views:

29

answers:

2

I am looking at an abstract class in Visual Studio 2010's object browser. I would like to find all classes that descend from this abstract class so I can choose the best one to implement in my application. I do not have the source code for this assembly, so I can't use the find in files feature.

Unfortunately, I can't seem to find out how to do this at all. Visual Studio docs and Google just return completely irrelevant articles, so either I'm using the wrong terminology or this feature simply doesn't exist.

The best advice I've received is "analyse the assembly with redgate reflector", but surely there has to be a better way.

Thank you for your time.

+2  A: 

Install the Visual Studio Productivity Power Tools, then use its souped-up tooltip.

SLaks
Perfect - I moved my mouse over the class type, clicked "derived classes", it did some checking in the background and showed me the derived types.Thanks a lot.
Raskolnikov
A: 

If you want to conveniently navigate through a class hierarchy you won't be happy with the plain vanilla Visual Studio. Resharper and (I believe) CodeRush offer such a functionality. For the latter one there is a express edition, which is free. You can install all of them as Visual Studio Add-In.

Theo Lenndorff