ReSharper 2017.1 Help

Code Syntax Style: Named/Positional Arguments

If you prefer to use named arguments for specific types of parameters, ReSharper can help you enforce this practice.
Consider the following method call:

AddCheckbox(true, true, "AutoFill", null);

When you read this code, you have to stop and study the method signature to understand what happens here. (you can do it either with the parameter information tooltip or by navigating to method declaration) With named arguments, the same call becomes much clearer:

AddCheckbox(enabled: true, value: true, label: "AutoFill", tooltip: null);

If you prefer to have named arguments for specific types, you can do so with the help of ReSharper.

ReSharper helps you arrange arguments in the existing code and takes your preferences into account when it produces new code with code completion and code generation features, applies code templates and performs refactorings.

In this topic:

Applying style preferences for arguments

By default, ReSharper suggests you to use positional arguments everywhere and you have to explicitly specify which types of parameters require named arguments. According to your preferences, ReSharper highlights positional arguments that require names or named arguments that should be positional, and then suggests the corresponding quick-fix or fix in scope:

Quick fix that help you add or remove argument names

Even if you do not have any style preferences for arguments, you can always press Alt+Enter on any named or positional argument and choose to add or remove the argument name with the corresponding context action:

Context action to add or remove argument names

Another option to enforce preferences for named/positional arguments in a bulk mode is code cleanup. You can either run code cleanup with the default profile Default: Full Cleanup or run the cleanup with a custom profile solely targeted at your specific task as described below.

To apply attributes style with code cleanup

  1. Open the Code Cleanup options: ReSharper | Options | Code Editing | Code Cleanup.
  2. Create a new profile as described in the Code Cleanup section. In the Selected profile settings section for the new profile tick the Apply argument style check box.
  3. Click Save to apply the modifications and let ReSharper choose where to save them, or save the modifications to a specific settings layer using the Save To drop-down list. For more information, see Managing and Sharing ReSharper Settings.
  4. Select the scope where you want to enforce your preferences:
    • Set the caret anywhere in the file to enforce your preferences to the file.
    • Select one or more items in the Solution Explorer to enforce your preferences in the files under these nodes and their child items.
  5. Do one of the following:
    • Press Ctrl+Alt+F or choose ReSharper | Edit | Cleanup Code in the main menu.
    • Right-click anywhere in the text editor or right-click the selection and choose Cleanup Code in the context menu.
  6. In the Code Cleanup dialog that opens, select the newly created profile.
  7. Click Run. ReSharper will enforce your preferences in the selected scope.

If you want to arrange arguments without opening the Code Cleanup dialog, you can bind the default Reformat Code profile to the silent cleanup and run it simply by pressing Ctrl+Shift+Alt+F. You can also create a custom cleanup profile that would combine arranging arguments with other code style tasks.

Configuring preferences for named/positional arguments

Your arguments style preferences are saved using the mechanism of shared settings. Among other things, this mechanism allows you to maintain different preferences for different solutions as well as to keep these preferences under a VCS and automatically share them with your team members.

To configure preferences of arguments style

  1. Go to the Code Editing | C# | Code Style page of ReSharper options.
  2. In the Arguments category select whether to use named or positional arguments for specific parameter types. Note that Literal values refers to all literals (bool, int, double, etc.) except strings. The preference for strings is defined in the String literal values selector.
  3. The Notify with selectors in the right column allow you to set severity levels of code inspections detecting code that differs from your preferences.
  4. Click Save to apply the modifications and let ReSharper choose where to save them, or save the modifications to a specific settings layer using the Save To drop-down list. For more information, see Managing and Sharing ReSharper Settings.

You can also change your preferences for arranging arguments right in the editor, where corresponding issues are highlighted.

To change preference for named/positional arguments in the editor

  1. Set the caret to a code issue highlighted by a ReSharper's inspection.
  2. Press Alt+Enter or click on the action indicator to the left of the caret to open the action list.
  3. In the action list, choose Inspection "Use preferred argument style..." | Configure code style and then choose the desired option:
    Changing the preference for named/positional arguments in the editor
  4. Your change will be saved using the smart save logic.
  5. If you need to save the modified style preference in a shared settings layer, click on the Configure code style menu item or press Enter when it is selected. ReSharper will open the Code Editing | C# | Code Style page of ReSharper options where you can modify your preference as needed, click Save To and then choose the desired settings layer.

This feature is supported in the following languages/technologies:

C# VB.NET C++ HTML ASPX Razor JavaScript TypeScript CSS XML XAML RESX Build Scripts Protobuf JSON
Feature is available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available Feature is not available
Last modified: 12 October 2017
Multiple AttributesNamespace Imports

See Also

Concepts:

Procedures:

External Links: