Is using resharper a time saver?

Question

I have installed ReSharper and "played" with it twice now. I have always found it annoying and that it got in the way of the hotkeys I was already using in Visual Studio. The people that use it tend to swear by it.

For those of you that do use it, where do you find it saves you the most time or what do you think its best feature is? Please be specific.

Result(6 months later)

Once I got over the initial invasiveness I found resharper to be very useful and I now depend on it so much that I can't remember how I used to get by before I started using it....

I especially like

Ctrl T --> go to type

go to base

go to inheritor

extract interface

Answer 1

It saves me a lot of time when I can just use the Find Usages... option, when I am merging methods into classes to improve the encapsulation.

I also like how I can make TODO comments in my code and easily find them on the scrollbar, and I like knowing I can safely remove namespace declarations when they are not needed.

I also use the namespace declaration not needed thing to know if I have separated the UI from the code good enough. If I'm importing System.Data for something in the code-behind, really it probably deserves it's own class.

Answer 2

Things that R# speed up coding for me are:

• Crtl + Click taking you straight to the defining type [This is the BIGGEST time saver for me] - makes moving through the code painless (Crtl + - to go back to the last definition)
• File Structure Window - Easy navigation
• Code Analysis - Catches things that FxCop catches
• Find Results Window/Find Usages - Helps with navigation
• ToDo Explorer - Helps me find all my todos
• Alt + Enter inserting usings/Imports at the top of the code file - helps me add namespaces effortlessly to the code file.
• The pretty coloring (makes it easier to tell whats what) - I sometimes forget whats a class, namespace and method
• NUnit testing inside VS/Unit Test Explorer - I can test without having to go to the NUnit client.
• The enhanced refactoring - I refactor a lot. Help with the comments, and looks better imo then the built in VS one.
• Go To File
• Go To Symbol
• Go To File Member
• Go To Type

Answer 3

These previously asked questions should help in answering your question:

• What is your single favorite feature in Resharper?
• What is your favorite use of Resharper?
• What is your favorite Resharper/Visual Studio shortcut?

Answer 4

I like typing control-n and control-shift-n to get to the class or file I need to be in. I also like clicking on the color highlighted lines next to the scroll bar, and then typing alternate-enter to get a suggestion for what's wrong there and how to fix it.

Answer 5

I use it to build demo. Trust me... it it can cut time in half really fast. Normally you are fighting against Visual Studio to extract interface, move class to file, rename namespace, etc.

ReSharper removes the shackles and allow to flow through your code. :)

ALT-ENTER is the best since sliced bread.

Answer 6

Check-out the way of the R# Jedi!

post

video

Answer 7

The best feature is CTRL + ALT + L (2008) or SHIFT + ALT + L (2005). This selects the file you are viewing in the solution explorer. If i'm patching some changes into another branch and need to view the file histories (via TFS) then this is a HUGE time saver. Also when combined with CTRL + T (search type) it lets me fly all over the v.large code base we have at work. It's pretty much worth it just for that.

Another v.coolio feature is the graying out of redundant code. There is many a time that has pointed me towards a more significant problem.

Refactor -> Move -> Into a new file is also nice for extracting classes into different files.

It's worth pointing out that Resharper also kills time because of the amount of time it takes to initialise. The speed at which Visual Studio opens for me has at least doubled if not quadrupled. However, overall I think it is definitely worth it.

Answer 8

It takes plain Visual Studio (at least 2005) refactoring several minutes (while it tries to analyze the whole code base) to simply rename a local variable.

And after all Visual Studio forgets all the analyzes results, so you should prepare for the same time waste on next Visual Studio reopen.

Answer 9

I use everything MagicKat mentioned and a few more things:

• File Structure Window (modify physical order of Classes, Properties, Methods etc..)
• To-Do Explorer (sounds silly but it totally rocks!!)
• Alt-Up and Alt-Down (move to next and previous member)
• Along with running tests you can debug them without going to Debug->Attach to Process and finding Nunit. Great for testing broken code.

I'm sure there are many other I'm leaving out or have yet to learn. Resharper makes cleaning up your code a joy!

Answer 10

I tested a lot of refactoring tools for Visual Studio. Didn't like most of them. But ReSharper really saves a lot of time in development. Can't imagine to work without it! At the beginning it will be bit confusing bacause all shortcuts changed, but after you are into it you will love it.