Powertoys WebLog : Debugging Tools

XML Visualizer for Visual Studio .NET 2003

Powertoys — Mon, 10 Jan 2005 20:53:00 GMT

Michael Bouck sent me mail about a cool "holiday project" add-in he was working on to create a visualizer for XML that you can use in VS2003. It is worth checking out and leaving some feedback for him on the workspace.

Home Page: http://workspaces.gotdotnet.com/xmlviz.

Description Via Project Home

XML Visualizer for Visual Studio .NET 2003 (XMLVIZ) allows you to visualize most XML and XML-backed data sources during runtime a la Whidbey's "debugger visualizers". The difference is you don't have to wait for VS.NET 2005 because XMLVIZ will work with your copy of VS.NET 2003 today!

XMLVIZ is implemented as a VS.NET add-in and, once installed, is activated by highlighting any supported, initialized type instance during a debugging session, right-clicking on the selection to bring-up the context menu, and selecting the "XML Visualizer" menu item. The add-in will then grab the XML out of the selected target instance and display it on a modal dialog along with the schema (if available). For ADO.NET types, the data is also bound to a grid to allow navigation, row-filtering, and row version inspection.

Currently supported types (including derived) are: DataSet, DataTable, DataRow/DataRow[]/DataRowCollection (attached), DataView, DataRowView/DataRowView[] (attached), DataViewManager, XPathNavigator, types implementing IXPathNavigable, well-formed XML in strings, or any XML-serializable type.

Josh

Special QuickWatch for a DataSet Add-In (A glimpse into the Visualizer Future)

Powertoys — Thu, 09 Sep 2004 19:49:00 GMT

Another one I found Via Roy. Mohammed developed, what is essentially, a visualizer you can use with VS 2003 today to get a view of items in a dataset while you are debugging. Enjoy!

The web site: http://www.codeproject.com/csharp/DSWatch.asp

CoadTools Quick Test C# Project Template

Powertoys — Fri, 18 Jun 2004 19:15:00 GMT

Noah Coad left a comment to our entry about the Snippet Compiler to inform us of a quick c# project template he whipped up for testing small bits of code in the full IDE.

From hist post: http://msmvps.com/coad/archive/2004/06/18/8408.aspx

Very often I need to test a tidbit of code, do some research on a class, etc. In fact, I was creating several times as many quick code test projects as any other project need. I used to start a Console application, change it to a Windows Application, but still needed to add namespaces, etc. So I created a custom "New Project" template for Visual Studio .NET 2003. To use, just install, load VS.NET, choose "New Project"/"Visaul C# Projects"/"Quick Test", and you're good to go.

The main goal was to minimize the time to test code. Just start VS.NET, choose the "Quick Test" project, and type code. I wanted to send output to the Trace (VS.NET Ouput Window) and have the most common namespaces already included. You can easily modify the template after it is installed to suite your own needs.

Download: CoadTools Quick Test C# Project Template (setup .msi) for Visual Studio .NET 2003

ASP.Net Version Switcher

Powertoys — Sun, 09 May 2004 07:43:00 GMT

Via Rob I found the ASP.Net Version switcher. Rob claims to use it at least once a day. - Josh

From the Official Site: http://www.denisbauer.com/NETTools/ASPNETVersionSwitcher.aspx

The ASP.NET Version Switcher is a little utility that can be used to quickly switch the .NET Framework version that the ASPX pages are compiled against. This is helpful for developers who often have to test their web applications for compatibility with different version of the .NET Framework

Internally, it uses the command line tool called ASPNET_REGIIS that is included in the Microsoft.NET Framework.

Additional features:

toggle if only selected vroot should be version switched or child vroots recursively (-s or -sn command line parameter)
double click on node opens explorer in respective directory
quick link to IIS Manager

Fiddler for HTTP Debugging Issues

Powertoys — Thu, 22 Apr 2004 21:18:00 GMT

Another tool found it's way into my inbox today from Eric Lawrence-

“Need to monitor or modify HTTP traffic? Try Fiddler.”

From the site:

http://www.fiddlertool.com/fiddler/

Fiddler is a HTTP Debugging Proxy which logs all HTTP traffic between your computer and the Internet. Fiddler allows you to watch HTTP Traffic, set breakpoints, and "fiddle" with incoming or outgoing data. Fiddler is designed to be much simpler than using NetMon or Achilles.

Josh