Tips and Tricks

VA Snippets

VA Snippets allow you to create reusable and easily accessed blocks of text that can be inserted into the text editor by typing shortcuts directly into the editor.

In order for VA Snippets to be offered to you while you are typing, make sure that the “Include VA Snippets in listboxes” setting is enabled on the Advanced | Suggestions page in the Visual Assist X Options dialog.

VA Snippets are managed using the VA Snippet Editor.  The editor can be accessed via the “Edit VA Snippets” button on the Advanced | Suggestions page or by invoking the “VAssistX.VaSnippetEdit” IDE command (using the View | Other | Command Window).  VA Snippets are defined independently per file type so that, for example, snippets with VB comments will only be available in VB files.

Assign shortcuts using the VA Snippet Editor.  Shortcuts are simple alphabetic text, unlike standard keybindings which use Ctrl/Alt/Shift modifiers.  Example shortcuts are:

  • note
  • item
  • f
  • t
  • a
  • aa
  • xx

When you type a snippet shortcut in the text editor, VA will add the snippet to the suggestion listbox.  If you accept the suggestion, the shortcut that you typed will be replaced with the snippet.

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