Visual Studio 2005/2012: How to keep first curly brace on same line?

Question

Trying to get my css / C# functions to look like this:

body {
    color:#222;
}

instead of this:

body 
{
    color:#222;
}

when I auto-format the code.

Strickman

Why you would want to do this? You're swimming upstream, MS guidelines for .NET style are the current auto-format style. – Gradeigh

@AnthonyMastrean: I don't think there are any MS guidelines for any things. Maybe, this guy is working mostly on java and they are used to this name convention. And at least, css is not something .net related :) – Veasey

I tried to use this format but gave up fighting VS. If someone else looks at the code in their version then at least its all standard. – Ethnic

Do not misuse the word standard. Not everyone wants braces in the same fashion. – Sailesh

bit late to the party but its much easier for me to read my code when the braces are on the same row. Also you can fit more code on the same screenspace, win win for me :/ – Celesta

Answer 1

C#

1. In the Tools Menu click Options
2. Click Show all Parameters (checkbox at the bottom left) (Show all settings in VS 2010)
3. Text Editor
4. C#
5. Formatting
6. New lines

And there check when you want new lines with brackets

Css:

almost the same, but fewer options

1. In the Tools Menu click Options
2. Click Show all Parameters (checkbox at the bottom left) (Show all settings in VS 2010)
3. Text Editor
4. CSS
5. Format

And than you select the formatting you want (in your case second radio button)

For Visual Studio 2015:

Tools → Options

In the sidebar, go to Text Editor → C# → Formatting → New Lines

and uncheck every checkbox in the section "New line options for braces"

For Mac OS users:
Preferences → Source Code → Code Formatting → choose what ever you want to change (like C# source code) → C# Format → Edit -→ New Lines

Rhettrhetta

For css in Visual Studio 2013 you can change the value to something else, other than the default, in Tools > Options > Text Editor > Css > Advanced > Brace positions – Junk

For Visual Studio Code go File -> Preferences -> Settings and under Extensions choose the language you want to change properties. Search for Clang_format_fallback Style (e.g.: for C++ C_Cpp: Clang_format_fallback Style) and change the value from Visual Studio to Google – Magdalenamagdalene

For Visual Studio 2017 : Tools > Options > Text Editor > C# > Code Style > Formatting > New Lines – Pita

Answer 2

Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> C# -> Formatting -> New Lines -> New Line Options for braces -> Uncheck all boxes.

Stromboli

Answer 3

The official MS guidelines (at the time in 2008) tells you to have the curly brace on the same line as the method/property/class and many other things which are not enforced in Visual Studio.

You can change all these auto-text settings under:
Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> [The language you want to change]

UPDATE: This was based on the book "Framework Design Guidelines" written by some of the core-people from the .NET-team. If you look at the source-code for the likes of ASP.NET MVC, this is no longer accurate.

Schaub

Could you please provide a reference for this @Seb? I found a MS Guidelines document from 2005 that states the opposite convention for curly braces (next-line style): blogs.msdn.com/b/brada/archive/2005/01/26/361363.aspx. I myself prefer the "egyptian" style (same-line opening brace), and was hoping that C# followed this convention... – Tyrannosaur

Answer 4

Go to Tools -> Options -> Text Editor -> CSS -> Formatting. Click "Semi-expanded," which matches the style you defined.

Arelus

This option looks to have disappeared in 2013 :( – Glyptic

Answer 5

For CSS you'll need the 'Semi Expanded' option.

Macon

Answer 6

For Visual Studio Mac OS (Community edition) version 8.3 you need to do the following:

Preferences -> Source Code (in left menu) -> Code Formatting -> C# source code -> C# Format -> Press Edit

Select New Lines from the Category dropdown menu:

Deselect each option in the New line options for braces:

Palter

Answer 7

There is a specific formatting setting in VS 2008/2010 to keep the open brace on the same line:

Click Tools->Options
Select 'CSS' within 'Text Editor' tree node
Select 'Formatting' under 'CSS' node
Click 'Semi-expanded' radio button

You will see a preview what the various radio buttons avail will do to the formatting

Dotted

Answer 8

If you're looking for this option within Visual Studio 2014, then it's under advanced and is now a 'Brace positions' drop down box:

Glyptic