Problem with IntelliSense

Question

Hi.
I am using Visual Studio 2005(C# language). Recently IntelliSense feature in my IDE has been broken
When I typed dot operator, IntelliSense just diplayed the list only in less than 1 second then it disappear(I tried again typing Ctrl + Spacebar but still), I even didn't have enough time to look what the list has.

I am using Window XP Pro, SP2

Can anybody help me, please?

Answer 1

Make sure there are no syntax errors before the object you are trying to use IntelliSense on.
Try placing cursor after the period and type "Ctrl+K", then L.
If that does not work, try closing all other desktop apps including browsers because they could be stealing focus from Visual Studio.
Losing focus on Visual Studio's editor will cause the object menu to close.

I usually leave a space between the object and any other code if I'm inserting code so that IntelliSense will do its thing.

I also frequently have a problem in XP where the "tool tips" don't pop up on top. In this case I have kill explorer.exe from the task manager and then I restart explorer.exe from Task Manager's File, New Task (Run...)

Answer 2

Thanks a lot. It works now
I don't know for sure if I would run into this problem again because I used to face this problem before, then a few days ago it worked again
By the way, speaking of stealing focus, I often use many applications simultaneously and use (Alt + Tab) to switch between those. Could that be the cause leading to this problem ?

Answer 3

The most likely culprit for stealing focus would be a website with some AJAX callbacks. Javascript is able to change the focus to a particular web page or other objects in your web browser. I don't think using <Alt Tab> would make any difference.

Answer 4

Alt+Tab will not impact it.  Each UI thread gets its own input focus so the only way for the IDE to be impacted by focus is for another application to try to activate itself (which causes the IDE to lose activation and will cancel IS) or for something inside the IDE to try and request focus.  Addins can do this as could macros.  Screen readers can cause havok if you happen to have one running.  If it occurs again then please post a response to this thread so we can diagnose the issue.  Right now it is just guessing.

Michael Taylor - 7/21/09
http://p3net.mvps.org