Update 1. It allowed you to build a Code Map from your code and to navigate back to your code from the code map with the Ultimate Edition. Visual Studio Update 2 added to the Code Map features, allowing you to use the Code Map for debugging. It helps you keep oriented as you step through the code. Let's take a quick look.