Visual Studio - Quick way to search for an object's usage in the code behind

Question

In Visual Studio, is there a quick way to search for an object's usage in the code behind? This is something I do constantly and the way I am currently doing it seems a little clunky.

I am using VS2005, WinForms, VB and CodeRush/RefactorPro.

Currently I do the following steps: In Design View

1. Click the Object.
2. In the Properties Dialog, double click the Name of the object
3. Copy it to the clipboard (Using Ctrl-C or Right Click and selecting Copy)
4. Press F7 to bring up the code behind editor
5. Press Ctrl-Home to position to the top of the file.
6. Press Ctrl-F, which brings up the Find Dialog
7. Press Ctrl-V, to paste in the name of the object into the "Find what:" text box.
8. Tap ENTER to start the Find.

Ideally, I would like to click the object in Design View then hit a hot key to do these other steps.

If VS2005 does not have anything built in, should I research using a Macro?

Answer 1

If 3rd party addons are allowed, install R# and use the Find Usages tool. Although not sure R# would be worth it just for this feature alone.

Answer 2

I don't know about any functionality like that, built-in visual studio, however, you can use the wonderful plugin Resharper from JetBrains which has that functionality, as many other excellent features...

There is also another add-on called CodeRush, I haven't used it but it seems to be worth a look.

Answer 3

Tab To Next Reference - CodeRush Or CodeRush Xpress

This feature allows you to cycle through all references to an identifier simply by placing your caret within the identifier and hitting [TAB]

Find All References - CodeRush

The use of the [Shift-F12] combo in CodeRush will bring up the References toolwindow which will then display all references to the identifier currently at the caret.