Powertoys WebLog : VS 2002

gotdotnet CodeGallery for ongoing Sample Sharing and Development

Powertoys — Wed, 31 Aug 2005 22:39:00 GMT

I am proud to announce the public release of CodeGallery, the newest member of the gotdotnet family. Gotdotnet.com is the community website where professional Windows and .NET developers from around the world can contribute and consume code samples, snippets, scripts, and developer tools, as well as participate in ad hoc collaborative development projects with friends and colleagues. Whether you're new to computers or a hardcore developer, gotdotnet has something for you.

My boss, Sandy Khaund broke the news about the launch of CodeGallery on his blog. He writes, "[CodeGallery is] focused on the experience of community feedback. While Workspaces concentrates on the joint development of code and code check-in process, CodeGallery limits code activity to upload and download and instead orients the collaboration around idea sharing and feedback from members about the uploaded items. Each CodeGallery project is a “micro-community” on GotDotNet that is focused on collaborative feedback and code, documentation and idea sharing. To support this, we [provide] customization, message board creation, online reporting, bug tracking and message boards that enable members to work together in evolving a project whether it is code, documentation or conceptual."...

CodeGallery--Continuous Feedback-Driven Development
As mentioned, this is the newest member of the gotdotnet family. At CodeGallery, you can download an application, its source code, or both. You can evaluate the application, discuss the latest online version with its creator and other users, as well as create bugs that the owner can fold into the next version of their application. CodeGallery is a great place to see how some of the best developers in the world develop software, find useful utilities and take advantage of reusable code.

Check it out today and feel free to leave Korby and the team feedback.

VC++ Powertoys from GDN

Powertoys — Mon, 15 Aug 2005 20:19:00 GMT

I don't know how I missed these, but there exists a collection of VC++ powertoys on the GDN site. The full descriptions are found in this document, but I've copied them down here as well.

Name - Description

Delta - Watch a directory (either local or remote) and see when items in it get changed.
FindDir - Find a directory on a server
Windows Installer Log Parser - Graphical Viewer for log files generated from Windows Installer Setups (verbose log file). Also has a quiet mode to generate an HTML page that annotates the log.
Depends - Scans a Windows Module and builds a hierarchical tree diagram of all dependant modules
Window Control - COM Object allowing simple manipulation of windows via scripting languages. Eg setting window text, moving, clicking, activating and showing / hiding windows
SpCheck - Service Pack Checker will check the origin of many different components on a system
Err - Lookup Error Constants in a number of NT Tables
ProcWait - Waits for 1 or more processes to terminate and inherits their return values. Useful for synchronization scripts
C++ IFilter - C++ IFilter for Indexing Service. Makes searching C++ code extremely fast (usually used in conjunction with a search utility such as ci.exe or srch.exe provided)
Ci - Command-line search tool for Indexing Service (see C++ IFilter)
Srch - Graphical search tool for Indexing Service (see C++ IFilter)
Wear - Reports all matches for an exe in the path
JumpWin - Move an application from 1 monitor to another (when using multimon) at the touch of a key.
Remoted - Software Switchbox. Control multiple computers by moving your mouse to the edge of a screen.
Backinfo- Generates a wallpaper with System Data (eg machine name)
KAPIMon - This does not work on XP (will crash the machine). Debugging Framework based on Kernel and User API Hooks.
SmartAny - Never leak a resource again! This template library for generic resource management makes resource management a breeze!

GRETA - This is a great regular expression library that supports full Perl 5 syntax.

Remoted and JumpWin are my personal favorites.

Download the package today: http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/cplusplus/powertools/powertools.zip

Enjoy,

josh

Go Back Visual Studio Add-in

Powertoys — Wed, 23 Mar 2005 19:20:00 GMT

http://www.codeproject.com/useritems/GoBackAddin.asp

[Via .Avery Blog]

The Go Back Add-in provides a Navigate Backward functionality that is different than the normal Navigate Backward functionality. (Which does some neat things like close a file if you happened to have opened it while navigating forward) The author of the tool is pretty passionate about what he wants and built the exact functionality he was looking for, if you agree with what he likes then you should love it.

(via The Daily Grind)

-James

This is a pretty cool extension to the Navigate backwards command in VS. Oh, if you like that command in general then you might also want to check out the VSMouseBindings powertoy that will let you bind the navigate back/forward commands to your extra mouse keys. Josh

Read Blogs Without Leaving Visual Studio

Powertoys — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 23:35:00 GMT

Jon, the creator of SharpTools, sent me mail to let me know about his latest creation... a plugin that lets you read blogs indide the Visual Studio IDE. I've gave it a shot and I have to say that it looks pretty cool.

From the site.

This open source plugin ships as part of SharpTools 2.0 and is a full-featured RSS / Blog aggregator which integrates into the familiar dockable panes of the Visual Studio.NET IDE. You're gonna love it when you start blogging from within the development environment! Features include:

Support for folders or individual feeds
Drag-and-drop support for feeds and folders
Preview a new feed as you add it
Easy control of all feed properties
Automatic and on-demand refresh of feeds
Automatic feed search based on a site URL
Keyword searching for published feedsusing Synic8
Keyword search within all subscribed feeds
Import of feed subscriptions from an OPML file

WSCF 0.4 "Web services Contract-First, for real"

Powertoys — Tue, 28 Dec 2004 00:08:00 GMT

We featured the WsContractFirst Add-In in an earlier post, but Christian let me know they have a much improved release of WSCF now. Check out the walkthrough for complete details.

New Features in v0.4 (compared to v0.3):

WSDL creation wizard
- Abstracts away WSDL details.
- WSDL conforms to WS-I BP 1.0 recommendations.
  - Only Doc/literal support
- One portType per WSDL.
- One binding per WSDL.
- One header per message.
- No fault support.
- Documentation items.
- Right-click message .XSD file in VS.NET to start wizard.
- No round-tripping, i.e. currently one-way WSDL generation only.
Command line interface (wscf.exe), for including the code generation features in batch files or build environments.
Intrinsic support for RPC/literal WSDL descriptions.
Adds task list items for important steps to take care of after code generation.
Should run with VS.NET 2002.

Blog Review

Via smguest: "In short, this tool rocks. It works as follows: You create an XSD using your favorite editor (for example, Visual Studio .NET or XMLSpy) and import it into your Visual Studio .NET project. Right clicking on the XSD in Solution Explorer brings up an option to generate a WSDL file. "

Poor Man's Bracket Matching Macro

Powertoys — Tue, 07 Dec 2004 01:02:00 GMT

David sent me mail about his "Poor Man's Bracket Matching Macro". (Click link for Macro Code)

From his site:

"I usually assign it to CTRL + 9 key combination. Now, go to your source and put caret before or after any bracket. Press CTRL + 9. Matching bracket should appear bold for a second or two, just as it does when you first write it. As with all macros it will be rather slow when you run it for the first time, so don't dump it right away.

And it also helps if you set brace matching color to something bright, like red. Go to Tools / Options / Environment / Font and Color / Display Items: Brace Matching and set it's foreground color."

Enjoy! Josh

MZ-Tools 4.0 the "all-in-one" add-in for VS .Net 2002 and 2003

Powertoys — Wed, 01 Dec 2004 21:32:00 GMT

Via The Daily Grind

"MZ-Tools 4.0 for Visual Studio .NET - I used MZ-Tools for VB6; it's a great set of add-ins. I hadn't realized that there was a version for VB .NET with such features as fast control name editing, some refactoring, private clipboards, autosave, an extensibility API, and much more. Licensing from $39.95 (via John Barone) "

Official Site: http://www.mztools.com/v4/mztools4.htm

Feature List: http://www.mztools.com/v4/features.htm

Josh

VS Addin for Managing Version Information

Powertoys — Mon, 08 Nov 2004 21:59:00 GMT

Via Matt Hawley:

"I was reading this weeks Code Project newsletter, when I came across an updated article named Versioning Controlled Build. The description so eloquently puts it: "A Visual Studio add-in that automates AssemblyVersion control."

One word, AWESOME! I downloaded the installer from the article, installed it, and launched VS.NET. Talk about an easy way of updating your version numbers for X number of projects. I know this is a daunting task for any developer that has more than 1 project that the version number needs to get updated.

Truly a great Add-In that will come handy for everyone!"

Direct Link: http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/VersioningControlledBuild.asp

Enjoy! Josh

Spell Checking your Source Code

Powertoys — Wed, 29 Sep 2004 21:18:00 GMT

I’m going to try something new today… a pseudo review/comparison of two similar add-ins that people recently mailed me. Please let me know if you are interested in this style more in the future or if it was even helpful. I’ll remind readers of this blog that these opinions are mine and do not form any sort of Microsoft view one way or another. In the case below both options are free and worth trying on your own. I have a feeling that people will either like one or the other based on personal preference rather than performance.

Thanks. Josh

I can’t spell. I’ve grew up in the age of spell checking computers. Recently, with the advent of auto-correction I think I’ve gotten worse. Now I don’t even get the “red ink squiggly” as long as I’m “close enough”. This is no huge problem when it comes to e-mail, documents, or slides, but I can’t tell you how many code reviews I’ve had that ended with “Well, it all looks good, but did you know ‘sourceDirrectory’ is spelled ‘sourceDirectory’?”

Over the last couple of days I’ve been trying out two different VS Add-Ins for this problem.

1. Spelly.NET from WndTabs.Com

This add-in supports VC6, VS.Net 2002 and VS.Net 2003. If you have VS.Net 2003 however, be prepared for some extra install steps that include two extra downloads and adding information to the registry. It also must be re-registered if you don’t like the default install directory.

Once you do get it running you’ll see two spell-check buttons on your toolbar. One button is for checking source code and comments and the other is simply for strings and comments. The interface doesn’t provide you with a lot of options, but having these two buttons separated out was nice. It’s simply a spell check with no frills that offers alternatives.

Spelly was also nicer to me when I had commented out code. The second option seems to only want normal words in commented out code where as Spelly follows the same spell checking rules in both situations. I suppose I should just remove commented out code, but I’d prefer to do that on my own and not worry about it when I’m spell checking.

Grab it here: http://www.wndtabs.com/downloads

2. Spell Checker for VS.Net 2003 from Dotnet2themax.com

The install here was painless and it just worked the first time I used it. It’s always refreshing when that happens. This spell checker goes way beyond the basics and provides a bevy of options.

For starters you can have it iterate through entire projects at a time rather than having to open each file as you do with Spelly.Net. While you are spell checking you can also have it skip an entire line or file. Other options include defining regular expressions that declare words as either always correct or always misspelled. While both offer support for the basic file extensions this one allows you to define custom extensions to be checked as well.

One glitch with this option, IMO, was that if you started a spell check, closed the dialog, then tried to start a new check on another file or piece of text, it would assume you wanted to finish the one you started before. You have to learn to press “stop” then “start” again. Spelly assumes that each time it is run you killed off the previous check.

Grab it here: http://www.dotnet2themax.com/ShowContent.aspx?ID=10d5b7f6-8ffc-4e4f-9b0f-133b5fa3d79c

In Closing

Both checkers also seemed to work fine through the VSCmdShell code that I tested them on catching a lot of mistakes similar to…

const int paggeStep = 10;

const int sourceDirrectory;

and correcting to “pageStep” and “sourceDirectory”.

Both options require some training for the first few uses. By default they don’t understand that keywords like “bool”, “int”, and “const” are acceptable for use in your code. Option 2 will let you tinker with the settings more if you don’t like the way it works when it is first installed, but there was also something to be said for the simplicity of Spelly.Net. I felt like I spent too much time babysitting and tinkering with the spell checker from Dotnet2themax after the install. In the end I’ll probably use Spelly.Net more often for spot checks of new code or comments, but leave both installed because I do like some of the options (like check whole project) provided by the Dotnet2themax solution. They both have their uses. Good Times!

Feel free to respond with your opinions if you have tried the two.

Visual Assist X from Whole Tomato Software

Powertoys — Thu, 12 Aug 2004 19:26:00 GMT

People send me mail that asks "What about Visual Assist X?". This blog gets comments like "Tool X is nothing compared to the Whole Tomato stuff". In chats I've seen "Why don't you guys just buy the Whole Tomato stuff and ship it in the box?". I'll admit, they do some great work through our extensibility interfaces and giving them props in this blog was long overdue. So, if you haven't already, you should check out the free trial of Visual Assist X from Whole Tomato Software.

Some of this stuff (better code coloring, code templates, etc) you'll see in Whidbey, but there is a bunch of other stuff in there as well that we just aren't doing like the "hovering class browser", spell checking, automatic case correction, etc. Good times! Josh

Code Template Autocompletion for VS 2002 and VS 2003

Powertoys — Wed, 07 Jul 2004 22:02:00 GMT

When it rains it pours. I found this in my inbox this morning and it looks pretty cool. Here is the description from Alvaros

AutoCode v2.0 is an Add-In for Visual Studio .net that enables AutoComplete for any language in Visual Studio .net. Generated code is based in custom templates that can be easily created with AutoCode Templates Editor.

Here is the intro from thier web-site:

AutoCode v2.0 is an Add-In for Visual Studio .net that enables autocomplete for any language in Visual Studio .net. Generated code is based in command templates that can be easily created with AutoCode Editor.

For example, typing in the editor:

Hello World! ws

And pressing Control+Enter, we get:

Console.WriteLine( "Hello World!" )

The template command ‘ws’ is one of the different command templates that comes with AutoCode, but what makes AutoCode a powerful tool is the ability to easily create new custom templates.

Version 2.0 includes:

·          Smart templates using ASPX like syntax

·          Set cursor position

·          Create, edit and organize templates with the built-in editor

·          Multiple file templates to be easily shared

·          More new cool features…

Click Here to download:

http://www.devprojects.net/acdownload.aspx

Toggle Design and Source Windows Macro

Powertoys — Fri, 02 Jul 2004 07:09:00 GMT

This one comes from Austin out of our mailbag. Thanks - Josh

I got tired of using the F7, Shift-F7 key shortcuts for toggling the Design and Source code windows. So I wrote this little macro.

It works a little differently for ASP.NET files. When toggling to the Design window the macro will open either in Design or HTML mode depending on the users setting. Maybe someone else will find this macro usefull.

Imports EnvDTE

Imports System.Diagnostics

Imports System.ComponentModel.Design

Public Module ToggleWindows

Sub ToggleDesignAndCodeWindows()

If (((TypeOf DTE.ActiveWindow.Object Is IDesignerHost) OrElse (TypeOf DTE.ActiveWindow.Object Is HTMLWindow)) AndAlso (DTE.Commands.Item("View.ViewCode").IsAvailable)) Then

DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.ViewCode")

Else

Dim projItem As ProjectItem

Dim activeDocFullName As String = DTE.ActiveDocument.FullName

Dim formFullName As String = activeDocFullName.Substring(0, activeDocFullName.LastIndexOf("."))

projItem = DTE.Solution.FindProjectItem(formFullName)

If (Not projItem Is Nothing) Then

Try

projItem.Open(Constants.vsViewKindPrimary).Activate()

Catch e As System.NullReferenceException

' Do nothing. Needed for asmx and ascx pages.

End Try

Else

If DTE.Commands.Item("View.ViewDesigner").IsAvailable Then

DTE.ExecuteCommand("View.ViewDesigner")

Else

Beep()

End If

End Sub

End Module

Check out these instructions for more information on using macros in the ide.

Send F1 Searches Online to Google with this Macro

Powertoys — Sun, 27 Jun 2004 06:06:00 GMT

Marty wrote a Macro for VS that performs a google search on the current F1 keyword in the IDE. Check it out for yourself here: http://www.little-garins.com/Blogs/marty/archive/2004/06/24/171.aspx

This is pretty cool, but what impressed me was the quick turnaround of ideas into reality amongst developer bloggers.

Last Wednesday I wrote this in my blog: “F1 is still cool, but I wonder how useful an “Alt+F1” to google search would be. Maybe that will be my next project. “

On Thursday I found this trackback from Marty: “I was struck by Josh's comments so I built one and I am sharing it with you. Hopefully you will find it helpful as well.”

Stefano says: “A great idea...Thanks for the tip.“

Roland, in addition to also providing a cool tweak to scope the results to MSDN, says it's “really cool“.

Enjoy - Josh

Introducing MsaaVerify - an Accessibility testing tool

Powertoys — Tue, 11 May 2004 22:04:00 GMT

Have you ever used AccExplorer or Inspect and wondered whether the information presented was correct? Have you ever wanted to know which controls really need Names, Keyboard Shortcuts, Descriptions, and so forth? It's time to MsaaVerify! MsaaVerify will verify 9 Microsoft Active Accessibility properties for 10 Microsoft Active Accessibility Role types. It doesn't matter whether these controls are standard Windows controls, managed, owner drawn, or custom drawn, just use MsaaVerify!

MsaaVerify is located at the following GotDotNet workspace:

http://www.gotdotnet.com/Community/Workspaces/workspace.aspx?id=678c467f-3724-40f0-9de7-db440e4fa148

-Sara

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