5.5. Find Symbol

In addition to these already comprehensive find-and-replace tools, there is an additional search feature in Visual Studio 2008. You can now search for symbols that are objects, classes, and procedural names. The Find Symbol dialog is invoked by the keyboard shortcut Alt+F12 or the menu command Edit Find and Replace Find Symbol. Alternatively, you can switch the normal Find and Replace dialog over to Find Symbol by clicking the drop-down arrow next to Quick Find or Find in Files.

The Find Symbol dialog (see Figure 5-12) has slightly different options from the dialogs for the other Find actions. Rather than having its scope based on a current document or solution like Quick Find, or on the file system like Find in Files, Find Symbol can search through your whole solution, a full component list, or even the entire .NET Framework. In addition, you can include any references added to the solution as part of the scope. To create your own set of components in which to search, click the ellipsis next to the "Look in" field and browse through and select the .NET and COM components registered in the system, or browse to files or projects.

The Find options are also simplified. You can search only for whole words, substrings (the default option), or prefixes.

After you click ...

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