Scott Hanselman's 2005 Ultimate Developer and Power Users Tool List.
Everyone collects utilities, and most folks have a list of a few that they feel are
indispensable. Here's mine. Each has a distinct purpose, and I probably
touch each at least a few times a week. For me, util means utilitarian and it
means don't clutter my tray. If it saves me time, and seamlessly integrates
with my life, it's the bomb.
Here are most of the contents of my C:/UTILS folder. These are all well loved and
used. I wouldn't recommend them if I didn't use them constantly.
This is the Updated for 2005 Version of my Original
Tools List and subsumes all my other lists. New Entries to the Ultimate Tools
are in Red and many entries have been
updated. The utils have also been organized into Categories.
NOTE: Please don't reproduce this in its entirety, I'd rather
you link to this post. I appreciate your enthusiam, but posts like this take
a lot of work on my part and I'd appreciate that work staying where it is and linked
to, rather than being copy/pasted around the 'net. Also, I do believe in the Permanence
of the Permalink, and I will do everything in my power (as I have for the last 3+
years) to avoid Link Rot. If you're reading this and you're not at http://www.hanselman.com/blog,
perhaps you'd like to join us at the
original URL?)
The Big Ten Life
and Work-Changing Utilities
-
Notepad2 (Scite also
uses the codebase) - A great text editor. First class CR/LF support, ANSI
to Unicode switching, whitespace and line ending graphics and Mouse Wheel Zooming.
A must. Here's how to completely replace notepad.exe.
Personally I renamed Notepad2.exe to "n.exe" which saves me a few dozen "otepad"s
a day. Here's how to have
Notepad2 be your View Source Editor. Here's how to add
Notepad2 to the Explorer context menu.
-
Cropper -
A fabulous screen capture applet. I usually pick simple tools that do their job elegantly.
Cropper does just that and it's written in .NET.
-
Lutz's Reflector and
it's AddIns - The tool that changed the world and the way we learn about
.NET. Download it, select and interesting method and hit the space bar. Take the time
to install the Add-Ins and check out the amazing static analysis you can do with things
like the Diff and Graph.
-
SlickRun -
A free floating dynamic "command prompt" with alias support that continues to amaze.
My tips for effective use: read the instructions, edit the slickrun.ini file and bind
it to Window-R. Also set ChaseCursor so when you hit Win-R, you'll have a floating
transparent command line anywhere your mouse is. I recommend you also use larger fonts!
Get to know this little box. It's the bomb.
-
Windows Desktop Search -
The betas were rough and tended to lock up, but the free final edition is tight. I
can finally bring up a file almost as fast as I can think about it. One important
note that sets it apart from Google Desktop Search is that the items appearing in
the result window are first-class Explorer Items. Right click on them and you'll not
only have all your context menu extensions, but also Open Containing Folder.
-
TaskSwitchXP and/or TopDesk -
Two better ways to ALT-Tab and Task Switch in Windows. Don't confuse TaskSwitchXP
with the old PowerToy. This one is fast and powerful. If you envy the Mac's Expose,
then use TopDesk. Personally, I use both and set a cursor hotspot in the lower-right
corner to tile my windows. Be sure to have DirectX9 installed.
-
Magnifixer -
My ZoomIn tool du jour. Be sure that you have SOME kind of ZoomIn tool installed.
I like this one because it automatically follows your cursor and your typing and saves
settings without asking. It also has a nice eye-dropper for the RGB in you. Learn
how to use this tool if you present at all.
-
CodeRush and Refactor! (and DxCore) -
Apparently my enthusiasm for CodeRush has been noticed by a few. It just keeps getting
better. However, the best kept secret about CodeRush isn't all the shiny stuff, it's
the free Extensibility Engine called DxCore that brings VS.NET plugins to the masses.
Don't miss out on free add-ins like CR_Documentor and ElectricEditing.
-
SysInternals - I showed
specifically ProcExp and AutoRuns,
but anything these guys do is pure gold. ProcExp is a great Taskman replacement and
includes the invaluable "Find DLL" feature. It can also highlight any .NET proceses.
AutoRuns is an amazing aggregated view of any and all things that run at startup on
your box.
-
TestDriven.NET (was
NUnitAddIn) - The perfect integration of Unit Testing with Visual Studio.NET.
Right click and "Run Test." The output window says "Build" then switches to "Test."
The best part, though, is "Test With...Debugger" as a right click that automatically
starts up an external process runner, loads and starts your test. Compatible with
NUnit, MBUnit and Team System.
A Developer's Life
-
Reggie -
Not a regular expression tool, it's a BETTER RegSvr32.exe from Shawn Van Ness.
It provides better error handling and messages. It doesn't suck. Which is more
than I can say for RegSvr32.exe.
-
LogParser -
This utility is so good it has it's own FAN SITE.
That says something. Get to know it, as it's a free command-line tool from Microsoft
that lets you run SQL queries against a variety of log files and other system data
sources, and get the results out to an array of destinations, from SQL tables to CSV
files. I dig
it and use it to parse my own logs.
-
APIViewer
2003 - A database and browser of the Win32API, similar to the old
win32api.txt file that was distributed with VB6. Includes 6500 function declarations
and 55000 constants.
-
Application Profiler - A great
GotDotNet sample, a tool for visualizing and analyzing allocations on the GC heap.
Has a GREAT graphical view
-
Adam
Nathan's CLRSPY - A diagnostic that looks at .NET 1.1
Customer Debug Probes, in-freaking-valuable.
-
Eric
J Smith's CodeSmith - Oh, yes, it's much more than just a Strongly
Typed Collection Generator. It's a complete code-generation engine with an ASP.NET-like
syntax. Very extendable, very powerful, very affordable. And all is right with the
world. I've used it to generate THOUSANDS of lines of code. There's a learning curve,
but the benefits are immense. It's worth the download just for the Strongly Typed
Collection code from Chris Nahr.
-
Jeff Key's Snippet
Compiler - Sits quietly waiting for you to test a quick
snippet of code or algorithm. No need to even start VS.NET!
-
Alintex
.NET Scripting Host - Allows you to create scripts (like
like VBS files, etc) except with .NET. Also a great prototyping tool.
-
Venkman -
An amazing JavaScript debugger for FireFox that has seen me through a number of hard
times.
-
ActiveXplorer
v4 - A file manager and analyzer for COM objects...a
little higher level than OleView and easier to understand.
-
BinType2.exe -
Ever want to check a VB6 COM dll to see if it's been appropriately compiled with "Retain
in Memory" and "Unattended Execution" set to true for correct execution under MTS?
-
Clemen's
BuildDay.exe - Great commandline util that you should
put in your path. Returns the last digit of the year and the number of the day.
Great for batch files that create daily builds, log files, etc.
-
Microsoft
MDAC Component Checker - Utility to diagnose and deal
with MDAC compatibility and versioning problems.
-
WinMerge -
The best open-source Diff Merge Tool that I've found.
-
fLogViewer -
Great freeware highlighting log viewer for large log files.
-
HightLight for Windows -
Highlight is a universal sourcecode converter for Linux and Windows, which transforms
code to HTML, XHTML, RTF, LaTeX or TeX - files with syntax highlighting. (X)HTML output
is formatted by CSS.
-
IECookiesView 1.5
from NirSoft - Nice clean interface to snoop contents
of the cookies on your box in IE.
-
ieHttpHeaders -
Internet Explorer "Explorer Bar" that shows the HTTP Headers as you browse.
Invaluable for quickie debugging. More great stuff from Jonas Blunck.
-
COMTrace -
Hooks and lets you see COM "traffic" on processes on your system. Intercepts
COM calls on any interface. Has saved my ass 3 times.
-
MSI
Utilities - This site lists darn near every MSI
related utility.
-
SCCSwitch -
Harry Pierson's ruthlessly competent Source Control Provider switcher for VS.NET.
Great if you are using Vault, VSS and CVS like me.
The Angle Bracket Tax (XML/HTML Stuff)
-
VisualXPath -
A nice GotDotNet project that runs XPath Queries interactively and displays the results.
Also useful for quick coarse timing of query speed.
-
Web
Services Studio 2.0 - .NET Webservice Studio is a tool to invoke Web
Services interactively. The user can provide a WSDL endpoint and it generates the
.NET Proxy immediately.
-
Mindreef SOAPscope -
The original. The glory forever, this is more than an Add-In, it's a complete XML
Web Services design studio. It's a bargain and works even better when setup in a workgroup.
It keeps a database of all Web Services traffic, but it's more than a sniffer. It
also analyzes data for WS-I compliance and allows for record and replay of messages.
"It's Tivo for Web Services!"
-
XmlSpy - Just
buy it.
-
PPXML -
Command-Line XML Pretty Printer
-
Xenu's Link Sleuth -
Xenu's Link Sleuth (TM) checks Web sites for broken links. Link verification is done
on "normal" links, images, frames, plug-ins, backgrounds, local image maps, style
sheets, scripts and java applets. It displays a continuously updated list of URLs
which you can sort by different criteria.
-
Fesersoft's
VS.NET XSLT 1.0 Schema - Enables Intellisense for XSLT
1.0 documents in Visual Studio.NET 2003. There's other good code here to check out
also!
Regular Expressions
Stuff I Just Dig
-
Virtual TI-89
[Emulator] - Sometimes CALC.EXE doesn't cut it, and
I want a REAL scientific calculator for Windows, so I emulate the one I used in college.
-
SyncBack -
I use this to manage my many
external drives and digital media. Sometimes you just want to sync up a directory.
-
VisiCalc (vc.exe)
- Because I just like having a copy of VisiCalc in my utils folder. I use it
occasionally.
-
WinDirStat -
There's a lot of Disk Visualization Tools out there, but this one just seems to tell
me exactly what I need to know and it can be run without installation.
-
WhiteBoard
Photo - Has to be seen to be believed. Takes a skewed
low-contrast, bad photo of a Whiteboard and automatically corrects it and offers up
a clean white sheet of paper with a color corrected and keystoned photo of your whiteboard.
Check out the demo.
-
Cygwin -
Remind yourself of your roots and give yourself a proper Unix prompt within Windows.
However, it's less about the prompt as it is about the wealth of command-line tools
you'll gain access to.
-
BlogJet -
I freaking love this little guy. Works great with DasBlog,
supports spellcheck, file upload, makes clean HTML, and includes Music Detection support
as well as posting of Audio to your blog.
-
Fraps -
DirectX video capture! Exactly what you need when you want full screen video of a
DirectX or OpenGL application.
-
xplorer2 -
Norton Commander-like funcitonality for Windows. It's one better than Explorer.
Low-Level Utilities
-
BootDisks.com and
the Ultimate
Boot CD and the Ultimate
Boot CD for Windows - I've downloaded and saved everything from
BootDisks.com, including Win95 and Win98 boot disks and a DOS 6.22 disk. The boot
CDs are life-savers and should be taken to all family gatherings where the relatives
KNOW you're a computer person. They'll expect you to save their machines before the
turkey is served.
-
DllFiles -
You never know when you might need an old-ass dll.
-
Daemon367,
Virtual CD ISO Image Mounter - This is the utility that lets you
mount an ISO image as a Drive Letter...nice to keep a library of CDs around on a Firewire
drive. Very robust.
-
FileMon -
Displays file system activity in REAL TIME. Just who is that writing to the
disk right now?
-
YATT by Simon
Fell - Yet Another Trace Tool, requires WinPCAP,
when you just need to sniff some packets.
-
ProxyTrace -
Often less trouble than the Microsoft Soap Toolkit's SOAPTrace.
-
Who's Locking? -
WhosLocking.exe lets you know what application is locking that DLL you're trying to
delete! Although, lately I've been using...
-
Process
Explorer - The ultimate replacement for TaskManager. Includes
the amazing Find DLL feature to find out what processes have your DLL in memory.
-
Sid2User -
CommandLine Util to take a SID and get a Real Name to, for example, get the local
name of the "Everyone" user.
-
BinText -
Gives you more detail that you can handle about text hidden within binaries.
Websites and Bookmarklets (that change the way you work)
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TinyUrl.com -
Makes big urls tiny. For when you're emailing a long URL to someone and you KNOW they
will freakout it if wraps.
-
Visibone HTML/JavaScript
Reference - These guys make a great physical paper reference,
but they also have a great .HTML file you can download for free that has ASCII charts
and Color references. It's a link I keep close by.
-
Del.icio.us -
A social distributed bookmarks manager. It took me a bit to get into it, but their Bookmarklets that
you drag into your Links toolbar won me over. All my bookmarks are here now and I
can always find what I need, wherever I am. Very RESTful.
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Genpass -
Bookmarklets to make your passwords more powerful. Adapted from Nic
Wolff's concept. There's a great screenmovie explaining how this works by Jon
Udell.
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Google Portal -
It's not Google, it's http://www.google.com/ig and
it includes movie times, driving directions, news and weather. My new home page.
-
QuirksMode -
Over 150 pages of details on CSS and JavaScript. When my brain is overflowing with
the HTML of it all, I head here.
-
Google Maps + HousingMaps.com -
Google Maps is cool, but Paul Rademacher's HousingMaps.com is
synergy.
Smart People and their Pages for Utils They Wrote
Browser Add-Ins
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Urlograph -
I don't know how I lived without this util. It adds a button to internet explorer
that cleans filthy URLs (Amazon, Google, MSDN, Google Groups, etc) and puts the smallest
URL possible in your clipboard. Not to be confused with TinyUrl.com, this util removes
the fluff and makes Urls hackable again.
-
UrlKicker -
If you DO end up with a giant wrapped URL with line breaks, this little tray icon
will remove those breaks and launch the browser. Source included.
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GetRight -
Downloads, resumes and most importantly, splits up large downloads over HTTP or FTP
into as many as 10 concurrent streams. Great with FlashGot for
FireFox.
-
WebDeveloper for FireFox -
If you're the last developer to download FireFox, or you're holding off, WebDeveloper
is a solid reason to switch to FireFox NOW. It's amazing and has to be used to be
believed. It consolidates at least 2 dozens useful functions for those who sling ASP.NET
or HTML. And if you're a CSS person, the realtime CSS editing is pretty hot.
-
IEView and ViewInFireFox -
These two utils go together. Both are FireFox extensions, but they are yin to the
others yang. They add View in Internet Explorer and View in FireFox context menu items
to their respective browsers. Great if you develop, but also great if you tend to
visit sites that aren't browser agnostic.
-
FireFox Extensions -
Stunning! Extensions for my browser that won't kill my family! GoogleBar
for FireFox, CopyPlainText, DownloadManagerTweak, AdBlock, ChromEdit, FlashGot (for GetRight),
and GreaseMonkey.
Things Windows Forgot
-
Ultramon -
Why this kind of functionality isn't built in, I don't know. But it'll keep the guy
at RealTimeSoftware in business! Ultramon is the ultimate utility for Multiple Monitor
systems. It's most significant features, IMHO, is the addition of TaskBars that are
monitor specific, and the addition of buttons NEXT to Minimize and Maximize to move
open windows over to other monitors. Great if you've got 2 monitors, but a MUST if
you've got more than 2!
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Tail
for Windows - There's lots of ways to get this functionality,
including the GNU
Utils for Windows and BareTail.
The point is, it should have been included! A "tail -f" for Windows. Great if
you work with programs that write to log files and you want to watch the log as it's
being written. Also has keyword highlighting so you can see things get visually
flagged as they go by.
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SlickRun, Windows
Search and/or Dave's
Search Bar - Pick one, and love it. Why there isn't a floating or docked
command-line in Windows I do not know. Probably so my mom wouldn't freak out.
-
RoboCopy -
When COPY and XCOPY just won't cut it, try the "Robust Copy"
-
Nero 6 and ImageDrive -
Nero 6 is a fantastic value and the greatest burning suite out there. It also
include ImageDrive that let's you make and mount ISO images.
-
BgInfo
from SysInternals - If you log into
a lot of boxes remotely and always wonder, where the hell is this? This wallpaper
tool creates custom wallpapers with all the information you'd need, like IP Address,
Box Name, Disk Space, and it's totally configurable.
-
AutoRuns -
I always am suspicious that someone is running something automatically on my system.
AutoRuns (from SysInternals) checks EVERYWHERE that could be running something, the
registry, win.ini (remember those?), the Startup Group, etc...
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Marc Merrit's
Event Log Monitor (EventReader) - Sits in the tray and pops up a nice
XP-style baloon whenever the event log is written to. I hate tray icons but
I love balloon tooltip info, so it's a good tradeoff.
-
Filter
Files with Unknown Extensions for XP - Chris Sell's
provides a .REG file that let's explorer's find files with file extensions that are
not known. A real irritant with XP, fixed.
-
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GhostIt -
Little tray app that lets you ghost (make transparent) any window by clicking on it.
-
NetPing -
Jeff Key's multi-threaded pinger...it continues to include new features, like right-click
and launch Remote Desktop. Great for administration of small networks. I use it all
the time.
-
-
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PSTools
from SysInternals - All the command-line tools that
Windows forgot...kill, loggedon, remote exec, shutdown, getsid, etc.
-
TrueName -
Right click a file in Explorer and find out it's TRUENAME (Remember the Truename.exe?)
The 8.3 name of My Documents might be C:DOCUME~1SHANSELMMYDOCU~1.
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RealVNC -
When RemoteDesktop is a hassle and PCAnywhere is lame...VNC stands for Virtual Network
Computing. It is remote control software which allows you to view and interact with
one computer (the "server") using a simple program (the "viewer") on another computer
anywhere on the Internet.
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WHICH -
It's which and it's back. Wondering WHICH copy of that .exe is being run first
in the path? Run "which calc.exe"
-
URL
Bandit - Monitors the clipboard and saves all URLs that
go by in the click-stream. If you copy a 1 meg file to the clipboard, URL Bandit
can find, for example, all 200 URLS within it. Yum.
Ultimate Registry Tweaks
Windows Explorer Integration (and other Integraty things)
-
Junction
Icon Overlay - If you're digging Junctions (NTFS
Reparse Points/Symbolic Links) like I am, then you're lamenting the fact that Windows
Explorer is CLUELESS about them. Well, no longer, thanks to Travis and his Junction
Overlay for Explorer.
-
ExecParm -
Like Right Click|RunAs...it's even better with ExecParm adding the ability to execute
with parameters. Everything else at this site is awesome also, including ClipName.
-
UrlRun -
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ASP.NET
Development Helper - Nikhil, a dev lead on ASP.NET 2.0, created
this wonderfully elegant developer helper that plugs into IE and gives you lots of
insight into what's happening in ASP.NET while you develop. Want a FireFox
version? Sure.
-
PowerMenu -
Great little hook that adds item to the System Menu that let you change the Transparency
or Priority of the current window.
-
CommandBar for
Explorer - This tool extends explorer with functionality of a command
prompt. Implemented as a band object completely in C#. Demonstrates COM Interop and
P/Invoke, windows hooking and API interception. Finally you can run all these .Net
SDK tools and ‘Hello World!’ programs without leaving explorer shell.
Definitely turns heads if you use it in a presentation.
-
UrlRun
plugin for Outlook - From Tim Tabor based on Chris Sells'
UrlRun. Lets you right-click on messed-up and wrapped URLs in Outlook and launch
the browser without manually fixing the URL. Chris Sells says "It's pure sex."
-
SummerProperties -
a Shell Extension that adds a Tab to File Properties that calculates the file's checksum.
-
PrivBar -
This util is great if you're trying to avoid running as Administrator. It adds a bar
to Explorer that uses text and color to let you know what Privilege level you're running
at.
-
Plaxo -
I love the way Plaxo integrates with Outlook, tells me about upcoming Birthdays and
has kept my whole Address Book up to date.
-
BrowseToSender -
This little Outlook Add-In takes you to the website of the sender of the currently
viewed email.
Continuous Integration
-
NUnit or ZaneBug -
Microsoft Visual Studio Team System is shiny, but there's ways to do Continuous Integration
and super charge your developers today. NUnit is the name everyone knows, but ZaneBug
is a better GUI for NUnit than NUnitGui. It adds multiple assembly tests, requires
no recompiles, adds performance counters, repeating tests, as well as charts and graphs.
-
TestDriven.NET -
see above in the Big Ten.
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NAnt - It all starts here.
Get your build working from the command line, not from DevEnv. It's makefiles
with angle brackets and it's a good way to start improving your processes. Supports
.NET 1.0 through 2.0 as well as Mono!
-
devMetrics -
devMetrics is a free tool for measuring various attributes of your C# code so that
you can accurately assess your product for quality and maintainability. I use it to
measure cyclomatic complexity and abuse people during code reviews. A great way to
add static analysis to your automated builds!
-
LibCheck -
Highly recommended. This is the tool that Microsoft uses to compare builds of public
APIs. We use it at Corillian to generate reports showing what public methods and properties
have changed between builds. (Note, be sure to read this gotcha when
you start messing around.)
-
CruiseControl.NET -
This is a great Automated Continuous Integration Server using .NET, from ThoughtWorks.
Includes a tray icon for your developers to receive updated build information as well
as a flexible plugin model you can use to extend
CCNet to meet your needs.
-
Clemen's
BuildDay.exe - Great commandline util that you should
put in your path. Returns the last digit of the year and the number of the day.
Great for batch files that create daily builds, log files, etc.
-
NCover -
Code Coverage for .NET with NAnt
Integration. Clover is also nice,
but costs.
TabletPC Indispensibles
-
ArtRage -
It's free, and it's amazing. If you remember being blown away the first time
you used Kai's Power Tools, you'll feel
the same way with ArtRage. In the You can create some
AMAZING art with an organic quality I've just never seen on a PC. If you do one
thing this weekend, install it and use the "Load Tracing Paper" Feature.
-
Paint.NET -
This is a must have tool Tablet PC or not, but since the 2.0 version added Ink support,
you'll find it very comfortable for making annotations to screenshots.
-
MaxiVista -
Use your Tablet PC as a virtual
second or third monitor! I use my M205 as a third monitor that keeps Outlook open.
Now MaxiVista Version 2 is a software Virtual Keyboard and Mouse! When I don't want
to use the Tablet as an extension of my main computer, I want to use my main computer's
keyboard and mouse as an extension of my Tablet!
-
Wallpaper
Gyro - The Toshiba M205 has a Gyroscope installed so no matter how
you hold it, when you press the hardware "orient" button on the edge of the screen
the system will switch to the correct orientation. Wallpaper Gyro will not only automatically
change your wallpaper when the orientation changes, but it allows you to have different
wallpaper for each orientation!
-
InkPlayer -
Easily create Macromedia Flash playbacks of animated ink stokes!
-
MathPractice and Fraction
Practice - Great for the young people in your life. A series of
Tablet PC-enabled FlashCards that let kids practice Math with Ink!
-
-
-
-
Alias
SketchBook Pro - It costs, but it has a very
different style and goal (IMHO) than ArtRage, and the output is different in philosophy.
ArtRage is largely about paint, and Alias is about pencils and sketching.
-
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Physics
Illustrator - This one helped me out when I went back to finish my degree and
was stuck in Physics 203.
-
New
York Times Crossword Puzzle - This one is the bomb-diggity. Even the wife digs
it. The only complaint is it's not re-sizable, but the Zoom to 640x480 feature of
the Toshiba Tablet fixes that. The Crossword app lets you download today's Crossword
for solving off line. Fantastic for the bus or train ride to work.
-
Pool
for Tablet - This is worth at least $20, but it's FREE. A wonderful game of Pool
with all the graphics and physics to make you smile, and it's all TabletPC enabled.
Be sure to try playing over a wireless network with a friend.
-
Snipping
Tool - A new tool that some folks haven't seen yet, this lets you "cut out" portions
of the screen for annotation. It's the Pen's take on the traditional screen shot tool.
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-
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-
-
-
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MindManager
for the TabletPC - If you use Mind Mapping software, it's even more intuitive
and comfortable when the application has seamless Tablet PC support.
ASP.NET Must Haves
-
Peter Blum's Validation And
More - Not an add-in but rather a complete re-imagining of the ASP.NET
Validation Framework. There's a learning curve, but it will change the way you write
pages. Also check out his Visual
Security Security and Peter'sDatePackage.
His documentation is legendary.
-
Andy's MetaBuilders -
Talk about good karma. When you put this much goodness and free ASP.NET controls into
the world, you must get a lot of great parking spots. Check out the dozens of ASP.NET
Controls here.
-
Fritz
Onion's ViewStateDecoder - Simple util that gives you
more insight into what's hidden inside of ASP.NET's ViewState (hidden form field)
-
ELMAH
(Error Logging Modules and Handlers) - An HttpModule and Handler
that will capture and log all Yellow Screen of Death messages your ASP.NET site experiences.
And it will even give you an RSS Feed of the errors! Great for anyone who wants to
instrument a site without recompiling.
Visual Studio.NET Add-Ins
-
CodeRush -
Of course. It's the bomb, enough said. Also check out Resharper (C#
only).
-
Peter Blum's ADME -
ASP.NET Design Mode Extender (“ADME”) helps custom controls to provide
a better design mode interface. This supports his Validation Controls, which rock,
but also controls that you might write that need richer Design Mode Support.
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CodeSmith
Explorer - Generate CodeSmith code
and templates directly from VS.NET
-
CopySourceAsHtml -
Better than a Macro, this Add-In puts syntax-highlighed HTML on your clipboard.
Now it supports "Embedded Styles" for use in BlogJet and
other tools.
-
GhostDoc - Here's
an Add-In I'd overlooked previously, now in it's 1.2 version. GhostDoc attempts
to generate C# documentation that can be gleaned from the name and type of methods
and properties. Roland Weigelt has big plans for version 1.30 that will include customizable
text and rules. One to watch, and while it sometimes guesses wrong, it's a completely
unique Add-In worth your download.
-
devMetrics -
devMetrics is a free tool for measuring various attributes of your C# code so that
you can accurately assess your product for quality and maintainability. I use it to
measure cyclomatic complexity and abuse people during code reviews.
-
Mindreef SOAPscope -
The original. The glory forever, this is more than an Add-In, it's a complete XML
Web Services design studio. It's a bargain and works even better when setup in a workgroup.
It keeps a database of all Web Services traffic, but it's more than a sniffer. It
also analyzes data for WS-I compliance and allows for record and replay of messages.
"It's Tivo for Web Services!"
-
NUnit Addin,
now TestDriven.NET -
If you're serious about TDD, stop fooling with NUnitGui and Attach Process and start
using TestDriven.NET. It's a simple as Right-Click -> Test With -> Debugger.
-
pinvoke.net - Adam
Nathan continues to innovate with an add-in that lets you "Insert PInvoke Signature"
from the VS.NET Editor by communiating with a server-side repository with best-practice
signatures to make calling unmanaged code a breeze. Also, be sure to visit the PInvoke.NET
Wiki.
-
Reflector as
an AddIn - A joint effort, run Lutz's unbelievable decompiler/explorer with Jamie's
Add-In support. (There's a number of other slick, but alpha-quality addins at that link as
well, including FxCop as an AddIn.)
-
Regions AddIn -
Finally, something useful from CodeProject, this add-in helps organize your code with
a simple Right-Click -> Add To New Region and Right-Click -> Add To Existing
Region. You'll wonder how you lived without it!
-
Unleash it! - The
great ASP.NET deployment tool with the unfortunate name. Formerly known as WebDeploy,
this Add-In lets you deploy your ASP.NET application using whatever it takes. Now
with plugin support!
-
WS
Contract-First - Christian Weyer leads the pack with custom Web
Service code generation, and coming soon, generation of WSDL itself from Message-based
XSD. How's that for SOA and contract-first development?
-
VSCmdShell -
Open a Command Prompt within a Visual Studio.NET 2003 Docked Toolbox Window!
-
CommentReflower -
Really detail-oriented? This tool reformats your code comments to your specifications.
-
OnlineSearch -
Search the Internet and Google directly from VS.NET!
Well, that's about 70% of them. I'm tired. Perhaps there will be updates later.
Contents Copyright © 2003-2005 by Scott
Hanselman - Reproduction prohibited without written permission. Hyperlinks
welcome.
[ComputerZen.com - Scott Hanselman's Weblog]
9:57:49 AM
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