Visual Studio Macro to Paste similar to String.Format

I'd like to be able to cut/copy a string like "<strong>{0}</strong>" for example.

I'd like to then select some code such as "Hello, World" and then invoke a macro which will result in "<strong>Hello, World</strong>".

How could you do this?

Update: WHY do I want to do this?

I could just make a macro or shortcut to add something specific like a <strong> tag to a selection. However, my idea to create any sort of "surround with" paste behavior on the fly.

Fairly often, I paste in a list of fields or properties. So from somewhere else I get

PersonID
FirstName
LastName

And just as an example, I know I want to set those up as

FieldName = dataRow("FieldName").Value

With my magic macro, I could select the following and press CTRL+C to get it in my clipboard:

{0} = dataRow("{0}").Value

Then all I have to do is go line by line and apply my magic paste.

From stackoverflow

• Wouldn't it be better to define a macro that added the 'strong' tags around the selected text? Then you could assign it to Ctrl+B or whatever.

  Having to select both chunks of text and invoking the macro twice seems too much like hard work to me.

  (maybe you need to explain why you want to do this)

• You may want to read this article: http://www.viemu.com/a-why-vi-vim.html

  And then start using VIM, or at least ViEmu ;)

  As an alternative, you can develop your own Visual Studio Add-In. It's not that hard, and it will have the exact features that you neeed.

• Fun little project.

  Option Strict Off
  Option Explicit Off
  Imports System
  Imports EnvDTE
  Imports EnvDTE80
  Imports EnvDTE90
  Imports System.Diagnostics
  
  Public Module StringFormatModule
  
      Private clipText As String
  
      Public Property ClipboardText() As String
          Get
              RunThread(AddressOf GetClipboardText)
              Return clipText
          End Get
          Set(ByVal value As String)
              clipText = value
              RunThread(AddressOf CopyToClipboard)
          End Set
      End Property
  
      Private Function RunThread(ByVal fct As Threading.ThreadStart)
          Dim thread As New Threading.Thread(fct)
          thread.ApartmentState = Threading.ApartmentState.STA
  
          thread.Start()
          thread.Join()
      End Function
  
      Private Sub GetClipboardText()
          clipText = My.Computer.Clipboard.GetText()
      End Sub
  
      Private Sub CopyToClipboard()
          My.Computer.Clipboard.SetText(clipText)
      End Sub
  
      Sub FormatSelectedTextWithCopiedText()
          Dim formatString As String
  
          formatString = ClipboardText
  
          Dim token As String
          Dim selectedText As TextSelection
          selectedText = DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection
          token = selectedText.Text
          selectedText.Text = String.Format(formatString, token)
      End Sub
  End Module
  

  I borrowed the clipboard code from here.

  This does work. I tested it on a text file, copy your formatstring into the clipboard (ctrl-c), highlight the text you want to format, and then run the macro (i just doubleclicked it from the macro explorer but you could make a keyboard shortcut).

  AMissico : Too complex, no error handling, and does not support undo.

• Instead of {0}, I use &. Assign macro to Ctrl+Q and you are all set!

  ' Wraps the current selection with the specified text. Use the & character as the anchor for the selected text.
  Public Sub WrapSelection()
      Dim selection As TextSelection = DirectCast(DTE.ActiveDocument.Selection, TextSelection)
      DTE.UndoContext.Open("Wrap Selection")
  
      Try
          Dim sInput As String = InputBox("Wrap(&&, state)")
          If Len(sInput) > 0 Then
              Dim sContent As String = selection.Text
              Dim iStart As Integer = InStr(sInput, "&") - 1
              Dim iEnd As Integer = InStrRev(sInput, "&")
              selection.Insert(sInput.Substring(0, iStart) + sContent + sInput.Substring(iEnd), vsInsertFlags.vsInsertFlagsContainNewText)
              'selection.Insert(sInput.Substring(iEnd), vsInsertFlags.vsInsertFlagsInsertAtEnd)
          End If
  
      Catch ex As Exception
          DTE.UndoContext.SetAborted()
          MsgBox(ex.Message)
  
      Finally
          'If an error occured, then need to make sure that the undo context is cleaned up.
          'Otherwise, the editor can be left in a perpetual undo context
          DTE.UndoContext.Close()
  
      End Try
  
  End Sub