Code snippets schema reference

Code snippets are preauthored pieces of code that are ready to insert into your application. You can increase productivity and reliability by using code snippets to reduce the time spent typing repetitive code or searching for samples.

This article provides a reference to the Visual Studio IntelliSense Code Snippet XML schema. You can use the schema to create your own code snippets and add them to the code snippets that Visual Studio already includes.

• For more information on creating code snippets, see Walkthrough: Create a code snippet in Visual Studio.
• For information about the code snippets that Visual Studio includes by default, see C# code snippets or Visual C++ code snippets.

Assembly element

Specifies the name of the assembly referenced by the code snippet.

The text value of the Assembly element is either the friendly text name of the assembly, such as System.dll, or its strong name, such as System,Version=1.0.0.1,Culture=neutral,PublicKeyToken=9b35aa323c18d4fb1.

<Assembly>
    AssemblyName
</Assembly>

Parent element	Description
Reference element	Contains information about assembly references required by the code snippet.

A text value is required. This text specifies the assembly that the code snippet references.

Author element

Specifies the name of the snippet author. The Code Snippets Manager displays the name stored in the Author element of the code snippet.

<Author>
   Code Snippet Author
</Author>

Parent element	Description
Header element	Contains general information about the code snippet.

A text value is required. This text specifies the author of the code snippet.

Code element

Provides a container for short code blocks.

Keywords

Two reserved words are available for use in the text of the Code element: $end$ and $selected$. $end$ marks the location to place the cursor after the code snippet is inserted. $selected$ represents selected document text to insert into the snippet when the snippet is invoked. For example, given a snippet that includes:

$selected$ is a great color.

If the word Blue is selected when the user invokes the snippet, the result is:

Blue is a great color.

You may not use either $end$ or $selected$ more than once in a code snippet. If you do, only the second instance is recognized. Given a snippet that includes:

$selected$ is a great color. I love $selected$.

If the word Blue is selected, the result is:

 is a great color. I love Blue.

The initial space appears because there's a space between $selected$ and is.

All other $ keywords are dynamically defined in the <Literal> and <Object> tags.

The following code shows the structure of the Code element:

<Code Language="Language"
    Kind="method body/method decl/type decl/page/file/any"
    Delimiter="Delimiter">
    Code to insert
</Code>

A text value is required. This text specifies the code, along with the literals and objects, that you can use when this code snippet is inserted into a code file.

Attributes

There are three attributes available for the Code element:

• Language. Required attribute that specifies the language of the code snippet. The value must be one of the following values:

  Value	Description
  VB	Visual Basic code snippet.
  CSharp	C# code snippet.
  CPP	C++ code snippet.
  XAML	XAML code snippet.
  XML	XML code snippet.
  JavaScript	JavaScript code snippet.
  TypeScript	TypeScript code snippet.
  SQL	SQL code snippet.
  HTML	HTML code snippet.

• Kind. Optional attribute that specifies the kind of code that the snippet contains. The value must be one of the following values:

  Value	Description
  method body	The snippet is a method body, and therefore must be inserted inside a method declaration.
  method decl	The snippet is a method, and therefore must be inserted inside a class or module.
  type decl	The snippet is a type, and therefore must be inserted inside a class, module, or namespace.
  file	The snippet is a full code file and can be inserted alone into a code file or inside a namespace.
  any	The snippet can be inserted anywhere. This tag is used for code snippets that are context-independent, such as comments.

• Delimiter. Optional attribute that specifies the delimiter used to describe literals and objects in the code. By default, the delimiter is $.

Parent element

Parent element	Description
Snippet element	Contains the references, imports, declarations, and code for the code snippet.

CodeSnippet element

Allows you to specify a heading and multiple code snippets, which you can insert into Visual Studio Code files.

<CodeSnippet Format="x.x.x">
    <Header>... </Header>
    <Snippet>... </Snippet>
</CodeSnippet>

Attribute	Description
Format	Required attribute. Specifies the schema version of the code snippet. The Format attribute must be a string in the syntax of x.x.x, where each x represents a numerical value of the version number. Visual Studio ignores code snippets with Format attributes that it doesn't understand.

Child element	Description
Header element	Required element. Contains general information about the code snippet. There must be exactly one Header element in a code snippet.
Snippet element	Required element. Contains the code to be inserted by Visual Studio. There must be exactly one Snippet element in a code snippet.

Parent element	Description
CodeSnippets element	Root element of the code snippet XML schema.

CodeSnippets element

Groups CodeSnippet elements. The CodeSnippets element is the root element of the code snippet XML schema.

<CodeSnippets>
    <CodeSnippet>... </CodeSnippet>
</CodeSnippets>

Child element	Description
CodeSnippet element	Optional element. Parent element for all code snippet data. There may be zero or more CodeSnippet elements in a CodeSnippets element.

Declarations element

Specifies the literals and objects that make up the parts of a code snippet that you can edit.

<Declarations>
    <Literal>... </Literal>
    <Object>... </Object>
</Declarations>

Child element	Description
Literal element	Optional element. Defines the literals of the code snippet that you can edit. There may be zero or more Literal elements in a Declarations element.
Object element	Optional element. Defines the objects of the code snippet that you can edit. There may be zero or more Object elements in a Declarations element.

Parent element	Description
Snippet element	Contains the references, imports, declarations, and code for the code snippet.

Default element

Specifies the default value of the literal or object for a code snippet.

<Default>
    Default value
</Default>

Parent element	Description
Literal element	Defines the literal fields of the code snippet that you can edit.
Object element	Defines the object fields of the code snippet that you can edit.

A text value is required. This text specifies the default value of the literal or object that fills the fields of the code snippet that you can edit.

Description element

Specifies descriptive information about the contents of a code snippet.

<Description>
    Code Snippet Description
</Description>

Parent element	Description
Header element	Contains general information about the code snippet.

A text value is required. This text describes the code snippet.

Function element

Specifies a function to execute when the literal or object receives focus in Visual Studio.

Note

Not all languages support Function elements. See language specific documentation for what functions are available.

<Function>
    FunctionName
</Function>

Parent element	Description
Literal element	Defines the literal fields of the code snippet that you can edit.
Object element	Defines the object fields of the code snippet that you can edit.

A text value is required. This text specifies a function to execute when the literal or object field receives focus in Visual Studio.

Header element

Specifies general information about the code snippet.

<Header>
    <Title>... </Title>
    <Author>... </Author>
    <Description>... </Description>
    <HelpUrl>... </HelpUrl>
    <SnippetTypes>... </SnippetTypes>
    <Keywords>... </Keywords>
    <Shortcut>... </Shortcut>
</Header>

Child element	Description
Author element	Optional element. The name of the person or company that authored the code snippet. There may be zero or one Author element in a Header element.
Description element	Optional element. A description of the code snippet. There may be zero or one Description element in a Header element.
HelpUrl element	Optional element. A URL that contains more information about the code snippet. There may be zero or one HelpURL element in a Header element.
Keywords element	Optional element. Groups Keyword elements. There may be zero or one Keywords element in a Header element.
Shortcut element	Optional element. Specifies the shortcut text that can be used to insert the snippet. There may be zero or one Shortcut element in a Header element.
SnippetTypes element	Optional element. Groups SnippetType elements. There may be zero or one SnippetTypes element in a Header element. If there are no SnippetTypes elements, the code snippet is always valid.
Title element	Required element. The friendly name of the code snippet. There must be exactly one Title element in a Header element.

Parent element	Description
CodeSnippet element	Parent element for all code snippet data.

HelpUrl element

Specifies a URL that provides more information about a code snippet.

Note

Visual Studio doesn't use the HelpUrl element. The element is part of the IntelliSense Code Snippet XML schema, and code snippets containing the element validate, but the value of the element is never used.

<HelpUrl>
    www.microsoft.com
</HelpUrl>

Parent element	Description
Header element	Contains general information about the code snippet.

A text value is optional. This text specifies the URL to visit for more information about a code snippet.

ID element

Specifies a unique identifier for a Literal or Object element. No two literals or objects in the same code snippet can have the same text value in their ID elements. Literals and objects can't contain an ID element with a value of end. The value $end$ is reserved, and is used to mark the location to place the cursor after the code snippet is inserted.

<ID>
    Unique Identifier
</ID>

Parent element	Description
Literal element	Defines the literal fields of the code snippet that you can edit.
Object element	Defines the object fields of the code snippet that you can edit.

A text value is required. This text specifies the unique identifier for the object or literal.

Import element

Specifies the imported namespaces used by a code snippet.

<Import>
    <Namespace>... </Namespace>
</Import>

Child element	Description
Namespace element	Required element. Specifies the namespace used by the code snippet. There must be exactly one Namespace element in an Import element.

Parent element	Description
Imports element	Grouping element for Import elements.

Imports element

Groups individual Import elements.

<Imports>
    <Import>... </Import>
</Imports>

Child element	Description
Import element	Optional element. Contains the imported namespaces for the code snippet. There may be zero or more Import elements in an Imports element.

Parent element	Description
Snippet element	Contains the references, imports, declarations, and code for the code snippet.

Keyword element

Specifies a custom keyword for the code snippet. The code snippet keywords are used by Visual Studio and represent a standard way for online content providers to add custom keywords for searching or categorization.

<Keyword>
    Code Snippet Keyword
</Keyword>

Parent element	Description
Keywords element	Groups individual Keyword elements.

A text value is required. The keyword for the code snippet.

Keywords element

Groups individual Keyword elements. The code snippet keywords are used by Visual Studio and represent a standard way for online content providers to add custom keywords for searching or categorization.

<Keywords>
    <Keyword>... </Keyword>
    <Keyword>... </Keyword>
</Keywords>

Child element	Description
Keyword element	Optional element. Contains individual keywords for the code snippet. There may be zero or more Keyword elements in a Keywords element.

Parent element	Description
Header element	Contains general information about the code snippet.

Literal element

Defines the literals of the code snippet that you can edit. The Literal element identifies a replacement for a piece of code entirely contained within the snippet that can be customized after the snippet is inserted. For example, literal strings, numeric values, and some variable names should be declared as literals.

Literals and objects can't contain an ID element with a value of selected or end. The value $selected$ represents selected document text to be inserted into the snippet when the snippet is invoked. $end$ marks the location to place the cursor after the code snippet is inserted.

<Literal Editable="true/false">
   <ID>... </ID>
   <ToolTip>... </ToolTip>
   <Default>... </Default>
   <Function>... </Function>
</Literal>

Attribute	Description
Editable	Optional Boolean attribute. Specifies whether or not you can edit the literal after the code snippet is inserted. The default value of this attribute is true.

Child element	Description
Default element	Required element. Specifies the literal's default value when you insert the code snippet. There must be exactly one Default element in a Literal element.
Function element	Optional element. Specifies a function to execute when the literal receives focus in Visual Studio. There may be zero or one Function element in a Literal element.
ID element	Required element. Specifies a unique identifier for the literal. There must be exactly one ID element in a Literal element.
ToolTip element	Optional element. Describes the expected value and usage of the literal. There may be zero or one ToolTip element in a Literal element.

Parent element	Description
Declarations element	Contains the literals and objects of a code snippet that you can edit.

Namespace element

Specifies the namespace that must be imported for the code snippet to compile and run. The namespace specified in the Namespace element is automatically added to a using directive or Imports statement at the beginning of the code if it doesn't already exist.

<Namespace>
    Namespace
</Namespace>

Parent element	Description
Import element	Imports the specified namespace.

A text value is required. This text specifies a namespace that the code snippet assumes is imported.

Object element

Defines the objects of the code snippet that you can edit. The Object element identifies an item required by the code snippet that's defined outside of the snippet itself. For example, Windows Forms controls, ASP.NET controls, object instances, and type instances should be declared as objects. Object declarations require a type to be specified, which is done with the Type element.

<Object Editable="true/false">
    <ID>... </ID>
    <Type>... </Type>
    <ToolTip>... </ToolTip>
    <Default>... </Default>
    <Function>... </Function>
</Object>

Attribute	Description
Editable	Optional Boolean attribute. Specifies whether or not you can edit the literal after the code snippet is inserted. The default value of this attribute is true.

Child element	Description
Default element	Required element. Specifies the literal's default value when you insert the code snippet. There must be exactly one Default element in a Literal element.
Function element	Optional element. Specifies a function to execute when the literal receives focus in Visual Studio. There may be zero or one Function element in a Literal element.
ID element	Required element. Specifies a unique identifier for the literal. There must be exactly one ID element in a Literal element.
ToolTip element	Optional element. Describes the expected value and usage of the literal. There may be zero or one ToolTip element in a Literal element.
Type element	Required element. Specifies the type of the object. There must be exactly one Type element in an Object element.

Parent element	Description
Declarations element	Contains the literals and objects of a code snippet that you can edit.

Reference element

Specifies information about the assembly references required by the code snippet.

<Reference>
    <Assembly>... </Assembly>
    <Url>... </Url>
</Reference>

Child element	Description
Assembly element	Required element. Contains the name of the assembly referenced by the code snippet. There must be exactly one Assembly element in a Reference element.
Url element	Optional element. Contains a URL that provides more information about the referenced assembly. There may be zero or one Url element in a Reference element.

Parent element	Description
References element	Grouping element for Reference elements.

References element

Groups individual Reference elements.

<References>
    <Reference>... </Reference>
</References>

Child element	Description
Reference element	Optional element. Contains information about assembly references for the code snippet. There may be zero or more Reference elements in a References element.

Parent element	Description
Snippet element	Contains the references, imports, declarations, and code for the code snippet.

Shortcut element

Specifies the shortcut text used to insert the snippet. The text value of a Shortcut element can only contain alphanumeric characters and underscores (_).

Note

The underscore (_) character isn't supported in C++ snippet shortcuts.

<Shortcut>
    Shortcut Text
</Shortcut>

Parent element	Description
Header element	Contains general information about the code snippet.

A text value is optional. This text is used as a shortcut for inserting the code snippet.

Snippet element

Specifies the references, imports, declarations, and code for the code snippet.

<Snippet>
    <References>... </References>
    <Imports>... </Imports>
    <Declarations>... </Declarations>
    <Code>... </Code>
</Snippet>

Child element	Description
Code element	Required element. Specifies the code that you want to insert into a documentation file. There must be exactly one Code element in a Snippet element.
Declarations element	Optional element. Specifies the literals and objects that make up the parts of a code snippet that you can edit. There may be zero or one Declarations element in a Snippet element.
Imports element	Optional element. Groups individual Import elements. There may be zero or one Imports element in a Snippet element.
References element	Optional element. Groups individual Reference elements. There may be zero or one References element in a Snippet element.

Parent element	Description
CodeSnippet element	Allows you to specify a heading and multiple code snippets, which you can insert into Visual Studio Code files.

SnippetType element

Specifies how Visual Studio adds the code snippet.

<SnippetType>
    SurroundsWith/Expansion
</SnippetType>

Parent element	Description
SnippetTypes element	Groups SnippetType elements.

The value must be one of the following values:

Value	Description
Expansion	Allows the code snippet to be inserted at the cursor.
Refactoring	Specifies that the code snippet is used during C# refactoring. Refactoring can't be used in custom code snippets.
SurroundsWith	Allows the code snippet to be placed around a selected piece of code.

SnippetTypes element

Groups individual SnippetType elements. If the SnippetTypes element isn't present, the code snippet can be inserted at the cursor or placed around selected code.

<SnippetTypes>
    <SnippetType>... </SnippetType>
    <SnippetType>... </SnippetType>
</SnippetTypes>

Child element	Description
SnippetType element	Optional element. Specifies how Visual Studio inserts the code snippet into the code. There may be zero or more SnippetType elements in a SnippetTypes element.

Parent element	Description
Header element	Specifies general information about the code snippet.

Title element

Specifies the title for the code snippet. The title stored in the Title element of the code snippet appears in the code snippet picker and as the code snippet's name in the Code Snippets Manager.

<Title>
    Code Snippet Title
</Title>

Parent element	Description
Header element	Specifies general information about the code snippet.

A text value is required. This text specifies the title of the code snippet.

ToolTip element

Describes the expected value and usage of a literal or object in a code snippet. Visual Studio displays this information in a ToolTip when it inserts the code snippet into a project. The ToolTip also displays when the mouse hovers over the literal or object after the code snippet is inserted.

<ToolTip>
    ToolTip description
</ToolTip>

Parent element	Description
Literal element	Defines the literal fields of the code snippet that you can edit.
Object element	Defines the object fields of the code snippet that you can edit.

A text value is required. This text specifies the ToolTip description to be associated with the object or literal in the code snippet.

Type element

Specifies the type of the object. The Object element identifies an item that the code snippet requires but is probably defined outside of the snippet itself. For example, Windows Forms controls, ASP.NET controls, object instances, and type instances should be declared as objects. Object declarations require a type to be specified, which is done with the Type element.

<Type>
    Type
</Type>

Parent element	Description
Object element	Defines the object fields of the code snippet that you can edit.

A text value is required. This text specifies the type of the object. For example:

<Type>System.Data.SqlClient.SqlConnection</Type>

Url element

Specifies a URL that provides more information about the referenced assembly.

Note

The Url element is supported only for Visual Basic projects.

<Url>
    www.microsoft.com
</Url>

Parent element	Description
Reference element	Specifies the assembly references required by the code snippet.

A text value is required. This text specifies a URL with more information about the referenced assembly. This URL is displayed when the reference can't be added to the project.

Related content

• Code snippets
• Walkthrough: Create a code snippet