Quickly Navigate Your Code with Visual Studio Metadata Search
Introduction
When working on big projects, it can be hard to quickly find classes, methods, or properties spread across different libraries. Searching through files one by one takes too much time.
This is where metadata search in Visual Studio helps. It lets you explore and navigate types from external libraries (like .NET assemblies or NuGet packages) even if you don’t have the source code. Visual Studio creates a readable view of the compiled metadata, so you can instantly see definitions and details, almost like built-in documentation.
References
Metadata search - Visual Studio
Usage
Results appear as you type.
- Name: Search by element name (default).
- Type: Limit by type, like class, table, method.
- Model: Find elements in a specific model.
- Property: Search by metadata property.
- Code: Find exact code snippets (use quotes). It returns the exact line number as well.
Conclusion
Using it saves time, reduces frustration, and helps you understand and work with large projects more efficiently.
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