Source Links

Connect comment substrings to external applications and websites, such as bug trackers, case managers, documentation, and source code control systems.

Simple Link Patterns

Define simple keyword-value patterns that turn existing comment substrings into active hyperlinks. The links include the values from the comments.

Simple pattern as a link


Complex Link Patterns

Extract values from complex comment substrings using regular expressions that include a specially named group.

Complex pattern as a link


Connect to FogBugz, Jira, and GitHub

Configure links to applications and websites that require authentication, and store user credentials with each link definition. Plug-ins also determine contents of hovering tooltips. Default plug-ins are included for connecting to FogBugz, Jira, and GitHub.

Connect to GitHub


Preview Files

Configure a default, File-Viewer plug-in to preview files whose paths appear in source comments. Preview-able formats include HTML, XAML, RTF, text, and image formats such as jpg and png.

Preview files


Open Hyperlinks in an External Browser

Configure a default plug-in to open hyperlinks using your default, external browser. The plug-in also activates website addresses missing an http or https protocol.

Open Hyperlinks in an External Browser


Custom Plug-ins

Create a custom plug-in for your own application or website that requires authentication. Begin with the source code for a sample plug-in hosted at GitHub, and then tell Visual Assist where it can find your plug-in.

Specify path to custom plug-in