Automatically Add Regions to Code in Visual Studio

Question

My team absolutely loves using regions, and with that in mind it's pretty much become a de-facto standard in our code. I recently came to realization that I'm sick of writing or ctrl+c / ctrl+v'ing these in every time I create a class, test method, etc...

I was wondering if it is possible (via macros or some other functionality) to have Visual Studio automatically add these into your code.

For example, If I add a new class file to my project, can you perform some sort of magic to have visual studio generate the file as:

namespace Test
{
    class MyClass
    {
        #region ------------ members --------------
        #endregion

        #region ------------ properties --------------
        #endregion

        #region ------------ methods --------------
        #endregion
    }
}

Where I really get annoyed by not currently knowing how to do this, is when I'm writing unit tests. This may be a bit trickier, but I was trying to find a way to add --set up-- and --run test-- regions automatically to test methods because our team is adamant about using them.

So, when I go to create a new test method

[TestMethod]
public void WhenCondition_WillProduceExpectedResult()
{
}

Visual Studio would automatically add these two regions to the method, such as:

[TestMethod]
public void WhenCondition_WillProduceExpectedResult()
{
   #region ------------- set up -------------
   #endregion 

   #region ------------- run test -------------
   #endregion 
}

Not sure if this can be done, and if it can, whether it'd be via a vs-macro, or extension. Any help is much appreciated!

Regions are a really bad code smell. If you need regions then your classes are probably way too big. — Dennis Traub, Nov 26 '12 at 15:11
@Dennis regions don't compile. They're just for readability and organisation, how is that code smell? — Amicable, Nov 26 '12 at 15:16
Using a class template might achieve what you want. You could also write a macro to do this. You would also write an add-on if you wanted. Outside a specific question I don't see this being on topic since it seems your polling for solutions. — Security Hound, Nov 26 '12 at 15:18
@Amicable he just told you: "If you need regions then your classes are probably way too big" <= Bad code smell... — C. Augusto Proiete, Nov 26 '12 at 15:19
@Amicable read this by Jeff Atwood, one of the creators of this very website: http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/2008/07/the-problem-with-code-folding.html — Dennis Traub, Nov 26 '12 at 15:20
Regardless of how much I might like or dislike regions, the important part is I am a member of a team that has adopted them as a standard. — Eric Stallcup, Nov 26 '12 at 15:20
and @S List, that's what I'm currently doing...I guess I could stop being so finicky and just continue with the CTRL+C/CTRL+V'ing :) — Eric Stallcup, Nov 26 '12 at 15:22
I would at least bring up the concerns raised here about using regions for every test method or class. I have found that external(outside of team/company) standards are always more beneficial than internal(inside of team/company) standards. — Ryan Gates, Nov 26 '12 at 15:26

Glauco Vinicius · Accepted Answer · 2014-01-29T11:48:49.597

You could create a simple code snippet like the following one:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CodeSnippets
    xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>Simple</Title>
      <Shortcut>simple</Shortcut>
      <SnippetTypes>
        <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
      </SnippetTypes>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>name</ID>
          <ToolTip>Replace with the name of the action</ToolTip>
          <Default>Action</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="csharp">
        <![CDATA[
        public void $name$()
        {
            #region ------------- set up -------------
            #endregion 

            #region ------------- run test -------------
            #endregion 
        }
        ]]>
      </Code>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Save that file into C:\Users\<your_user>\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Code Snippets\Visual C#\My Code Snippets.

Now you just need to reopen Visual Studio, type 'simple' into a class and press Tab key twice.

+1 for the solution to OP's question. Of course automating bad habits makes it even more difficult to finally getting rid of them. — Dennis Traub, Nov 26 '12 at 15:50
ReSharper "Remove region/endregion in solution" will automatically kill this bad habit and something like StyleCop with a rule to not use regions. :) — Maxime Rouiller, Mar 10 '16 at 18:46

score 4 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 26 '12 at 15:22

Two ways I know:

Create a snippet as per this MSDN guide.

Downloading the Visual Studio Extension Productivity Power Tools which has a "Surround" feature. This surrounds the user made selection with the selected snippet, for example #region #endregion or if statement.

score 3 · Answer 3 · answered May 26 '14 at 21:07

3

Don't know why so many people speak out against regions; they help me categorize my code very easily. What I use is a macro placed on one of my keyboard buttons that automatically inserts the regions for me. One tip I can give you is to put a small delay between each keypress if this is possible because VS sometimes misses characters otherwise.

Hope this helps!

answered May 26 '14 at 21:07

TheGateKeeper

4,224
17
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96

Are you able to share the macro you use by chance? – Daniel Neel Dec 29 '14 at 05:57

score 2 · Answer 4 · answered Dec 05 '13 at 13:45

Use the following snippet

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CodeSnippets  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>#Classregion</Title>
      <Shortcut>#Classregion</Shortcut>
      <Description>Code snippet for #Classregion</Description>
      <Author>Author Name</Author>
      <SnippetTypes>
        <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
        <SnippetType>SurroundsWith</SnippetType>
      </SnippetTypes>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal>
          <ID>name</ID>
          <ToolTip>Region name</ToolTip>
          <Default>MyRegion</Default>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="csharp">
        <![CDATA[
        #region ------------- Members ---------------
        $selected$ $end$
    #endregion

  #region --------------- Properties ---------------
        $selected$ $end$
    #endregion

  #region --------------- Methods ---------------
        $selected$ $end$
    #endregion
    ]]>
      </Code>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Save it under C:\Users\\Documents\Visual Studio 2010\Code Snippets\Visual C#\My Code Snippets

Later it will be accessible in C# code, by Right-Click > Insert Snippet > My Code Snippets > #Classregion

rexall · Answer 5 · 2018-05-29T14:53:16.193

1

If you have Resharper then the File Structure window is very handy for managing regions, allowing simple drag and drop to move blocks of methods/properties etc. around. It shows your regions (which are collapsible) & syncs with the main code view too:

https://www.jetbrains.com/help/resharper/Reference__Windows__File_Structure_Window.html

eg A region called preview shown here:

Here

edited May 29 '18 at 14:53

answered May 29 '18 at 14:46

rexall

81
4

score 1 · Answer 6 · answered Nov 01 '19 at 13:40

I prefer editing the class template as described in Sam Harwell's answer:

https://stackoverflow.com/a/2072717

You can open the class.cs file at your Visual Studio version's class template location. For example, Visual Studio 2017 Enterprise's location is:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2017\Enterprise\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class\Class.cs

I open that file using a text editor and add regions to it. All new classes will then be created with the regions.

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 26 '12 at 15:23

0

And I agree that regions a are a bad idea but to each his own.

You might want to take a look at NArrange.

answered Nov 26 '12 at 15:23

chrissie1

4,884
3
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Automatically Add Regions to Code in Visual Studio

7 Answers7

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