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Error List Window

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Note

This topic describes the Error List window itself. If you're looking for information about a specific error message, you can find help by copying the error number or error string text and searching for it in your search engine. You can copy the error number or error string text from the Output window. To display the Output window, choose the Ctrl+Alt+O keys. See Output Window.

You can develop apps faster by using the Error List window. For example, you can perform the following tasks:

  • Display the errors, warnings, and messages produced as you edit and compile code.

  • Find syntax errors noted by IntelliSense.

  • Find deployment errors, certain Static Analysis errors, and errors detected while applying Enterprise Template policies.

  • Double-click any error message entry to open the file where the problem occurs, and move to the error location.

  • Filter which entries are displayed, and which columns of information appear for each entry.

  • Search for specific terms and scope the search to just the current project or document.

To display the Error List, on the View menu choose Error List.

You can choose the Errors, Warnings, and Messages buttons to filter what kinds of information appear in the list, but you must address the cause of each entry to remove it from the list altogether.

To sort the list, click any column header. To sort again by an additional column, hold down the SHIFT key and click another column header. To select which columns are displayed and which are hidden, choose Show Columns from the shortcut menu. To change the order in which columns are displayed, drag any column header to the left or right.

Note

The dialog boxes and menu commands you see might differ from those described in Help depending on your active settings or edition. To change your settings, choose Import and Export Settings on the Tools menu. For more information, see Customizing Development Settings in Visual Studio.

Error List Filters

  • Errors
    When selected, displays the errors in the list.

  • Warnings
    When selected, displays the warnings in the list.

  • Messages
    When selected, displays the Messages in the list.

Use the Search Error List text box to perform text-based searches of the errors that appear in the error list. For example, you can search on terms for specific errors to find all instances across your code. The search box is located on the right side of the Error List toolbar. You can search on any visible column in the error list, and search results are always sorted based on the column that has sort priority instead of on the query or the filter applied. If you choose the Esc key while the focus is in the Error List, you will clear the search term and filtered search results.

You can restrict the scope of the search to analyze and act on groups of errors. For example, you might want to focus on core errors that are preventing a project from compiling. The scoping options include:

  1. Open Documents: Show errors, warnings, and messages for the open documents.

  2. Current Project: Show errors, warnings, and messages from the project of the currently selected document in the Editor or the selected project in Solution Explorer.

    Note

    The filtered list of errors, warnings, and messages will change if the project of the currently selected document is different from the project selected in Solution Explorer.

  3. Current Document: Show errors, warnings, and messages for the currently selected document in the Editor or Solution Explorer.

To apply a filter, select the check box next to it; but you can apply only one filter at a time. If a filter is currently applied to the search result, the name of the filter appears in the Error List title bar. The Errors, Warnings, and Messages buttons then display the number of filtered items being shown along with the total number of items; for example, the buttons show x of y Errors. If no filter is applied, the title bar says only “Error List”.

Save

You can copy the error list and save it to a file. Select the errors you want to copy and right-click the selection, then on the context menu select Copy. You can then paste the errors into a file. If you paste the errors to an Excel spreadsheet, the fields appear as different columns.

UI Element List

  • Category
    Displays an icon identifying the type of Error List entry.

  • Default Order
    Displays an integer indicating the order in which an entry was generated.

  • Description
    Displays the text of the Error, Warning, or Message entry. Lengthy Descriptions wrap onto additional lines.

  • File
    Displays the file name only or the full path and file name.

    To specify which is displayed, select or clear the option Show file names only in the Task List, Environment, Options Dialog Box.

  • Line
    Displays the line in your code where the problem occurs.

  • Column
    Notes the column on the indicated line where the problem begins.

  • Project
    Displays the name of the project that includes the file named.