In addition to the extra code navigation features introduced in JustCode 2012 Q2 SP2, we have made improvements for Visual Studio themes. We focused on four main areas to support the new “Modern” user interface in VS2012: the general user interface (tool windows, popups, dialogs, etc.), options pages, the Visual Aid, and code colorization.
The new Modern (formerly called “Metro”) interface in Visual Studio comes with two default themes – dark and light. There is a new extension available for Visual Studio, called the “Visual Studio 2012 Color Theme Editor”, and we updated JustCode to work with the additional themes available through the extension as well as the themes that you create yourself. In short, if your theme looks good, the JustCode windows and VS integration points will look good! Images 1-5 show different screen shots of JustCode Visual Studio integration with the default themes and themes available from the Theme Editor extension.
Image 1 – JustCode tool windows with Blue Theme
Image 2 – JustCode tool windows with Light Theme
Image 3 – JustCode tool windows with Red Theme
Image 4 – JustCode tool windows with Dark Theme
Image 5 – JustCode tool windows with Green Theme
It always seems like updating visual preferences neglects Options and Settings pages, but not so with JustCode! We have made sure all of JustCode’s screens follow the selected theme. Images 6-7 show examples with the Dark and Light themes selected.
Image 6 – JustCode options with Dark Theme
Image 7 – JustCode options with Light Theme
The Visual Aid provides quick access to JustCode features like code generation, refactoring, navigation, and testing. When I am working with Visual Studio and editing or writing code, I constantly interact with the Visual Aid dialogs. If these do not match the selected theme, it would be quite an eyesore. Fortunately, these dialogs look just as good as your selected theme! Images 8 - 10 show the Visual Aid dialogs with different themes.
Image 8 – JustCode Visual Aid dialog with Dark Theme
Image 9 – JustCode Visual Aid dialog with Light Theme
Image 10 – JustCode Visual Aid dialog with random colors
JustCode colorizes identifiers for constants, events, fields, etc. You can customize these via the Visual Studio Options page, as shown in Image 11. We have extended the colored identifiers with a few new colors, designed especially for the dark theme. Images 12 and 13 show how the new colors look in the dark themes with code colorization.
Image 11 – JustCode Colorization Customization
Image 12 – Code Colorization with JustCode Dark Theme
Image 13 – Code Colorization with VS2012 Dark Theme
For those of us that spend a lot of time in Visual Studio editing or reading code, it’s vital for the editors and dialogs to be easy on the eyes. Some people prefer a dark theme, some people prefer a light theme, and some prefer to make up their own (maybe based on their favorite sports team colors
Happy Coding!
Philip Japikse is an international speaker, a Microsoft MVP, ASPInsider, INETA Community Champion, MCSD, CSM/ CSP, and a passionate member of the developer community. Phil has been working with .Net since the first betas, developing software for over 20 years, and heavily involved in the agile community since 2005. Phil also hosts the Hallway Conversations podcast (www.hallwayconversations.com) and serves as the Lead Director for the Cincinnati .Net User’s Group (http://www.cinnug.org). You can follow Phil on twitter via www.twitter.com/skimedic, or read his personal blog at www.skimedic.com/blog.