Visual Studio

The object browser and intellisense simplify finding the method or property needed.

The capability of creating a vertical selection can really increase the efficiency of the find and replace.

To be able to use the alt key to enter characters not available on the keyboard allows the selection of a delimiter guaranteed not to be in the user input.

Even though the current version is much more robust than earlier versions, occasionally it can crash. The auto recover feature proves invaluable in these situations.

Customizing the IDE works really well with the ability to not only dock to any edge but also to dock to a tabbed container. This allows frequently used windows to remain visible while allowing other windows that are sometimes needed to be combined into a tabbed window.

The most recent projects not only speeds opening of frequently used projects but also can help determine which version was the last one edited when working with multiple versions.

When dealing with a complex form the Document Outline can not only help to find hidden or lost controls but also view the hierarchy at a glance.

The ability to encapsulate groups of functions into collapsible regions can really help when working on large code bases.

With the editable toolbar, any frequently used menu item can be directly placed for immediate access.

The tabbed text editing window can make debugging easier especially when stepping through code in different assemblies and languages.

The C# IDE can use a little more automation. The VB IDE does a lot quite well to speed development. While C# can not benefit in all these areas there are some places where it can definitely be more helpful. For example, there is no reason to leave an event handler assignment in the designer if it is deleted from the code. All this does is force the developer to stop their train of thought to go to the designer and delete the single line of code in order to continue their test.

In the most recent programs include a path with the name.

Add an option to make external assemblies read-only. There have been times when I forget what project I am in when working on multiple assemblies. I can make a change to code that is not in the current assembly, so of course, compiling it does nothing. Unfortunately this error may not be noticed until the program is run and the old code still executes. This is easily fixed by (saving the changes if not using the auto save feature) going to the correct instance of the IDE, reloading then compiling but I would prefer avoiding this in the first place.

Works well for me.

Improve business processes.

Save employees time.

Reduce errors in tasks

Due to its nature, there isn't really any other use for Visual Studio than developing software.

As the business evolves new software can be written to help this process stay as efficient as possible.

Designing forms is well done.

The text editing area supports all the common Shift- and Ctrl- arrow keys, page down, page up, end and home functions.

Trying to debug a designer file can be difficult since the error messages are usually poor.