After using a F# heavily for a while, I often found myself wanting to add brackets (or rather, parentheses) around some text. This is normally when adding a type specification to an argument in order to be able to use dot notation, e.g. going from:
let typeName t = t.Name
which causes “error FS0072: Lookup on object of indeterminate type based on information prior to this program point”, to the correct:
let typeName (t:Type) = t.Name
(These are obviously simplistic examples!)
So I broke out the Visual Studio macro editor for the first time in a while, and put together something to toggle brackets around the currently selected text. It’s naive, but, combined with Shift+Alt+Left Arrow to select the previous word, it’s effective:
Public Sub AddBrackets()
Dim s As Object = DTE.ActiveWindow.Selection()
If s.Text.StartsWith(“(”) And s.Text.EndsWith(“)”) Then
s.Text = s.Text.Substring(1, s.Text.Length – 2)
Else
s.Text = “(” + s.Text + “)”
End If
End Sub
Copy this text into a module within your macro project, and assign a suitable keystroke using Tools|Customize|Keyboard.
