VS2012 C# WPF MessageBox quick typing method error

Question

I'm writing a program in Visual Studio 2012 C# using WPF where I like to use MessageBoxes for some quick debugging and would usually type

mb [tab][tab]

To get the following message box code to appear

global::System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Test");

However, I get the error message

The type or namespace name 'Forms' does not exist in the namespace 'System.Windows' (are you missing an assembly reference?)

The code

global::System.Windows.MessageBox.Show("Test");

Works perfectly though I'm getting sick and tired of having to remove .Forms every time I make a message box.

Is there anyway to change the

mb [tab][tab]

Behaviour to output

global::System.Windows.MessageBox.Show("Test");

instead of

global::System.Windows.Forms.MessageBox.Show("Test");

?

It's very painful

Also, what is the term for these (mb [tab][tab]) types of shortcuts?

Answer 1

That's code snippet. Why not create your own code snippet?

Step 1: Copy this code to a new file and save it with .snippet extension.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8" ?>
<CodeSnippets  xmlns="http://schemas.microsoft.com/VisualStudio/2005/CodeSnippet">
<CodeSnippet Format="1.0.0">
    <Header>
        <Title>wpfmbox</Title>
        <Shortcut>wpfmb</Shortcut>
        <Description>Code snippet for MessageBox.Show</Description>
        <Author>Microsoft Corporation</Author>
        <SnippetTypes>
            <SnippetType>Expansion</SnippetType>
        </SnippetTypes>
    </Header>
    <Snippet>
        <Declarations>
            <Literal>
                <ID>string</ID>
                <ToolTip>String to display</ToolTip>
                <Default>"Test"</Default>
            </Literal>
            <Literal Editable="false">
                <ID>SystemWindowsMessageBox</ID>
                <Function>SimpleTypeName(global::System.Windows.MessageBox)</Function>
            </Literal>
        </Declarations>
        <Code Language="csharp">
    <![CDATA[$SystemWindowsMessageBox$.Show($string$);$end$]]>
        </Code>
    </Snippet>
</CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Step 2: From the Tools -> Code Snippet Manager, choose import and find your .snippet file. Then as the location it is preferred to choose the My Code Snippets folder.

Step 3: Somewhere in your code, use wpfmb[tab][tab].