Renaming in Visual Studio Using AI

Have you ever struggled to find a good name for a variable? Now with the rename tool in Visual Studio, you can get context-aware suggestions using GitHub Copilot Chat. In this video, I will show you how to enable this feature, and how to use it effectively.
Full Training Courses: IAmTimCorey.com
Mailing List: signup.iamtimcorey.com/

[@amandaseeley4031]

Very helpful on some of the small resources that I did not know about.

[@IAmTimCorey]

I am glad it was helpful.

[@iamkgraman]

Nice information😊. Thanks

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@IcetipsVideos]

What concerns are there with CoPilot and intellectual property? Does this mean that the entire code (i.e class or code file) is sent to MS for processing or just the line with the declaration? IP is a big concern for me and my clients.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Your data is secure. You can read more on their site about how they use your data: resources.github.com/copilot-trust-center/

[@CRBarchager]

I had hoped that GitHub Pilot Chat was a thing in VS now but I just updated to the same version in this video and I don't have that option available in the options menu.

[@IAmTimCorey]

GitHub Copilot is an add-in feature. It is a paid product ($10/month or $100/year with the first 30 days free), but it is worth it for the additional speed it provides you as a developer. It is like having a constant pair programmer.

[@grumpydeveloper69]

@@IAmTimCorey So not all costs are incured by Microsoft like you sugested. Also With the speed it supplies suggestions it can hardly speed up your development. A class usyally begins with a proper name, and then you fill in the properties so the example is a bit made-up. Perhaps as a refactoring/rename tool but for that AI is overkill

[@ChallusMercer]

I would like to hear more on how to use copilot more efficiently in IDE. My preferred IDE is Visual Studio but it seems that copilot is poorly integrated compared to the VSCode dev experience.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Thanks for the suggestion. Please add it to the list on the suggestion site so others can vote on it as well: suggestions.iamtimcorey.com/

[@aamirali8114]

i am not able to visualize GitHub in Options so what i have to do for enabling it.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Make sure that the GitHub Copilot extension is installed in Visual Studio.

[@petropzqi]

Great, did bot know about this feature

[@IAmTimCorey]

I am glad it was helpful.

[@johannormen]

Strange I cant fine all thoose Preview features :( Not that one with enable rename suggestion. And I pay for the service :) So guess it's not there for everyone? or they removed it? I have latest chat update and VS .Net :(

[@IAmTimCorey]

You need to have GitHub Copilot installed and you need to be on Visual Studio 2022 version 17.9.

[@johannormen]

@@IAmTimCorey I do have it. chat, and the pilot, and latest VS .Net I only have 4 options in beta feature... Odd. I will try to install the extensions again. Maybe some other issues then.

[@chrisjohansson9971]

If wonder if u have resharper on plus this if it will fight over what name it suggests lol

[@IAmTimCorey]

Not sure.

[@andergarcia1115]

Thank you, Master, for another wonderful and insightful lesson. I found the content on this topic particularly enriching, and I appreciate your clear explanations.

[@IAmTimCorey]

You are welcome.

[@godwincharan]

So your code is not safe anymore. Your code will be used to train the AI.

[@IAmTimCorey]

That's not how that works. You can check what Copilot does. They do not take your code to train the central AI. It does local training for you, but that data does not go to train the main AI. Your code is safe.

[@godwincharan]

@@IAmTimCorey So If I write variable and class names as a-z or gibberish how is it going to figure out whats the perfect name for the variable. If its regenerative AI then it was supposed to be fed some input. What was the data set.

[@andywalter7426]

I went to tools and options and did not show anything with copiolot. I heard it costs 10 dollars a month which most people can't even afford unless they are already successful in their jobs. This was the first video I saw that was useless unless somebody paid up.

[@brentondamron6522]

Your attitude is why you’re broke.

[@sekki2554]

Not everything needs to be relevant for every person and that‘s okay. You can get a 30 day trial version for Copilot. And if you can‘t pay the price after the trial, just describe ChatGPT what your Class does or what a Model should represent and it will provide you with a lot of names, as many as you wish. You can then just click rightclick on your variable, click „rename“ and it will rename it for you in the while Project, just like in the video.

[@IAmTimCorey]

Yes, GitHub Copilot costs $10/month or $100/year. Not every tool you use will be free. The good news is that there are a LOT of tools available for free. However, there are some very real costs around AIs, so Microsoft has us pay for at least some of those costs (if you are a heavy user, you might cost them more than you pay).

[@beardeddouche]

I definitely fall in the heavy user category when I start arguing with the AI over a consistent string of bad suggestions. Anyone else feel like the vscode AI is way better than the vs AI?

[@TimJavins]

You ​@@beardeddouche. 😄

[@HunterMayer]

Everytime you call an AI a kitten is killed.

[@IAmTimCorey]

If that were true, we would be out of cats in no time.

[@evangreavu9621]

Cute feature

[@IAmTimCorey]

I'm glad you like it.

[@swordblaster2596]

Useless feature looking for a problem to solve!

[@IAmTimCorey]

First, no one is forcing you to use it. It is an optional feature you can turn on if you want it. Second, it is absolutely not useless. Naming is one of the harder things in software development. Having suggestions that you can riff off of can be a really big time-saver.