Powertoys WebLog : VS 2003

Free Wizard to Create C# Typed Collections in VS 2003

Powertoys — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 19:25:32 GMT

Via the mailbag… We used something similar to this tool when making our automation libraries for Whidbey. It comes in handy when you work with lots of collections.

Page: http://www.geekproject.com/tools.aspx#9

Description

This is a wizard for C# in Visual Studio .NET 2003 which creates custom typed collections. The wizard will generate code for the collection with options to have a an enumerator nested or not and possibility to have custom validation code.

First set of Power Toys for Visual Studio released by the Developer Solutions team

saraford — Thu, 09 Mar 2006 02:03:00 GMT

Check out the Developer Solutions team's blog for the latest information on Power Toys for Visual Studio.

MSBee

MSBee is an addition to MSBuild that allows you to build managed apps in VS 2005 that target .NET 1.1.

Download MSBuild Extras – Toolkit for .NET 1.1 “MSBee” Beta 1

Managed Stack Explorer

MSE is a lightweight tool for monitoring .NET 2.0 processes and stack traces. Just copy and run. No installation required.

Download Managed Stack Explorer v1.1

TFS Administration Tool

The TFS Administration Tool allows you to manage users on TFS, Sharepoint, and SQL RS through one common UI.

Download TFS Admin Tool Beta 1

PageMethods: Well-defined URLs for your ASP.NET sites and applications

Powertoys — Thu, 08 Dec 2005 06:45:00 GMT

Via Fabrice

PageMethods for Visual Studio 2005 has just been released. This version offers the same support as the version for VS 2003, plus some additional features.
PageMethods proposes a new code model that enables well-defined URLs and simplifies working with hyperlinks for your ASP.NET sites and applications.

PageMethods enables reliable URLs.
Linking to a web page is very easy, both in simple HTML and in ASP.NET. Linking to a page that really exists, passing the right parameters, and parsing these parameters, is a bit different.
PageMethods takes care of your URLs. It proposes a solution to define structured URLs for each of your pages, as well as a clean and simple way to call them.
The idea is based on strict page inputs and declarative parameter binding. With PageMethods, each page exposes a set of methods that represent the different ways to call the page. All you have to do to start benefiting from sharp, reliable URLs is to add methods to your pages, and mark these methods with attributes provided by PageMethods.

Here is how you would declare a page method:

[PageMethod]
protected void DisplayCustomer(int customerID)
{
...
}

Here is how you would refer to the page declaring this method:

MyHyperLink.NavigateUrl = MyPageMethods.Customers.CustomerPage.DisplayCustomer(1234);

Check out: http://metaSapiens.com/PageMethods

Right Click -> New Microsoft Visual Studio Solution

Powertoys — Sat, 05 Nov 2005 08:43:00 GMT

Via Robin Curry

File this one under “Why didn’t I think of that?!”

Peter Provost created a ShellNew extension for Visual Studio Solutions to allow you to right click and add a new solution to any folder without the heavy-handed way Visual Studio does it. Nice!

Install Instructions: http://www.peterprovost.org/archive/2005/10/25/8982.aspx

CR_Documentor - Another Code Documentation Utility

Powertoys — Thu, 03 Nov 2005 08:00:00 GMT

Via Paraesthesia

Lutz Roeder, a fantastic developer of ultra-helpful tools, took his "Documentor" application - which allowed a developer to preview what XML document comments would look like rendered into end-user documentation - down from his site. He was nice enough to send me the source for it, though, so I've converted it into a Visual Studio tool window add-in via the rich plug-in framework offered by the Developer Express, Inc. package, DXCore (which also supports CodeRush for Visual Studio .NET).

This plug-in allows you to see a preview of your XML document comments - a la Roeder's original Documentor - real-time, as you edit the comments in Visual Studio.

.....

Installation is as easy as copying a DLL into a folder. The included readme.txt outlines installation, usage, and workarounds for known issues.

Requires DXCore 1.1.40 or later (DXCore is a FREE download from Developer Express - go get it!).

Download CR_Documentor 1.6.0.0909

But doesn't good code really speak for itself??? :-)

Josh

QuickdocViewer Add-In for XML Comment Viewing

Powertoys — Wed, 26 Oct 2005 03:44:00 GMT

Via the mailbag I discovered a tool that's pretty complimentary to the VBCommenter. The Quickdoc Viewer is an add-in module for the Microsoft Visual Studio.net IDE which offers a simple WYSIWYG XML to HTML previewer for XML based documentation comments. According to the author the main motivation for this Visual Studio.net add-in is, to be able to quickly preview XML documentation comments from inside of the IDE. But pictures speak louder than words. If you are using VS 2003 and like using XML comment documentation then this could be for you. Check out the shots to get a better idea.

More Info and Download:

http://www.kyrsoft.com/opentools/qdocviewer.html

gotdotnet CodeGallery for ongoing Sample Sharing and Development

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

Via Korby

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

DPack 2.2.0 - Global Bookmarks, Improved Code Browsing, Code Stats, etc

Powertoys — Tue, 19 Jul 2005 19:29:00 GMT

Via TECHQUICK

My buddy Sergey has released a new update to DPack.

Here’s what’s new and changed in this release:

Added global bookmarks option to Numbered Bookmarks feature. Global bookmarks work on the whole solution as oppose to individual files, and allow one to quickly navigate from file to file.
Updated bookmarks icons to make it easier identify bookmark numbers.
Modified Code Browser to no longer treat code model related errors as fatal ones. Previously Code Browser would close its dialog if it failed to retrieve file’s code model. Now it would display an error in the dialog’s status bar and empty members list without actually closing the dialog. This should allow one to bypass the troublesome file and move onto another file.
Added “Properties Only” menu item to Code Browser’s Tools main menu. New command is accessible via Shift-Alt-P keyboard shortcut.
Various Code Browser usability improvements.
Added “Files to ignore” configuration option for Solution Backup feature.
Assigned “Ctrl-K, ?” shortcuts to all Surround With commands.

It also comes with July VS 2005 CTP support!

CodeXchange Snippet Sharing Community for Visual Studio

Powertoys — Mon, 25 Apr 2005 17:47:00 GMT

I really believe good rich client interfaces to online communities are going to be big. Why should you have to leave Visual Studio to share code with other developers? Why should you have to browse to a web page just to download a code snippet.

There have been a couple of these add-in/site combinations in the past, but so far I like what I see with www.codexchange.net and its package add-in for VS. The community on the site is small today, but should grow over time. I'm looking forward to seeing them work well with VS 2005 and the actual snippet format we use to make things even easier.

From the Site:

In short , CodeXchange is an Visual Studio.NET add-in and a standalone application providing you with instant integrated access to an online repository of ready to use .NET code snippets.

The CodeXchange addin is a dockable toolwindow inside the Visual Studio.NET IDE, allowing you to integrate it with your standard development environment layout.

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

VBCommenter 1.2.5 FINAL Released for Adding XML Comments to VB.Net

Powertoys — Sun, 20 Mar 2005 01:08:00 GMT

I continue to be impressed by the people from the community that step up and make serious improvements to the VBCommenter tool. The new release, from Doug, is very impressive. Here are just some of the improvements he highlighted on his blog.

Major speed improvements (mostly related to schema and XML validation handling). For example, a large project that took 14 minutes to build using 1.2 and 2 minutes without VBCommenter takes about 2.5 minutes with 1.2.5.
Improved comment schema (includes all NDoc extensions to the XML comment schema)
Improved XML validation and task list reporting
cref resolution is much better - If your class has a method called "Log" and you want to reference it, the generated cref will be correct instead of pointing to System.Diagnostics.Log
Reads assemblies in read-only mode to avoid locking the file or the inability to load the assembly if the IDE has it locked
Renders variables declared as "WithEvents" as properties (which is how the WithEvents keyword is implemented in IL) to allow NDoc to find the appropriate comments for the field (See More)

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

Automatic Build Dependencies (ABD) add-in for VC project in .Net 2003

Powertoys — Tue, 22 Feb 2005 23:39:00 GMT

Another mailbag entry from Lionel.

"I just put together an add-in for visual studio 2003 that sets automatically build dependencies for all VC projects in the current solution. It also has the option to generate Build Dependencies Graphs. "

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

Codehound - Developer Search Engine with VS Add-In

Powertoys — Sat, 12 Feb 2005 00:13:00 GMT

Via jtobler "Another great source-code finding search engine is Codehound. For DotNetters, Codehound also offers a nifty free code-finding VisualStudio.NET Add-in."

Check it out @ http://www.codehound.com/

The addin simply lets you search for the selected text in the editor by opening a web browser to the codehound search results. Josh