IntelliSense: Visual Studio

IntelliSense makes coding C# programs easier. But what does it mean to use IntelliSense in Visual Studio? This article is intended for beginners to Visual Studio and the C# language—we look at the basics of IntelliSense.

This page shows the IntelliSense feature in Visual Studio. It uses the C# language.

Introduction

To get started, make a new console program in Visual Studio. You can use either Visual Studio Professional or Visual C# Express. You will get a console program similar to the one shown below. Now, the Main method by default receives an args array of strings. Try typing "args" and then press the period key. IntelliSense will activate—a popup with all the possible ways to complete your statement will appear.

Console program [C#]

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;

namespace ConsoleApplication1
{
    class Program
    {
	static void Main(string[] args)
	{
	    args.
	}
    }
}

Result
    See screenshot.

Next, you can scroll through all the possible members (methods and fields and properties) that can complete your statement. Double-click one or press enter or tab on the desired statement.

Why are those items in the list? You might be wondering why args has items like AsQueryable, Average, and Cast in the IntelliSense list. These items are extension methods from the System.Linq namespace. Try removing the "using System.Linq" directive from the top of your program and then see how IntelliSense changes. It will remove those extension methods.

Summary

We took an introductory look at the IntelliSense function in Visual Studio. We explained how to use this feature of IntelliSense and also how the feature changes what it suggests to you based on both the variable type and the using directives at the top of the program. Though imperfect, IntelliSense makes the creation of C# programs easier.