Ten Must Have .NET tools

Snippet Compiler

The Snippet Compiler is a small Windows®-based application that allows you to write, compile, and run code. This tool is useful if you have small pieces of code for which you don't want to create an entire Visual Studio .NET project (along with all the files that come with it).

Snippet Compiler was written by Jeff Key and can be downloaded from

http://www.sliver.com/dotnet/SnippetCompiler.

非常有用，因为我们不必再为了运行一小段代码而去创建一个solution了。而且它是green的。而且它具有语法提示功能。非常赞。

2.0.8.3 for .NET 2.0: http://www.sliver.com/Downloads/SnippetCompiler2DotNet2.zip

 

Regulator

It is a full-featured tool that makes it easy to build and test regular expressions.

 

CodeSmith

CodeSmith is a template-based code-generation tool that uses a syntax similar to ASP.NET to generate any type of code or text. Unlike many other code-generation tools, CodeSmith does not require you to subscribe to a particular application design or architecture. Using CodeSmith, you can generate anything from a simple, strongly typed collection to an entire application.

CodeSmith was written by Eric J. Smith and is available for download at

http://www.ericjsmith.net/codesmith.

 

NUnit

NUnit is an open source unit testing framework built for the .NET Framework. NUnit allows you to write tests in the language of your choice to test a specific function of your application. Unit tests are an excellent way to test the functionality of your code when you first write it, and also to provide a method for regression testing of your application. The NUnit application provides a framework for writing unit tests, as well as a graphical interface to run these tests and view the results.

 

FxCop

The .NET Framework is very powerful, which means there is great potential to create excellent applications, but there is equal opportunity to create poor programs. FxCop is one of the tools that can be used to help create better applications by enabling you to examine an assembly and check it for compliance using a number of different rules.

FxCop was developed by Microsoft and is available for download from

http://www.gotdotnet.com/team/fxcop.

FxCop is a code analysis tool that checks .NET managed code assemblies for conformance to the Microsoft .NET Framework Design Guidelines. It uses reflection, MSIL parsing, and callgraph analysis to inspect assemblies for more than 200 defects in the following areas:

• Library design
• Localization
• Naming conventions
• Performance
• Security

 

Lutz Roeder's .NET Reflector

It is a class browser and decompiler that can examine an assembly and show you just about all of its secrets..NET Reflector was written by Lutz Roeder and can be downloaded from

http://www.aisto.com/roeder/dotnet.

 

NDoc

The NDoc tool will automatically generate documentation for your code using reflection to examine the assembly and using the XML generated from your C# XML comments. NDoc is an open source project and can be downloaded from http://ndoc.sourceforge.net.

 

NAnt

NAnt is a .NET-based build tool that, unlike the current version of Visual Studio .NET, makes it easy to create a build process for your project. When you have a large number of developers working on a single project, you can't rely on the build from a single user's box. You also do not want to have to build the project manually on a regular basis. Instead, you create an automated build process that runs every night. NAnt allows you to build your solution, copy files, run NUnit tests, send e-mail, and much more. Unfortunately, NAnt is lacking a nice looking graphical interface, but it does have a console application and XML files that specify which tasks should be completed during the build process. Note that MSBuild, the new build platform that's part of Visual Studio 2005, provides for very robust build scenarios and is similarly driven by XML-based project files.

NAnt is an open source project and can be downloaded from http://sourceforge.net/projects/nant.

2 Switch Tools

ASP.NET Version Switcher

Visual Studio .NET Project Converter

 

Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/msdnmag/issues/04/07/MustHaveTools/default.aspx