Visual Studio: Disabling Add Using Statements on Paste

Of late, I am tending to paste a lot more code into existing C# source files due to AI. Visual Studio 2022 introduced a feature that after code is pasted, Visual Studio will add any missing using statements to the source file. When working with CSV-related code, without my knowledge, Visual Studio adds the following to the top of a source file:

using Microsoft.VisualBasic.FileIO;

I do not want tools such as Visual Studio 2022, Copilot, or ChatGPT to write code without my knowledge or consent.

To disable the automatic addition of using directives after pasting in Visual Studio 2022 or later:

1. From the Tools menu, select Options…
2. Navigate to Text Editor → C# → Advanced
3. Uncheck Add missing using directives on paste

I have disabled this feature multiple times. It seems to re-enable. Proof of Skynet?

Visual Studio: C# Project-Level Global Usings

Visual Studio 2022 and its support for C# 10.0 and .NET 6.0 allow using statements to be placed at the project level (using the syntax global using <namespace>;), stored within the project’s Properties. To access this feature, right-click a project in Solution Explorer, select Properties from the context menu, and then choose the Global Usings tab:

Using the above cleans up individual C# files, which can become pointlessly cluttered, as shown in the following example:

using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;

using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

using System.Collections.Generic;

using System.IO;

using System.Threading.Tasks;

using System;

It is possible to have a standalone C# file that serves the same purpose, such as a per-project GlobalUsing.cs:

global using Microsoft.AspNetCore.Http;

global using Microsoft.Extensions.Logging;

global using System.Collections.Generic;

global using System.IO;

global using System.Threading.Tasks;

global using System;

A dedicated file, such as GlobalUsing.cs, is cleaner than per-source-file using statements. However, setting project-level global usings remains the cleanest approach.

As always, beware of the following, should some malevolent entity disable the feature for your project:

SQL Server: T-SQL Adding a CreatedUtc and ModifiedUtc to a Database Table

As a 120 WPM typist (you read that right), ChatGPT or its cousins are a time-saver. I know the drill of adding a column or columns to an existing table. I want the columns to be required, but this means I have to first assign a value to each existing row in the database.

Take adding CreatedUtc/ModifiedUtc to a table (or all tables, long term) in a database. Here is what you tell ChatGPT:

For a SQL Server table write the following T-SQL:

1. Use ALTER TABLE to add CreatedUtc and ModifiedUtc columns of type DATETIME2 as nullable
2. Assign a DATETIME2 UTC value of January 1, 2025, 00:00:00 to a variable @stockCreatedDateTimeUtc
3. Update all existing entries in the table to set CreatedUtc and ModifiedUtc to @stockCreatedDateTimeUtc
4. Write an ALTER TABLE script to make CreatedUtc and ModifiedUtc not nullable

And here are the results but ChatGPT missed the required GO under the ALTER TABLE:

ALTER TABLE YourTableName

ADD CreatedUtc DATETIME2 NULL,

    ModifiedUtc DATETIME2 NULL;

GO

DECLARE @stockCreatedDateTimeUtc DATETIME2 = '2025-01-01 00:00:00';

UPDATE YourTableName

SET CreatedUtc = @stockCreatedDateTimeUtc,

    ModifiedUtc = @stockCreatedDateTimeUtc;

ALTER TABLE YourTableName

ALTER COLUMN CreatedUtc DATETIME2 NOT NULL;

ALTER TABLE YourTableName

ALTER COLUMN ModifiedUtc DATETIME2 NOT NULL;

Total time: under 60 seconds. Maybe 10 minutes if I typed it out by hand. You still need to know how to code T-SQL and understand SQL Server to use AI correctly.