TASK: Display an ordered view of directory style elements

In this task you will learn how to display an ordered view of directory style elements even if the configuration file is rather long.

In this example we choose the FRED4_Config.xml configuration file.

Your initial view may look like the following one, full or colored lines:

You will be able to perform this task only if:

•You opened for editing one or more files with directory styles as explained in TASK: Open for editing one or more files with directory styles.

1.On the Edit menu, point to Outlining, and then click Toggle All Outlining - the entire code of the configuration file collapses to the single line. Note: the alternative is to press CTRL+M and then CTRL+L.

2.Now, double-click a line on the Find Results pane: the file opens in the code editing pane, with only the first level expanded, and it may look like the following one, with the DirectoryStyle section expanded and its subsections collapsed:

Conclusions

The default way in which Visual Studio opens XML configuration files is not the most comfortable one, as all levels are expanded and this makes long files difficult to read.

The above procedure is recommended before any editing.