How do I make TODO comments show up in the task list for C++ projects in Visual Studio 2010?

Question

I'm trying to get my TODO comments to show up in the task list in Visual Studio 2010 for a C++ project, but they don't. I looked at this, but see no caveats other than the TODO comments need to be in the currently-open file. For example, creating a new Win32 console app places this:

// TODO: reference additional headers your program requires here

in a new file, stdafx.h. However, there's nothing in the task list.

I have "Comments" chosen from the drop-down in the task list, but it's always empty. And it's not this problem; I can open the file and be looking at the TODO comment in the code editor and no task is shown. This is not a problem for C# projects as TODO comments show up as designed in those projects; this appears to be an issue specific to C++ projects.

What else can I check?

Answer 1

This is off by default 'for performance reasons'. Tools + Options, Text Editor, C/C++, Formatting, Miscellaneous, Enumerate Comment Tasks = True. Feedback article is here.

Also note the comment in the MSDN article about task list comments:

With Visual C++ projects, the Task List displays only the comments that are found in the file that is currently active in the editor.

Answer 2

This is what I got from MSDN:

Hi,

The ‘comments tasks’ in the Task List window is turned off by default due to performance reasons. You can turn this feature on from

Tools->Options->Text Editor->C/C++->Formatting-> Miscellaneous->Enumerate Comment Tasks.

We apologize for the inconvenience.

Thanks Sumit Kumar Visual C++ Team