One very nice feature I have come across before in other language IDEs is the code completion or code injection. This is a great time saver for quickly entering common code blocks into your source code.
A bit like the time saving
Sub <TAB> key feature for injecting events.
My idea is that you press a key combo (say Ctrl+J) to bring up a popup menu containing common code blocks. The pasted block is then injecting at the current cursor position. It should be nicely formatted with indented lines where applicable and the cursor positioned where you would expect to start typing from.
List of common code blocks
If Then
If * Then ' cursor finishes at * position
| ' tabbed indent
End If
If Then Else
If * Then ' cursor finishes at * position
| ' tabbed indent
Else
| ' tabbed indent
End If
Sub
Sub * ' cursor finishes at * position
| ' tabbed indent
End Sub
For
For *= To ' cursor finishes at * position
| ' tabbed indent
Next
Another idea, have an option in the IDE to '
Auto Complete code block' where any 'block' type code is automatically completed (i.e,
If /
Do /
Sub /
For).
So, if the programmer types
If MyVar=10 Then followed by <RETURN> the IDE completes the block and moves the cursor into the indented line:
If MyVar=10 Then
* ' cursor position * (at tabbed indent)
End If