C++ snippet support in visual studio?

Question

I'm writing code in native C++ (not C++/CLR). I know that there is no built-in support for C++ with regards to the snippet manager and snipper picker interfaces, however I found a utility called "snippy" which supposedly can generate C++ snippets. Here is a c++ snippet that the program generated:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>
<CodeSnippets xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet"&gt;
  <CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
      <Title>MySnippet</Title>
      <Shortcut>MySnippet</Shortcut>
      <Description>Just a test snippet</Description>
      <Author>Me</Author>
      <SnippetTypes>
        <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
      </SnippetTypes>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
      <Declarations>
        <Literal Editable="true">
          <ID>literal1</ID>
          <ToolTip>just a placeholder</ToolTip>
          <Default>
          </Default>
          <Function>
          </Function>
        </Literal>
      </Declarations>
      <Code Language="cpp"><![CDATA[cout << "$literal1$" << std::endl;]]></Code>
    </Snippet>
  </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

If there is support in visual C++, even in a limited capacity, for C++ snippets, how do I add them to my environment, and what are the limitations? All I need is support for basic expansion snippets that I can invoke by typing a shortcut and hitting tab, and which supports basic literals that I can tab through (basically, if it supports the above snippet, I'm good). If this can't be done, are there any free add-ons or extensions to visual studio that support snippets for C++? I'm using both visual studio 2010 and 2008, but I mostly write code in 2010 right now.

Answer 1

You want to download and install the Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 IDE Enhancements, which provides code snippet functionality for C++. The snippet support for C++ is not as robust as it is for the other languages, in my experience.

Source is here.

Answer 2

Visual Assist has a snippets feature that is not quite the same as the IDE Snippets feature. It has its pros and cons, but does work in C++.