How to collapse If, Else, For, Foreach, etc clauses?

Question

I get stuck sometimes with very long clauses and I am looking for a way that allows me to collapse them, same way as I can collapse classes, methods and namespaces by default.

Is there a Visual Studio extension that does that? neither ReSharper nor JustCode does allow it.

Thank you!

Generally that's a sign you should refactor your code into methods, if possible. — Blorgbeard, Jul 02 '12 at 21:51
@Blorgbeard - not always you are viewing your own code or code that you can refactor — Bartosz, Feb 14 '18 at 16:21

TWT · Accepted Answer · 2023-07-04T14:13:31.350

131

Try this plugin (C# Outline Extension):

edited Jul 04 '23 at 14:13

answered Jul 02 '12 at 20:49

TWT

2,511
1
23
37

I installed it, then restarted VS 2013, but it didn't work, any suggestions? – Roshdy May 12 '15 at 08:23
2013 version: https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/6c3c5dec-1534-4c42-81b1-cfd4615fd0e9 – Tim Partridge Jun 04 '15 at 19:51
VS2015 still need this extension – mkb Jun 13 '16 at 12:03
It's work. I use it before but I forgoten name this extenssion. Thank's. – Piotr Knut Aug 23 '16 at 16:24
And there is [C# outline 2019](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Coutline2019.xyz0835-coutline2019) for Visual Studio 2019 now. – 逍遥子k Oct 25 '20 at 06:11

score 45 · Answer 2 · edited Feb 13 '14 at 08:41

45

Visual studio IDE gives an option to outline the if, for, foreach, while, switch case etc.

Just go to Visual Studio -> Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> C\C++- > View and set Outline Statement Blocks to true.

In Visual Studio 2012+, the path is Visual Studio -> Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> C\C++- > Formatting.

edited Feb 13 '14 at 08:41

Moslem Ben Dhaou

6,897
8
62
93

answered Feb 13 '14 at 05:18

surega

707
7
15

7

+1 Thank you for that answer, unfortunately I checked and nothing similar is available for the C# editor, therefore I cannot accept the answer. Thanks! – Moslem Ben Dhaou Feb 13 '14 at 08:37
2

While it applies to a different language, this answer still needs more love. – dtmland May 23 '14 at 20:11
Rename you .cs file to .cpp and you can do this. – Johan Boulé Jun 18 '21 at 15:34
This answer worked for me. I am using VS Express 2013. Thanks – Krishna Kanth Yenumula Aug 17 '22 at 04:10

score 22 · Answer 3 · answered Dec 06 '13 at 13:48

22

I use 2 Extensions:

C# outline 2013

and

Indent Guides

answered Dec 06 '13 at 13:48

Renzo Ciot

3,746
2
25
29

Man, this is perfect. Makes me wonder how MS ignored such essential code editing functionality. – gitsitgo Jun 10 '14 at 14:46

score 17 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 29 '12 at 09:02

17

select the code you want to collapse and then press ctrl+M,ctrl+H. to disable it, press ctrl+M,ctrl+U, you can also right click on the selection, and there "Plan Mode" ( I'm not sure my VS is french )

answered Jun 29 '12 at 09:02

Hamza_L

644
4
18

2

That is pretty cool, specially for people who are using Visual Studio Express hence they can't use plugins, thanks! – Ahmad Ghadiri Oct 27 '15 at 13:38

score 1 · Answer 5 · answered Jun 29 '12 at 08:52

1

You can use #region for collapsing if, else, for and other similar clauses.
Example:

#region foreach
foreach(/*conditions*/) 
{
    statement 1;
    statement 2;
    ..
    statement n;
}
#endregion

Now for collapse all use the shortcut ctrl+M,ctrl+O.

answered Jun 29 '12 at 08:52

Jainendra

24,713
30
122
169

3

I don't think this a nice option, regions are there because code is hard to manage and move around, and since they don't make code look good enough I use this extension: [I Hate #Regions](https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/0ca60d35-1e02-43b7-bf59-ac7deb9afbca) – mkb Jun 13 '16 at 12:07

How to collapse If, Else, For, Foreach, etc clauses?

5 Answers5