Tools of the Trade: Must-Have .NET Utilities

1
Tools of the TradeMust-Have .NET Utilities

• James Kovacs
• November 18, 2004

2
Agenda

• The Holy Trinity
• Source Control
• Code Analysis Tools
• Build Tools
• Debugging Tools
• Coding Tools

3
The Holy Trinity

• NUnit (http//www.nunit.org)
• Unit testing framework
• See also
• TestDriven.NET (http//www.testdriven.net)
• NAnt (http//nant.sourceforge.net)
• Make without the wrinkles
• See also
• NAntContrib (http//nantcontrib. sourceforge.net)
• NDoc (http//ndoc.sourceforge.net)
• API documentation generator
• See also
• GhostDoc (http//www.roland-weigelt.de/ghostdoc/)
• Documentor CodeRush Add-in (http//www.paraesthesi
  a.com/blog/comments.php?id701_0_1_0_C)

4
Source Control

• SourceGear Vault (http//www.sourcegear.com/vault/
  )
• VSS- or CVS-style check-ins
• SQL Server DB backend
• Subversion
• Subversion server (http//subversion.tigris.org)
• Command-line
• BerkeleyDB or file system backend
• TortoiseSVN (http//tortoisesvn.tigris.org)
• Explorer extension
• RapidSVN (http//rapidsvn.tigris.org)
• Traditional VSS-style GUI
• AnkhSVN (http//ankhsvn.tigris.org)
• VS.NET add-in
• vss2svn (http//vss2svn.tigris.org)
• Perl script to convert VSS DB to SVN
• FireDaemon (http//www.firedaemon.com)
• Runs SVN server as a Windows Service

5
Code Analysis Tools

• Static
• FxCop (http//www.gotdotnet.com/team/fxcop/)
• Analyzes code against a rules database including
  coding standards, best practices, and defects
• devMetrics (http//www.anticipatingminds.com/Conte
  nt/Products/devMetrics/devMetrics.aspx)
• Reports kloc and cyclomatic complexity
• Dynamic
• NCover (http//www.ncover.org/)
• Analyzes code coverage
• NProf (http//nprof.sourceforge.net)
• Profiles application performance
• CLR Profiler (http//www.microsoft.com/downloads/d
  etails.aspx?FamilyId86CE6052-D7F4-4AEB-9B7A-94635
  BEEBDDAdisplaylangen)
• Profiles allocations and garbage collections

6
Build Tools

• CruiseControl .NET (http//confluence.public.thoug
  htworks.org/display/CCNET/)
• Continuous integration server
• Builds done through NAnt, DevEnv, or custom
• Runs unit testing (NUnit) and/or code analysis
  (FxCop) on builds (optional)
• Reports build and/or test failures via email
• Dashboard (ASP.NET app) shows current and past
  build status

7
Debugging Tools

• Lutz Roeders Reflector (http//www.aisto.com/roed
  er/dotnet/)
• Reverse engineers MSIL into C, VB.NET, or Delphi
• See also FileDisassembler Add-in
  (http//www.denisbauer.com/NETTools/FileDisassembl
  er.aspx)
• ClrSpy (http//www.gotdotnet.com/Community/UserSam
  ples/Details.aspx?SampleGuidc7b955c7-231a-406c-9f
  a5-ad09ef3bb37f)
• Exposes Customer Debug Probes (CDP) for
  diagnosing problems with COM Interop and P/Invoke
• XmlSerializerPreCompiler (http//www.sellsbrothers
  .com/tools/XmlSerializerPreCompiler)
• Fantastic tool for debugging mysterious
  XmlSerializer exceptions
• Everything by SysInterals.com! (http//www.sysinte
  rnals.com)
• Tools for monitoring disk, files, handles,
  registry, processes, and more

8
Coding Tools

• RegexDesigner.NET (http//www.sellsbrothers.com/to
  ols/regexd)
• Runs regular expressions using System.Text.Regular
  Expressions
• CodeRush (http//www.devexpress.com/?section/Down
  loads/NET/CodeRush)
• Code generator and visualization tool
• Regions Add-in (http//www.codeproject.com/dotnet/
  RegionsAddIn.asp)
• Moves code into and between regions
• pinvoke.net Add-in (http//www.gotdotnet.com/Commu
  nity/UserSamples/Details.aspx?SampleGuid75122f62-
  5459-4364-b9ba-7b5e6a4754fe)
• Adds P/Invoke signatures
• VSCmdShell Add-in (http//www.gotdotnet.com/Commun
  ity/Workspaces/Workspace.aspx?id3751cc72-1345-487
  2-96a1-99c9d64e7c2d)
• VS.NET Command prompt hosted inside VS.NET

9
Staying in the Loop

• ltplug typeshamelessgt
• Blogs
• http//www.jameskovacs.com/blog/
• http//www.bristowe.com/blog/
• Blog Readers
• SharpReader (http//www.sharpreader.net/)
• NewsGator (http//www.newsgator.com/)
• lt/pluggt

10
Questions