Navigation Features

CodeRush Xpress includes seven powerful navigation features to make getting to that important location fast and easy.

Camel Case Navigation

You can move among the lowercase-to-uppercase transitions using Camel Case Nav.

To move right, hold down the Alt key and press the Right arrow key inside a camel case identifier.

To move left, hold down the Alt key and press the Left arrow key inside a camel case identifier.

Camel Case Nav is useful when you want to rename an identifier and change the name in a manner that keeps a portion of the existing camel case identifier. For example, if an existing identifier was called "StartTasks" and you wanted to rename it to "StartFilteredTasks", you could use Camel Case Nav to instantly get the caret between the "Start" and "Tasks" parts before typing in the new part.

Collect Marker

Whenever a CodeRush Xpress feature takes you to a new place in the code, CodeRush Xpress drops a stack-based marker at the original location. You can return to the original location (collecting the marker and popping it off the stack) by pressing Escape (when no other tool tip windows or context menus are active).

When you press Escape, CodeRush Xpress animates a small locator beacon around the marker. This locator beacon is useful when your eyes are looking elsewhere on the screen, especially if you work with a large monitor. CodeRush Xpress also attempts to shift the code vertically so its position is roughly equivalent to what it was when you last viewed it.

Structural Highlighting

Structural Highlighting helps you visually navigate the structure of the code. Matching delimiters are connected with low-contrast lines that are easy to read when this information is useful, and easy to ignore when your mind is on the code.

Structural Highlighting is useful for understanding the flow of large methods or third-party C# code using a different leading brace position than you might otherwise work with.

Tab to Next Reference

You can quickly jump to the active identifier's next reference in the solution file by pressing the Tab key (as long as the caret is somewhere inside the identifier). All matching references (and declaration) to this identifier will be underlined and the selection will move to the next reference. Continuing to press the Tab key will cycle through all identifiers in the solution. Shift+Tab brings you back. You can also press Escape to return to the starting location (where the Tab to Next Reference feature was first invoked on this identifier).

Tab to Next Reference is useful when you want to quickly visit all references to a particular identifier or type.

Highlight All References

Highlight All References is visually similar to Tab to Next Reference, however it does not move the caret. Just press Ctrl+Alt+U to see all references to the active identifier.

Quick Navigation

Quickly find a member, class, field or variable using Quick Nav. Just press Ctrl+Shift+Q to bring up the Quick Navigation window.

You can filter the list by entering a portion of the identifier text you are looking for. If you hold down the Shift key and enter uppercase letters, you can find all identifiers named with those uppercase letters, as in the example below:

You can preview the target location by holding down the Ctrl key. To jump to the selected symbol, press Enter. To return to the starting location, press Escape.

Quick File Navigation

Quickly find and open any file in your solution. Just press Ctrl+Alt+F to bring up the Quick File Navigation window. The filtering mechanism in this window is similar to what we've just seen in the Quick Navigation window. Just enter a few letters from the file name. CodeRush Xpress will filter down the list. Use the Up and Down arrow keys to select the file you want to jump to, and press Enter to go there (or Escape to close the Quick File Navigation window and return to where you were).