Break line on each tag attribute and keep them aligned in Visual Studio HTML code editor

Leniel Maccaferri picture Leniel Maccaferri · Feb 9, 2013 · Viewed 13.4k times · Source

If you'd like to see this implemented in the next version of VS, please vote for it here.


Suppose the following horizontally lengthy <button> HTML declaration:

<button type="submit" class="btn btn-primary" id="save" name="action:@ViewContext.RouteData.Values["action"]"><i class="icon-save icon-large"></i> @Localization.Save</button>

As you see all tag attributes are inline such that they extend a long way to right in the code editor...

Do you know of any Visual Studio option or extension that allows it to be formatted with Ctrl + K then Ctrl + F like this:

<button type="submit"
        class="btn btn-primary"
        id="save"
        name="action:@ViewContext.RouteData.Values["action"]">
<i class="icon-save icon-large"></i>@Localization.Save
</button>

I think the above format makes it easy to spot a given attribute although it'll clearly make the vertical scroll-bar a little longer. :)

I tried fiddling with Visual Studio options in TOOLS => Options... => Text Editor => HTML but didn't find an option to control this behavior.

Of course I can align it manually but then if I hit Ctrl + K then Ctrl + F by mistake I lose all the custom made formatting.

If there's no such a thing available, I think this makes a great idea for a Visual Studio extension. As a plus it could even alphabetically order the attributes. :)


Doing a little bit more Googling I found that the XAML editor in Visual Studio has what I'd like to have in the HTML editor:

Position each attribute on a separate line

enter image description here


I asked this same question at the Visual Studio Extensibility forum:

http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vsx/thread/0d97c205-9f29-4ba7-9d0b-253413077dce/


If you'd like to see this implemented in the next version of VS, please vote for it here.

Answer

Leniel Maccaferri picture Leniel Maccaferri · Feb 14, 2013

Well, I found a trick at the ASP.NET Forums:

Positioning each attribute on a separate line

It's not like the XAML feature described in my question but it works.

In Options/Text Editor/HTML/Format you can check "Wrap tags when exceeding specific length" and set the length to 1. That will cause the formatter to wrap like crazy.


Another option is:

  1. Go to TOOLS => Options... => Text Editor => XML => Formatting => Align attributes each on a separate line.

  2. Close the .cshtml file. Right click it in Solution Explorer and select Open With... then select XML (text) Editor. Select all content and do Ctrl + K then Ctrl + F.

    * This second option is tedious! :(