• Want to save some serious time developing your ASP.NET 2.0 Web sites using Visual Studio 2005? 
  • Tired of mundane copy & paste or tedious global search-and-replace as your primary tools for cleaning up your code?
  • Do you want to make your ASP.NET 2.0 solutions easier to maintain in the future?
  • Do you like having access to useful, whizbang (and very cool) utilities that actually help you get real work done?
  • What if those utilities were free?

Well, if you answered yes to any of the above questions, you should be ecstatic and astounded to know Developer Express has released Refactor! for ASP.NET for immediate and free download.

One cautionary note to existing users of Refactor! Pro:

Refactor! for ASP.NET is incompatible with existing Refactor! Pro installations. Do not install Refactor! for ASP.NET alongside Refactor! Pro. Instead, those Refactor! Pro customers still within their free one-year maintenance update period can download a free update to Refactor! Pro that includes these new ASP.NET refactorings.

Also, since Refactor! is a VS add-on, it does not work with Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition. You must have Visual Studio 2005 Standard or above.

So, how cool is Refactor! for ASP.NET? Watch this 12-minute video overview to see for yourself.

The v2.1.3 release includes 25 refactorings, with 9 dedicated to ASP.NET development:

  1. Add Validator
  2. Extract ContentPlaceHolder
  3. Extract ContentPlaceHolder (and create master page)
  4. Extract Style (Class)
  5. Extract Style (id)
  6. Move to Code-behind
  7. Move Style Attributes to CSS
  8. Rename Style
  9. Surround with Update Panel

(the "Extract to User Control" refactoring will arrive in a future drop)

Also included are 16 standard refactorings that work inside both C# and VB code-behind files (most also work on code placed inside inline <script> tags):

  1. Extract Method
  2. Extract Property
  3. Flatten Conditional
  4. Inline Temp
  5. Introduce Constant
  6. Introduce Local
  7. Move Declaration near Reference
  8. Move Initialization to Declaration
  9. Reorder Parameters
  10. Rename
  11. Replace Temp with Query
  12. Reverse Conditional
  13. Safe Rename
  14. Simplify Expression
  15. Split Initialization from Declaration
  16. Split Temporary Variable

If you get stuck or need support (note: it is currently in Beta) you have a couple options:

  1. Contact support@devexpress.com, or
  2. Subscribe to the devexpress.public.refactor.asp newsgroup at news.devexpress.com

I am sure after a few uses, Refactor! will become a staple in your development process just like Reflector if it has not already.

Hats off to Developer Express for continuing to enhance the Web development capabilities of Visual Studio 2005 in some very clever and unique ways. The next time you come across a fellow ASP.NET developer let them know about this time-saving solution.