Setting to explicitly write default access modifier in Visual Studio

Question

When I generate a new class, I would like to have the default access modifier written down explicitly like:

internal class Foo
{
}

instead of:

class Foo
{
}

Is that possible with a setting and if so - how?

@PanagiotisKanavos At namespace scope there is no `private`. But you are correct for member types. — Richard, Mar 09 '20 at 10:28
@Richard hmmm, I can't remember encountering `internal class` until now — Panagiotis Kanavos, Mar 09 '20 at 10:32
related post https://stackoverflow.com/questions/700086/how-do-you-default-a-new-class-to-public-when-creating-it-in-visual-studio — Rohim Chou, Jul 30 '21 at 00:16

score 10 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 09 '20 at 10:27

10

Two things you can do:

Modify the class file template. This is found in you VS installation:

<InstallRoot>\<Edition>\Common7\IDE\ItemTemplates\CSharp\Code\1033\Class

To confirm something has been specified: add the following to a .editorconfig:
```
dotnet_style_require_accessibility_modifiers=always:suggestion
```

answered Mar 09 '20 at 10:27

Richard

106,783
21
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Thanks! I really like editorconfig here is how you create one automatically: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-gb/visualstudio/ide/editorconfig-code-style-settings-reference?view=vs-2019 manually: https://learn.microsoft.com/de-de/visualstudio/ide/create-portable-custom-editor-options?view=vs-2019 – Athanviel Mar 09 '20 at 12:39

Asad · Answer 2 · 2020-03-09T10:53:28.667

3

It can be done by editing the snippets of Class of your installed visual studio.

Press Ctrl+K, Ctrl+B a code snippets manager will open
navigate to the location present in location text filed and edit the file with name class.snippet in text editor and change line

<Code Language="csharp"><![CDATA[ class $name$
          {
              $selected$$end$
          }]]>
                  </Code>

to

  <Code Language="csharp"><![CDATA[internal  class $name$
      {
          $selected$$end$
      }]]>
              </Code>

edited Mar 09 '20 at 10:53

answered Mar 09 '20 at 10:45

Asad

78
7

2

I was so confident it would work, I was totally suprised it didn't. Even restart of VS, adding the folder again and Import did not help. Any ideas? (thank you so far!) – Athanviel Mar 09 '20 at 11:29
Yes - as you described. – Athanviel Mar 09 '20 at 12:08

score 0 · Answer 3 · answered Mar 09 '20 at 10:25

You can use Code Snippet to do that (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/visualstudio/ide/code-snippets?view=vs-2019)

Code snippets are small blocks of reusable code that can be inserted in a code file using a right-click menu (context menu) command or a combination of hotkeys. They typically contain commonly used code blocks such as try-finally or if-else blocks, but they can be used to insert entire classes or methods.

Setting to explicitly write default access modifier in Visual Studio

3 Answers3