Snippets

Code snippets are small blocks of reusable code that you can quickly insert into your C# code. For example, the piPrintItSnippet inserts code print.it(); and moves the text cursor into the (). Snippets appear in the completion list, together with types, functions, etc. To show the list, in the code editor start typing a snippet name or press Ctrl+Space. Snippets containing ${SELECTED_TEXT} also can be used to surround selected code (toolbar button Surround or menu Edit -> Selection -> Surround).

In the Snippets window (menu Tools > Snippets) you can add/delete/edit/hide/unhide your snippets and hide/unhide default snippets. Right-click to add/delete. Uncheck to hide (don't show in the completion list).

A snippet can show a menu of sub-snippets. Use it to group similar snippets together, to reduce the number of snippets in the completion list. To create a menu of sub-snippets, at first create a snippet (without code or with code of the first menu item), then right-click it and add more menu items.

Snippet properties:

  • Name - is displayed in the completion list. Also it is the text shortcut. If ends with Surround, the snippet is available only for surround.
  • Context - where the snippet can be used. Read more below. If not specified, the program auto-detects it from snippet code.
  • Info - short text displayed in the completion list item flyout (info window). Also menu item text; use & for keyboard shortcuts.
  • Info+ - text displayed at the bottom of the flyout.
  • Print - text to print in the output panel when inserting the snippet. Can contain output tags if starts with <>.
  • using - namespaces to add as using directives if need. Example: System.Windows; System.Windows.Controls.
  • Meta - file properties to add as /*/ meta comments /*/ if need. Example: c A.cs; nuget -\B.
  • ${VAR} - ${VAR} variable type and default name, like Au.popupMenu,m. When inserting the snippet, the program looks for a local variable of the specified type, and replaces ${VAR} in snippet code with the variable name, or with the default name if not found. To see how it works, in code editor insert menuSnippet and then menuItemSnippet (it contains ${VAR}).
  • Code - snippet code.

Snippet code can contain fields and variables, like in VSCode.

Example:

for (int ${1:i} = 0; $1 < ${2:count}; $1++) {
	${SELECTED_TEXT}$0
}

Fields:

  • $0 - final text cursor position when the user presses Enter or several Tab.
  • ${n:text} - field with tab stop index n (1, 2 ...) and default text. After inserting the snippet code, fields can be selected with Tab. Default text can be a snippet variable without {}, like ${1:$RANDOM}.
  • $n or ${n} - another instance of a ${n:text} field. Its text is updated together. If there is no matching ${n:text} field, it's a field without default text.

Variables:

  • ${SELECTED_TEXT} - selected text. Used only by the "surround" feature; else no text is added.
  • ${RANDOM} - random number in decimal format.
  • ${RANDOM_HEX} - random number in hexadecimal format.
  • ${GUID} - new GUID.
  • ${VAR} - local variable of type specified in the ${VAR} field.

Escape sequences: \$, \\, \}.

Other VSCode snippet variables and field features are not supported.

Context specifies where in code the snippet can be used (appears in the completion list and/or surround list). Several contexts can be combined, like Function|Type.

  • Function - inside function body. Also in the main script code (top-level statements).
  • Type - inside a class, struct or interface but not inside functions. Use for snippets that insert entire methods, properties, etc.
  • Namespace - outside of types. Use for snippets that insert entire types.
  • Attributes - use for snippets that insert an attribute inside []. This context is not auto-detected.
  • Line - at the start of a line. For example, #directive snippets have context Any|Line.
  • Any - anywhere.

The program loads all snippet files with names that end with Snippets.xml from the program settings folder in the Documents folder. You can add/delete snippets files there. You can edit them in an XML editor too.

Default snippets are read-only, but you can clone a default snippet (right click, copy, paste) and edit the clone. If both snippets are checked and have the same name, the clone will be the first in the completion list.