Visual Studio Tips

Personalize The Look of Visual Studio – Adding a Background Image to the Code Editor…

Posted by matteskolin on

I found this Visual Studio extension on github called ClaudiaIDE..
https://github.com/buchizo/ClaudiaIDE

This extension allows you to set a background Image for the code editor window. This really changes the feel of the editor for me after looking at a black background behind my code for years.

I have set my background images with the natural waterfall image below

The extension comes with following available settings

You can set the opacity to make it easier to still see your code. This to me is the most important feature, as a low opacity will allow you to use any image and still be able to see the code you are working on.

Setting Image Stretch is useful for having the image fill the entire editor window for smaller images.

There is even a slide show feature to have images change automatically on a specific interval.

I am thinking of experimenting with this feature to help me keep track of time while coding.

I haven’t gotten a chance to spend much time coding with an image yet, and I am going to experiment with different images to see how they affect my productivity and mood while coding…

Visual Studio Code Extension

Here is an extension to do the same thing in VS Code. Be warned however, this extension appears to modify core installation files, and causes a warning to appear about a corrupt installation.

You can read more about this warning in the documentation. The extension does appear to be working in version 1.45.1

https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=shalldie.background

Visual Studio Tips

Intellisense just got smarter..using Intellicode

Posted by matteskolin on

Intellicode is a new feature Microsoft is adding to Visual Studio, integrated into the existing intellisense, Intellicdoe adds machine learning powered suggestions to the auto-completion list. Microsoft says the default machine learning model is based on thousands of open source git hub projects. 

Eventually, Intellicode will also use it’s knowledge to catch common bugs in code review, and make suggestions based on your code.

Intellicode is now available as a Visual Studio extension, but it appears that it may be added as a default feature in the future.

According to the FAQ in the Microsoft documentation, Intellicode is in preview mode, and will likely involve some cost once in full release. Weather this means requiring a higher level VS sku, or even as additional add on fee/ service, remains to be seen.

I tried out the extension, and like what I see so far. See example below. My most used symbols now appear with a ⭐star next to them. I love this sort of thing.. I think it would be cool if you had the option of turning off all the items that aren’t identified as having star.

Intellisense is great, but when working with large classes with lots of properties, methods, or extension methods, the provided list is WAY too long. I almost never scroll through the list.


Get the Extension: Download the Intellicode Visual Studio 2017/2019 Extension HERE

Train a Model Based on Your Code: Open a solution (this is more fun with a big solution with a lot of code), and train a custom model. The Intellicode functionality lives it’s own separate window.  You can find the window in the Visual Studio View->Other Windows->Intellicode


Before Applying Intellicode

After Intellicode


For more and updated information, see microsoft link below…