Coding Assistance in C++

Most of ReSharper's coding assistance features are also supported in C++. You can find the detailed information on these features in the corresponding topics of the Coding Assistance section. In the main topic of the section, you can also find the feature matrix and check what exactly is supported in C++.

In this topic, you can find some examples of using coding assistance features in C++:

• Code completion
• Syntax highlighting
• Context Actions
  • Generate missing case statements
  • Merge nested 'if' statements
  • Generate implementation
  • Move implementation out of class scope
  • Document
• Highlighting paired items

Code completion

In C++ files, you can use automatic and basic (Ctrl+Space) completion when writing your code. For example, you can quickly add enum members taken from a different namespace:

When you call a method, you can always type a dot (.) or an arrow (->) and get all available methods in the completion list. The methods that do not match ./-> are displayed in grey. If you choose such method, the ./-> will be corrected automatically:

Generative completion suggestion are also available. For example, when you call a member function declaration on the object...

ReSharper generates the following function:

Syntax highlighting

By default, ReSharper provides extended highlighting of C++ syntax with configurable colors. If necessary, you can disable it on the Code Editing | C++ | Inspections page of ReSharper options. There are 20 identifier types that you can highlight differently. You can change colors and fonts at any time in Visual Studio options (Tools | Options | Environment | Fonts and Colors).

Context Actions

ReSharper provides a set of context actions that target C++ code. You can find the full list of these actions in the Code Editing | C++ | Context actions page of ReSharper options. If necessary, you can also disable some of the actions using this page.

As soon as a context action becomes available for the current caret position, ReSharper displays the corresponding action indicator to the left of the caret. Sometimes, however, ReSharper provides several contextually available features for the current caret position. In this case, the action indicator corresponding to the action with the highest priority is shown, and all other actions only appear when you expand the action list by clicking on the action indicator or pressing Alt+Enter Context actions have the lowest priority, therefore, they often appear in the bottom of the action list:

Here are some examples of context actions for C++:

Generate missing case statements

Instead of manually writing all case statements when switching over an enum, you can use the context action that generates all missing case statements:

Merge nested 'if' statements

ReSharper helps you merge nested 'if' statements with the context action:

Generate implementation

ReSharper helps you automatically create a stub implementation of a function or a method. You can always generate an inline implementation and, if the function is defined in a header file and there is the corresponding source file, you can generate the implementation in the source file.

Move implementation out of class scope

ReSharper helps you move the implementation of a function or a method from a header to the corresponding source file if it exists. After applying this context action the definition is left in its original place and the implementation is moved to the source file. The editor context is switched to the source file as well.

You can also use the context action to move all implementations in the current selection.

Document

With this context action, you can generate documentation comments for C++ symbols. If necessary, you can customize the comment stub by editing the doc live template that ReSharper uses for the generation.

Highlighting paired items

ReSharper highlights various matching items when you set the caret to one item of the pair:

• Matching delimiters ((), [], {}, and <>)
• Matching macros, for example, BEGIN_NAMESPACE / END_NAMESPACE
• Matching format specifier and argument in printf and boost::format