Where can I locate themes for VS2012 - visual-studio-2012

Okay, the lack of color on VS2012 is gross.
Is there someplace I can get a theme pack or something for it so that it actually looks reasonable? I really liked the look of VS2010. However, the new one reminds me way too much of 1984.
While we are at it, is there anyway to have it stop shouting at me? ALL CAPS menus are pretty hard to read. [ note: caps was resolved, thanks Konamiman]

Yes, luckily you can revert the Visual Studio 2012 ALL CAPS menus to normal menus by hacking the registry:
Launch regedit and navigate to
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\General
Create a DWORD value named SuppressUppercaseConversion with value 1.
NOTE: As explained in the answer pointed by Yahoo Serious, the VisualStudio part on the registry key name should be changed to VSWinExpress for Visual Studio Express, and to VWDExpress for Visual Studio Express for Web.
UPDATE:
I have applied this hack in another machine and at first it did not work. It turned out that I had selected the key name from this response by double clicking it, then copied it, then pasted it in regedit. Well, by doing so I had inadvertently created the key with a trailing space in the name! And hence it did not work.
So, if you apply this hack and it seems to not work, ensure that there are no trailing spaces in the key name.

New Theme editor Specifically for 2012:
http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/366ad100-0003-4c9a-81a8-337d4e7ace05
Comes w/ VS 2010 style blue and a few others...

Here is a shot of my VS2012 install that almost looks like the familiar 2010 we are all used to. It makes me feel normal again!
Here is exactly how I did this, step-by-step:
1) Close all instances of Visual Studio
2) Download vsip and extract it to a temp directory. (as of 1/3/2013 the current version is 1.5.2)
3) Open up a command prompt with "Run as administrator"
4) Go to the temp directory and run VSIP.exe - This will run an interactive program that accepts commands.
4a) Type "backup --version=2012" - This will backup all of your VS2012 UI dlls, just in case something gets messed up and you want to uninstall VSIP.
4b) Type "extract" - This will extract all of the old icons from your installation of VS2010 (per VS2010 license VSIP can not distribute those icons so we have to have a local install to pull them from).
4c) Type "inject" - This will inject all of the old 2010 icons from the previous step into the VS2012 DLLs.
4d) Type "menus -n" - This will change the menus so they are NOT ALL CAPITALIZED!
5) Download and install NiceVS - do not download the one dated 10/14 or you will be missing icons. As of 1/3/2013 I downloaded the file named "NiceVS.0.8.1.1 Beta.Full.vsix".
6) Download and install VS2012 Color Theme Editor - The next time you start VS2012 select the "Blue" theme from the color select window.
Now you should have a nice install of VS2012 that looks like my screen shot above! It takes three different applications to patch that hideous UI but it's certainly workable now! If you don't have VS2010 installed on the same machine as VS2012 then you will have to run 4b on a machine with VS2010 and then copy the VSIP Images directory to your 2012 development machine.
Update: If you install "VS 2012 Update 1" after running these steps you will need to re-run step 4c from the VSIP admin prompt (or all of step 4 if you didn't keep the extract of the VS2010 images). The file menu icons and color scheme stay as they are but the update reverts the icons in the solution explorer back to the ugly ones. Re-running the VSIP inject fixes it right up!

I feel your pain, and have been checking daily for a solution. I've now discovered this site, which includes a theme editor, as well as drumroll a VS2010 theme for VS2012!
http://bchavez.bitarmory.com/archive/2012/08/27/modify-visual-studio-2012-dark-and-light-themes.aspx
Edit - I just noticed that Brian Chavez already posted the same link as me. However, I don't think it included a premade 2010 theme until today.
Edit 2 - Another theme editor - http://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/366ad100-0003-4c9a-81a8-337d4e7ace05
AND ICONS!!! - http://vsip.codeplex.com/

http://studiostyl.es/
The themes for 2010 work for 2012 as well

This extension was just released a couple of days ago:
Visual Studio 2012 Color Theme Editor

If you want to change the VS shell environment themes in Visual Studio 2012, try this utility:
Modify Visual Studio 2012 Dark (and Light) Themes
Source Code

The quick option to look is VSColorOutput extension for VS2012. Just look at Tools->Extensions and NUGet package will help you to locate it asap.
Another option would be downloading and Visual Studio Color Schemes. http://studiostyles.info/ . Here is a link to Scott Gu's blog which describes how to apply your preferred schema.

Related

Eclipse shortcuts in Resharper

I just started with Visual Studio + Resharper, coming from Java development with Eclipse. I can navigate eclipse pretty quickly, because I memorized all the shortcuts I need. Now it seems like Resharper knows all what eclipse can do (probably even more), but its mapped to different keys, and i really don't feel like learning a new set of shortcuts for the same stuff.
So my question:
Where is Resharpers shortcut configuration file (if there is any)? I saw a bunch of .xml files in it's bin directory, but I'm not sure it's the right place to look. Couldn't find anything in the docs, only how to change the shortcuts from VS one-by-one.
Is there an eclipse preset? I found this on github, but there is absolutely no explanation, on what to do with it, and in the file name it states, it's for r# 5.0 and i have 8.1 (not sure if there is any difference in the configuration part).
I found this file using Google Search: https://github.com/chrismo/jetbrains.keymaps/blob/master/resharper.5.0.eclipse.shortcuts.vs2010.vssettings
You can download it and use Visual Studio's Tools -> Import and Export Settings ... command to import it.
Resharper comes with only two default keyboard schemes, 'Visual Studio' or 'IntelliJ IDEA' (see here). Choose one that you are most happy with (under Resharper->Options...->Environment->Keyboard & Menus) and change any shortcuts in Visual Studio (under Tools->Options...->Environment->Keyboard) to match the ones in Eclipse. It may be easier just to re-learn one of the default schemes though.

visual studio 2010 not opening projects

i just installed visual studio 2010 and it is not opening any projects .I can make projects but i can not add any file in it and also it is not opening recent projects.
I am stuck here , kindly cooperate with me!
OK, sounds like the installaion got munged up.
first obvious questions: do you have any code that has actually been saved?
If "yes," copy that code to an alternate location, and use the simplest solution: use the Windows Control Panel to deinstall the MSVC instance and reinstall. If no code saved, just de-install and reinstall.
That's the obvious answer. You may also check the location for the project files, and the settings Visual Studios uses.
from the toolbar, click "tools".
From the drop-down list select "options"
Within the displayed list, scroll down to "projects and solutions"
expand that list (click on the little "+" box)
3 locations will be displayed.
Make sure you have write permission to all three locations
all the check boxes should be selected. Especially the one marked "save new projects when created"
click "OK" to accept the changes

Change TODO item color in Visual Studio 2012 with Resharper 8

After installing Resharper 8 on Visual Studio 2012 my TODOs are now a retina-searing blue of which this screenshot does not do justice:
I've found similar questions here and here they don't seem to apply to VS2012 and/or RS8, as there is no "Resharper Todo Item" nor any other Resharper items under the Display Items for Fonts & Colors.
Just to post a possible workaround if somebody has the same behavior - apply actions from the following article. It looks oddly but works.
Close all Visual Studio instances
Open C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio {VS
version}\Common7\IDE\Extensions\extensions.configurationchanged file
Type anything there
Save the file
Open VS and check Fonts and Colors in Tools | Options | Environment
Navigate to environment settings using Visual Studio (Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Fonts and Colors) and change the colour of the TODO items in the text editor. Scroll to the item in the "Display items" list which shows as "Resharper TODO item"
A Visual Studio crash and restart later, Resharper display items are suddenly showing up under fonts and colors. I contacted Jetbrains and apparently this was a verified bug, though that link is now dead which would lead me to believe that they fixed it, but for some reason this answer is still getting upvoted so maybe not.
Maybe the next upvoter can edit this answer or provide a comment with the current state of affairs?
This is not a Win 8.x issue; I am using Windows 7 and encountered the problem when I applied Resharper 8 to VS2013. The link that Alexander posted resolved the problem for me. I did, however, have to copy the file to My Documents, make my edit there (a simple hash symbol) and then copy it over the source location.
Adding an empty line in the file extensions.configurationchanged worked for me.
Visual studio 2013 with Resharper 10

Show file type icons on tabs on visual studio 2012

I wass looking for quite some time now how I could see the file type icon of each file I have opened in visual studio 2012 tab well, like it was shown on previous versions of visual studio. This was completely removed from vs 12, couldn't find any option enabling this. This is something extemely usefull when having many open files.
I found that this option exists on the registry!
So you go here:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\VisualStudio\11.0\DialogPage\Microsoft.CustomDocWell.Options
and change the IconInTabs property from false to True!
File type icons are displayed again next to each tab!!!!
Edit: In order for this to work you must have installed Productivity Power Tools 2012 plugin

Syntax highlight fail on Classes in Visual Studio 2012

I recently installed Visual Studio on a laptop and the syntax highlight fails to change Classes colors.
I tried exporting and importing the full, complete set of settings and it is still looking like that.
EDIT
I tried those websites with schemes and decided to try one, the Humane scheme, and this is how the sample code looks in my laptop after installing those settings:
However, this is how it is supposed to look:
Note the lack of highlight in class names.
What could it be causing this?
I'm starting to think that's another setting at another place which causes this.
Finally, it worked by resetting user data, running this from the Visual Studio Command Prompt
devenv /Resetuserdata
Found the hint here:
https://stackoverflow.com/a/11988265/1213246
Changin syntax highlight could be done through the menu Tools - Options - Environment - Font & Colors. It's a try and test approach that is not much improved from earlier versions of Visual Studio.
Fortunately, today there are entire sites with themes that simply need to be choosen and installed
I suggest you to visit http://studiostyl.es/ where you can find thousands themes or, for more generic go to http://www.hanselman.com/blog/VisualStudioProgrammerThemesGallery.aspx

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