In Visual Studio 2008, how can I make control+click do a "Go To Definition"?

Question

I know this is not strictly about programming, but it's pretty close.

Anyway, in Delphi, you can hold control and click on a method to jump to its definition. In VS2008, you have to right-click and select "Go To Definition".

I use this function quite often, so I'd really like to get VS to behave like delphi in this regard - its so much quicker to ctrl+click.

I don't think there's a way to get this working in base VS2008 - am I wrong? Or maybe there's a plugin I could use?

Edit: Click then F12 does work - but isn't really a good solution for me.. It's still way slower than ctrl+click. I might try AutoHotkey, since I'm already running it for something else.

Edit: AutoHotkey worked for me. Here's my script (I'm a complete n00b, so it's probably suboptimal):

SetTitleMatchMode RegEx
#IfWinActive, .* - Microsoft Visual Studio
^LButton::Send {click}{f12}

Answer 1

Highlight the method name and press f12

Answer 2

Visual Studio 2008 defaults this to F12, but you can set it in Tools | Options | Environment | Keyboard, and change Edit.GoToDefinition - however, I'm not sure how you can get it to CTRL+mouseclick.

Answer 3

Resharper does that but it's not free. Highly recommended plugin though, most experienced .NET developers use it.

Answer 4

Sorry thought you're simply looking for a go to definition function in VS... For your question though, possibly you can create a macro for that...

Answer 5

You could create an Autohotkey script that does that. When you ctrl-click a word, send a doubleclick then a F12.

I don't have AHK handy so I can't try and sketch some code but it should be pretty easy; the AHK recorder should have enough features to let you create it in a point 'n' click fashion and IIRC it is smart enough to let you limit this behaviour to windows of a certain class only.

When you have your script ready just run the script in the background while you code. It takes just an icon in the Notify bar.

Answer 6

Just a quick note that the following AutoHotkey script works for me in Visual C++ 2010 Express.

SetTitleMatchMode 2
#IfWinActive, Microsoft Visual C++ 2010 Express
^LButton::Send {click}{f12}

I also changed the shortcuts for View.NavigateForward and View.NavigateBackward to Alt+Right/Left Arrow since I am used to Eclipse.

Answer 7

Not for Visual Studio 2008, but if you upgrade to Visual Studio 2010, you can use the free Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools from Microsoft to achieve this.