Can I automatically indent-align code in Visual Studio?

Question

I don't know if there's a name for it, but I'd like to automatically indent(/tab?)-align my source for a large related block of code. Like so:

Before:

this._strategies = new Dictionary< Type, IStrategy >
{
    {typeof( Station ), new StationStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Turnout ), new TurnoutStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( EndOfLine ), new EndOfLineStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Chainage_Equality ), new ChainageEqualityStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Track_Connector ), new TrackConnectorStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Multimeter ), new MultimeterStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Power_Rail_Gap ), new PowerRailGapStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( EndOfWire ), new EndOfWireStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Grounding_Point ), new GroundingPointStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Busbar ), new BusbarStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( AARU ), new AutomaticAssuredReceptivityUnitStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( TPS ), new TractionPowerSubstationStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( AutoTransformer ), new AutotransformerStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Energy_Storage ), new EnergyStorageStrategy(this)},
};

After:

this._strategies = new Dictionary< Type, IStrategy >
{
    {typeof( Station ),             new StationStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Turnout ),             new TurnoutStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( EndOfLine ),           new EndOfLineStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Chainage_Equality ),   new ChainageEqualityStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Track_Connector ),     new TrackConnectorStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Multimeter ),          new MultimeterStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Power_Rail_Gap ),      new PowerRailGapStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( EndOfWire ),           new EndOfWireStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Grounding_Point ),     new GroundingPointStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Busbar ),              new BusbarStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( AARU ),                new AutomaticAssuredReceptivityUnitStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( TPS ),                 new TractionPowerSubstationStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( AutoTransformer ),     new AutotransformerStrategy(this)},
    {typeof( Energy_Storage ),      new EnergyStorageStrategy(this)},
};

I know of the Ctrl+K, Ctrl+F as suggested here, and I use that all the time but it's not what I'm looking for.

I've tried tabbing over the code manually but I don't want to do that every time.

I'm looking for a Visual Studio extension.

This extension may help, but everyone involved with the code must have it installed: https://www.alwaysaligned.net/ — Lucas Trzesniewski, Sep 08 '16 at 13:00
@LucasTrzesniewski AlwaysAligned is what I want, but it's $40 per user. I was looking for something in the realm of $Free.99 — Brandon, Sep 08 '16 at 13:11
@Brandon there's also a big "download a free copy" button at the top of the page. Weird. — Lucas Trzesniewski, Sep 08 '16 at 13:31
@MickyD Sure. Here's what I've done to solve the problem: I tab the characters over manually every time. Here's what I don't want to do: tab the characters over every time. I'll add it to the question. I was looking for a VS Extension, should've mentioned that. Thanks for the downvote though. — Brandon, Sep 08 '16 at 13:32
@LucasTrzesniewski Guess I overlooked and only saw the Buy Licenses button. — Brandon, Sep 08 '16 at 13:35

score 4 · Accepted Answer · answered Sep 08 '16 at 13:01

I was using Code Alignment VisualStudio extention for such purpose.

Here is what it can do(taken from official website)

    person.FirstName = "Chris";                =>  person.FirstName  = "Chris"; 
    person.Surname = "McGrath";                =>  person.Surname    = "McGrath"; 
    person.Age = 24;                           =>  person.Age        = 24; 
    person.Occupation = "Software Developer";  =>  person.Occupation = "Software Developer"; 
    person.HomeTown = "Brisbane";              =>  person.HomeTown   = "Brisbane";

Can I automatically indent-align code in Visual Studio?

1 Answers1