Statement Completion

Statement completion works like IntelliSense in Visual Studio: as you type, the Template Editor suggests identifier names.

Completion list of string extension methods, with ToCSharpIdentifier selected

The list of identifiers appears as soon as you type a period after an object name. To choose an identifier, do one of the following:

Click it.
Select it with the arrow keys.
Type enough letters to identify it, then type a space or another separator character.

Tip

Press Ctrl+Space to open the completion list at any time inside a code block.

Note

Statement completion uses reflection to gather its information, so your template must compile for types defined in the template to appear in the lists. Types defined in external assemblies appear whether or not the template compiles.

Code-behind files

Statement completion is also available in C# and Visual Basic code-behind files. To control which assembly references are used for code-behind statement completion, use the References tool window. Open it by selecting Tools > Manage References.

References tool window listing the assemblies referenced for code-behind files

Note

Statement completion in code-behind files is available only in the standalone Template Editor.

Quick info

When you point at a word such as an identifier, a quick info tip shows details about the related type, member or variable.

Quick info tooltip showing that SampleStringProperty is a string

Parameter info

When you type a method call, a parameter info tip shows details about the method and highlights the argument you're typing. In the screenshot below, the current parameter, seed, is shown in bold.

Parameter info tooltip for GetRandomNumber with the seed parameter in bold

If the method has several overloads, the tip shows arrows. Click the arrows, or press the Up and Down arrow keys, to switch between the overloads.

Anonymous types

Statement completion understands anonymous types. In this example, the variable anonymousType is declared as an anonymous type whose properties are set from a variable (numbers) and a string constant ("Blake"). Pointing at anonymousType shows quick info that identifies it as an anonymous type.

Quick info identifying anonymousType as an anonymous type

Typing a period after the variable lists its members, including the two properties declared in the anonymous type, Numbers and Name, with their types.

Completion list for an anonymous type, showing its Name and Numbers properties

LINQ

Statement completion also works in LINQ query expressions, as this example shows.

Start a new query expression. The SourceTables property shows up as a TableSchemaCollection.
Start a where clause. The table range variable is a TableSchema, so typing a period lists members such as Columns and Database.
Type a period after Columns. The list includes all of the Enumerable extension methods.
Add an orderby clause, then end the expression with a select clause.
On the next line, press Ctrl+Space. The results variable in the list shows the query's result type, IEnumerable<TableSchema>.