Visual Studio 2003 productivity tips

Question

I have been using Visual Studio 2005 and 2008 for a long time now, but now I'm consulting somewhere that has all ASP.NET 1.1 apps, so I need to use Visual Studio 2003.

Can anyone recommend some good add-ins, settings, general tips, etc when using VS2003 to make it a little more like...well...VS2008?

Note: I've heard about MSBee, but VS2005/8 is not an option. Also note that I have installed ReSharper for Vs2003 already.

Update: Some specifc things I like about 2005/2008 that aren't present in 2003 (at least as far as I can tell):

• Intellisense doesn't popup immediately...i.e. I have to type "this." or "SomeNamespace." before I get any intellisense
• Little things like when I type in runat=" and then intellisense gives me server, but doesn't give me the closing quote. There are a lot of little frustrations like that.
• I don't use the "designer", so it's annoying to have to type in all the protected properties for the controls. It would be nice if that was done automatically somehow.

Just stuff like that, or any other hints/tricks that I haven't thought of...? Sorry if this is a bit vague.

Answer 1

I'd start with this link - getting a handle on keyboard shortcuts is always a big productivity boost for me.

http://www.codinghorror.com/blog/files/Visual%20Studio%20.NET%202003%20Keyboard%20Shortcuts.htm

Answer 2

I like to have "Solution command prompt" and "Solution explorer window" bound to keyboard shortcuts. Just configured two external tools (Tools -> External Tools...)

Command: cmd.exe Initial Directory: $(ProjectDir)

Command: explorer.exe Arguments: - /E,/Root,"$(SolutionDir)"

Then you can bind these (i have them bound to Alt-E and Alt-C) in the Tools -> Customize... -> Keyboard... menu. You want to look for the "Tools.ExternalCommand1 - 20" commands.

Answer 3

I highly recommend Visual Assist for any version of VS.

There are some books, e.g. Mastering Visual Studio .NET and many suggestions common to all versions of Visual Studio (like learning the key board shortcuts, mastering the command console, ...). But if you are already experienced with newer versions of VS, I doubt they will benefit you much.

Many plugins exist for VS 2003, e.g. MZ-Tools and Kingstools. MSDN Magazine has a list of Ten Must-Have Tools Every Developer Should Download Now. I think you have tell us which feature specifically you are missing in VS2003. Then we might be able recommend a solution which makes VS2003 more like VS2008 in that respect.