C++ Intellisense with descriptions

Question

Hello is there some IDE or some plugin or any other way that provides a C# Like intellisense for C++ ? like not just only the parameters & overloads but also a small description eg : cout : outputs message to ... ;; just like in C#.

& thanks !

Answer 1

By default Visual Studio will show you any comment you put above a method,... when you're using intellisense. For example with this:

// Test doc
void test()
{
}

VS will show you "Test doc" when autocompletion window is open.

Answer 2

C++ is not as easy to parse as C#, therefore Intellisense for C++ will always be severely limited (if it makes you happier, other IDEs aren't any better in this).

Answer 3

There is apparently a mechanism for displaying such information, but it requires code to be documented with comments. Your standard headers (containing cout, etc) may or may not already have such comments in them.

From MSDN:

IntelliSense determines which comment to display in the Members list by where it appears in the code:

1: IntelliSense first displays end-of-line comments in the declaration. For example:

void MyFunction();   //EOL declaration comments

2: If IntelliSense does not find the previous type of comment, it displays comments that appear directly above the declaration with no blank lines in between. For example:

//Before declaration comments   
void MyFunction();

3: If the previous two types of comments are not found in the code, IntelliSense displays end-of-line comments in the definition. For example:

int CMyAppDoc::MyVariable=2; // EOL definition comments

4: Finally, if none of the previous types of comments appear in the code, IntelliSense displays comments that appear directly above the definition with no blank lines in between. For example:

//Before definition comments
CMyAppDoc::MyFunction()  {
    return; 
}

Answer 4

As Mohammad already answered, Visual Studio already has nice Intellisense capabilities for C++.

If it isn't good enough for you, you can add some plug-ins for VS that will improve the Intellisense (and the whole "coding experience").

A good plugin that can help you is Visual Assist X which can be found at wholetomato.com

Specifically, You can check out its Intellisense capabilities at http://www.wholetomato.com/products/featureIntellisense.asp

You should also check out another alternative: Eclipse CDT

Hope it helps...

Tal.