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by Scott Hanselman.
Original Post: Scott's List of Ultimate Visual Studio.NET AddIns
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In the vein of my Ultimate
Tools List, here's my list of Ultimate Visual Studio.NET Add-Ins.
This list is by no means exhaustive, but I loves me some Add-Ins, so here's the ones
that make my life better.
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.
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.
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.
QuickCode.NET - This has been
largely supplanted by CodeRush, but if you don't want to pay as much, this cool tool
gives you phrase expansion and a surprising number of code expansions available on
their user forum.
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.
Reflectoras
an AddIn - A joint effort, run Lutz's unbelievable decompiler/explorer with Jamie's
Add-In support.
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!
Unleashit! - 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!