VS.NET - Multiple Find All References Result Windows?
find, reference, visual-studio, visual-studio-2008
Solution
I know this question is old, but apparently you can persist a results tab and get new results in a new tab, by using the "Keep Results" button at the panel's header (VS2017).
Problem
Visual Studio has a "Find All References" tool that is great in navigating the codebase to find out where a function is called or where a variable is used. When navigating a large code base, I tend to do find all references multiple times to find the top level of where a function is called. Imagine we have the following: A1() calls B1(), B1() calls C() A2() calls B2(), B2() calls C() My problem: If I do find all references on C(), I find both B1() and B2(), which is great. Now, I try to find out where B1() is called. I find A1() calls B1(). Great! However, I run into an issue when I want to back track and find out what calls B2(), but I lost track of B2()! By default, VS.NET only has window for the "Find All References" result. Since I found all references for B1() just now, I lost track of where C() was called. I now have to find all references to C(), and then find all references to B2(). I'm working in a large code base, and finding all references can easily take more than a minute for a function. It would be nice if I could save the results of a search, and future find all references would open a new window instead of overwriting the existing search. Is there a setting in VS.NET 2008 or a free addon that would allow me to have multiple "Find All References" windows? On a related note, VS.NET has 2 Find result windows for searching for text. Is there a way to have more?