When IntelliSense Is Unavailable 

If there is an incomplete function or other coding error above the location of the insertion point, IntelliSense may be unable to parse the code elements and therefore will not work. You can comment out the applicable code to enable IntelliSense again.

If the insertion point is within a comment in your source file, IntelliSense options will not be available.

If the insertion point is inside the quotation marks around a string literal, as in:

MessageBox( hWnd, "String literal|") )

then IntelliSense options will not be available.

IntelliSense works automatically by default, but you can disable it. See Modifying IntelliSense Options for more information.

Even when automatic statement completion is disabled, you can invoke an IntelliSense feature; see Modifying IntelliSense Options for more information.

If the no compile browser (.ncb) file located at the root of your project directory is read-only or becomes corrupt in some manner, IntelliSense information will no longer be available. To fix this, do the following:

1. Close the solution.

2. Delete the .ncb file.

3. Reopen the solution.

Reopening the solution creates a new .ncb file.

Make sure your include directories and include files are set up correctly. Use the /I (Additional Include Directories) and the /INCLUDE (Force Symbol References) options to configure these settings.

For more information on the include directive, see The #include Directive or Using C++ Library Headers.

For projects that contain CLR programming syntax in Visual C++ 2005, you must use the /clr compiler option.

For projects that contain Managed Extensions for C++ syntax, which is CLR programming syntax prior to Visual C++ 2005, you must use the /clr:oldSyntax compiler option.

For more information, see /clr (Common Language Runtime Compilation).

Other Resources