Windows Developer Power Tools: Turbocharge Windows Development with More Than 140 Free and Open Source Tools

Description

Software developers need to work harder and harder to bring value to their development process in order to build high quality applications and remain competitive. Developers can accomplish this by improving their productivity, quickly solving problems, and writing better code.

A wealth of open source and free software tools are available for developers who want to improve the way they create, build, deploy, and use software. Tools, components, and frameworks exist to help developers at every point in the development process. Windows Developer Power Tools offers an encyclopedic guide to more than 170 of these free tools to help developers build top-notch Windows software from desktop applications to web services.

To help you choose the right tools for solving both common and uncommon problems you face each day, this book follows a unique task-oriented organization, laying out topics in the same order that you and your team are likely to encounter them as you work on a project. Each tool entry features a solid introduction -- a mini user's guide -- so you can get up to speed quickly and understand how to best use the tool in your environment. Inside, you'll find:

• A guide to more than 170 tools covering 24 unique aspects of Windows and .NET software development, with many descriptions contributed by the tools' authors
  
  
• Descriptions of freely available ASP.NET and Windows Forms controls, object relational mapping systems, testing frameworks, and build and continuous integration tools
  
  
• Articles on tools to help developers troubleshoot misbehaving applications
  
  
• Guides for utilities to boost productivity in the development environment as well as speeding up tasks in Windows itself
  
  
• "Quick pick" lists at the start of each chapter to help you find and choose the right tool for your task
  
  
• "At a Glance" and "In a Nutshell" summaries to help readers more quickly narrow their options
  
  
• References to an online book site to keep you up-to-date with new releases and features
  
  
• Forewords by Mike Gunderloy (Larkware) and Scott Hanselman (http://www.hanselman.com/tools), operators of the two most popular tools sites for Microsoft developers.
  
  

Also, plenty of links in each article point you to additional detail online if you wish to delve more deeply into features and functionality. This one-stop resource covers a wide range of open source and freeware tools to help you answer questions around planning, developing, testing, and rolling out great software. Best of all, they're free.

 

Table of Contents

Foreword 
Credits 
Preface 
Part I. Writing Code
1. Building ASP.NET Applications

       1.1 Building Sophisticated Ajax Applications with ASP.NET Atlas 

       1.2 Adding Ajax Functionality with Anthem.NET 

       1.3 Adding Ajax Functionality with Ajax.NET Professional 

       1.4 Generating User-Friendly URLs with UrlRewritingNet.UrlRewrite 

       1.5 Showing a "Please Wait" Dialog with BusyBoxDotNet 

       1.6 Creating Cleaner HTML Output with CSS Friendly Control   Adapters 

       1.7 Adding Word-Processing Capabilities to Your Application   with FreeTextBox 

       1.8 Creating Charts with the WebChart Control 

       1.9 Consuming and Publishing RSS Feeds with the RSS Toolkit 

       1.10 For More Information 
2. Working with Windows Forms

       2.1 Getting "That WinXP Look" with XP Common Controls 

       2.2 Creating Dockable Windows with DockPanel Suite 

       2.3 Creating a Professional User Interface with Krypton Toolkit 

       2.4 Learning More About Windows Controls with Control Spy 

       2.5 For More Information 
3. Developing in .NET 3.0 (a.k.a. "WinFx")

       3.1 Creating Great Visuals for Your Applications with Expression   Graphic Designer 

       3.2 Creating WinFx User Interfaces Without Code Using   Interactive Designer 

       3.3 Writing XAML in XamlPad 

       3.4 Avoiding XML Configuration Files with the Service Configuration   Editor 

       3.5 Deciphering WCF Logs with the Service Trace Viewer 

       3.6 Developing WinFx Applications in Visual Studio   with Development Tools for WinFx 

       3.7 For More Information 
4. Working with Code Libraries

       4.1 Externalizing Business Rules with NxBRE 

       4.2 Diagnosing Without Downtime via log4net 

       4.3 Searching Your Data Using Lucene.Net 

       4.4 Finding Changes Between Assembly Versions with LibCheck 

       4.5 Comparing Assemblies with Reflector.Diff 

       4.6 Implementing Spell Checking in Your Windows and Web Apps   with NetSpell 

       4.7 Creating Graphs and Plot Charts Quickly with NPlot 

       4.8 Sorting Algorithms in C# with NSort 

       4.9 Creating RSS Feeds with RSS.NET 

       4.10 Using Zip, GZip, Tar, and BZip2 Archives in Your Software   with SharpZipLib 

       4.11 Generating Excel Files from Code Using ExcelXmlWriter   (Without Having Excel!) 

       4.12 Creating PDFs with iTextSharp 

       4.13 For More Information 
5. Generating Code

       5.1 Creating Code Automatically with MyGeneration 

       5.2 Generating Your Data-Access Layer with Codus 

       5.3 Writing Your Web Services Contract First with WSCF 

       5.4 Generating XML Schemas and Strongly Typed DataSets   with XSD.exe 

       5.5 Practicing Contract-First XML Development   with XSDObjectGenerator 

       5.6 For More Information 
6. Writing Code

       6.1 Building .NET Applications with Visual Studio Express 

       6.2 Developing .NET Applications Using SharpDevelop 

       6.3 Writing Mono Applications on Linux and Mac OS X   with MonoDevelop 

       6.4 Creating Standalone Snippets with Snippet Compiler 

       6.5 Handling Small Tasks with Notepad2 

       6.6 Mastering Regular Expressions with the Regulator 

       6.7 Creating Regular Expressions with ReguLazy 

       6.8 For More Information 
7. Creating Documentation

       7.1 Documenting Your Source Code with GhostDoc 

       7.2 Viewing Documentation in Visual Studio with CR_Documentor 

       7.3 Creating Professional Documentation with NDoc 

       7.4 Printing PDF Documents with PDFCreator 

       7.5 Building a FAQ with skmFAQs 

       7.6 For More Information 
8. Enhancing Visual Studio

       8.1 Boosting Productivity with CoolCommands 

       8.2 Improving Visual Studio's Designers with the PowerToy for Class   and Distributed Systems Designers 

       8.3 Opening Files Quickly with VSFileFinder 

       8.4 Mastering Unmanaged APIs with PINVOKE.NET 

       8.5 Spell Checking ASP.NET and HTML with the HTML/ASP.NET   Spell Checker Add-in 

       8.6 Switching Window Layouts Quickly with VSWindowManager 

       8.7 Blogging or Emailing Your Code in Style   with the CopySourceAsHtml Visual Studio Add-in 

       8.8 Editing CSS in Visual Studio with the CSS Properties Window 

       8.9 Bringing Web Application Projects Back to Visual Studio 2005 

       8.10 Sharing Your Visual Studio Goodies with the Content Installer   Power Toys 

       8.11 For More Information 
Part II. Checking Code
9. Analyzing Your Code

       9.1 Checking Complexity and Dependencies with Peli's Reflector   Addins 

       9.2 Checking Your Source Code's Complexity with SourceMonitor 

       9.3 Analyzing Code Inside Visual Studio with CR_Metrics 

       9.4 Finding Your Code's Dependency Complexities with NDepend 

       9.5 Writing Better Code with FxCop 

       9.6 For More Information 
10. Testing Your Software

       10.1 Unit Testing Your Code with NUnit 

       10.2 Speeding Your Test Development with NUnit Code Snippets 

       10.3 Writing Advanced Unit Tests with MbUnit 

       10.4 Getting More from Your Tests with Zanebug 

       10.5 Bringing Your Customers into the Testing Process with FitNesse 

       10.6 Analyzing Unit-Test Coverage with NCover 

       10.7 Analyzing Code Coverage with NCoverExplorer 

       10.8 Integrating Unit Testing into Visual Studio with TestDriven.NET 

       10.9 Integrating Mock Objects into Your Testing with NMock 2.0 

       10.10 Creating Strongly Typed Mocks with Rhino.Mocks 

       10.11 Unit Testing Your GUI with NUnitForms 

       10.12 Creating Performance Benchmark Tests with NTime 

       10.13 Automating Web Application Testing with Selenium Core 

       10.14 Driving Your Web Applications Automatically with Watir 

       10.15 For More Information 
Part III. Running a Development Project
11. Working with Source-Control Systems

       11.1 Setting Up Subversion Rapidly with SVN 1-Click Setup 

       11.2 Accessing Subversion and CVS with TortoiseCVS and TortoiseSVN 

       11.3 Using Subversion Inside Visual Studio with AnkhSVN 

       11.4 Removing Visual Source Safe Bindings with SourceSafe   Binding Remover 

       11.5 Comparing Files with WinMerge 

       11.6 For More Information 
12. Building, Using Continuous Integration on, and Deploying Your Applications

       12.1 Creating Consistent Builds with NAnt 

       12.2 Automating Your Build Process with MSBuild 

       12.3 Building .NET 1.1 Assemblies in MSBuild with MSBee 

       12.4 Extending MSBuild Capabilities with MSBuild Community Tasks 

       12.5 Managing Your Build Process Visually with MSBuild Sidekick 

       12.6 Shortening the Development Cycle with CruiseControl.NET 

       12.7 Easing the Burden of Implementing a Continuous Integration   Process with CI Factory 

       12.8 Simplifying Web Application Deployments with Unleash It 

       12.9 Easing Web Application Deployments with Web Deployment   Projects 

       12.10 Creating a Setup Project with WiX 

       12.11 For More Information 
13. Boosting Team Collaboration

       13.1 Improving Team Communication and Collaboration   with Basecamp 

       13.2 Building Online Communities with Community Server 

       13.3 Creating a Blog with Subtext 

       13.4 Collaborating Online with FlexWiki 

       13.5 Driving Another PC Remotely via XP's Remote Assistance 

       13.6 Talking to Colleagues with Skype 

       13.7 Chatting with Anyone Using GAIM 

       13.8 Administering Team Foundation Users with the TFS   Administration Tool 

       13.9 For More Information 
14. Tracking Bugs, Changes, and Other Issues

       14.1 Implementing a Bare-Bones Defect Tracker with BugTracker.NET 

       14.2 Handling Mid-Sized Projects with CodeTrack 

       14.3 Running an Enterprise-Level Bug-Tracking System with Bugzilla 

       14.4 Managing a Project with Trac 

       14.5 For More Information 
Part IV. Troubleshooting Code and Applications
15. Troubleshooting and Debugging

       15.1 Monitoring File Access in Your System with Filemon 

       15.2 Identifying TCP Port and Endpoint Issues with TCPView 

       15.3 Seeing What's Being Accessed in Your Registry with Regmon 

       15.4 Getting a Better View of Processes on Your System   with Process Explorer 

       15.5 Digging into Your Program's CLR Interactions with PInvoke   and COM Using CLR SPY 

       15.6 Tracking Down Memory-Allocation Problems with CLR Profiler 

       15.7 Debugging Your Application After It's Been Deployed   with ClrDump 

       15.8 Debugging Hangs and Monitoring Processes with Managed   Stack Explorer 

       15.9 Examining HTTP Traffic with Fiddler 

       15.10 Identifying Network Problems with PingPlotter Freeware 

       15.11 Examining Logs with LogParser 

       15.12 Simplifying Debugging with Visual Studio 2005 Visualizers 

       15.13 Finding Bottlenecks with NProf 

       15.14 For More Information 
16. Using Decompilers and Obfuscators

       16.1 Examining Common Ground with ILDASM 

       16.2 Analyzing Assemblies with Reflector 

       16.3 Debugging .NET Assemblies Without Source Code Using Dotnet   IL Editor 

       16.4 Preventing Reverse-Engineering of Your Code with Dotfuscator 

       16.5 For More Information 
Part V. Code Tools
17. Tightening Up Your Security

       17.1 Analyzing Threats Your Application Faces with the Threat   Analysis & Modeling Tool 

       17.2 Protecting Your Communications with the Bouncy Castle   Cryptography APIs 

       17.3 Mitigating XSS Vulnerabilities with the Anti-Cross Site   Scripting Library 

       17.4 Highlighting Explorer Windows' Security Privileges Using PrivBar 

       17.5 Opening a Command Window with Admin Privileges   Using MakeMeAdmin.cmd 

       17.6 For More Information 
18. Building Your Application on Frameworks

       18.1 Reusing Professional Infrastructure with Enterprise Library 

       18.2 Creating Web Applications and Systems with DotNetNuke 

       18.3 Improving Smart Device Development with the Smart   Device Framework 

       18.4 Building and Deploying Cross-Platform .NET Applications   with Mono 

       18.5 Spelunking the Framework with Rotor 

       18.6 Simplifying Web Development with Castle MonoRail 

       18.7 Obtaining a Decoupled Architecture with the Castle   Windsor Container 

       18.8 Improving Your Code's Design and Testability   with PicoContainer.NET 

       18.9 For More Information 
19. Working with XML

       19.1 Transforming XML Documents with nxslt2 

       19.2 Displaying XML on the Web with eXml 

       19.3 Building Composite XML Documents with XInclude.NET 

       19.4 Referencing Part of an XML Document with XPointer.NET 

       19.5 Extending XSLT Processing with EXSLT.NET 

       19.6 Comparing and Unit Testing XML with XML Diff and Patch 

       19.7 For More Information 
Part VI. Working with Databases
20. Interacting with Databases

       20.1 Finding the Proper Connection String   with ConnectionStrings.com 

       20.2 Creating SQL Connection Strings Quickly with SQL Server   Connection String Builder 

       20.3 Administering SQLite Databases with the SQLite Administrator 

       20.4 Working with Oracle Inside Visual Studio with Oracle Developer   Tools 

       20.5 Managing Oracle Databases with Oracle SQL Developer 

       20.6 For More Information 
21. Exploring Object/Relational Mapping

       21.1 Mapping Objects to the Database with NHibernate (or How   to Stop Writing All That Data-Access Code) 

       21.2 Mapping Business Objects with NPersist 

       21.3 Easing the Burden of Creating O/RM Files with ObjectMapper 

       21.4 Simplifying Data Access with Castle ActiveRecord 

       21.5 For More Information 
Part VII. Miscellaneous
22. Enhancing Web Development

       22.1 Avoiding Web Headaches with the Web Developer Extension   for Firefox 

       22.2 Debugging Web Pages with the Web Developer Toolbar   for Internet Explorer 

       22.3 Diagnosing JavaScript and Ajax with Web Development Helper 

       22.4 Eliminating Memory Leaks in Internet Explorer with Drip 

       22.5 Debugging Web Pages at Runtime with DOM Helper 

       22.6 Checking Web Pages with the W3C Markup Validation Service 

       22.7 Checking Your Web Site's Accessibility with WebXACT 

       22.8 Cleaning Up Your HTML with HTML Tidy 

       22.9 For More Information 
23. Boosting Productivity with Windows Utilities

       23.1 Launching Tools and Web Sites Quickly with SlickRun 

       23.2 Spotlighting Content in Your Presentations with ZoomIt 

       23.3 Getting to the Right Detail with Magnifixer 

       23.4 Extracting Files from Windows Installer Packages   with Less MSIérables 

       23.5 Handling FTP More Efficiently with FileZilla 

       23.6 Opening a Shell Where You Need It with Command Prompt Here 

       23.7 Grabbing Screenshots with Cropper 

       23.8 Grabbing Color Values with ColorMania 

       23.9 Bringing .NET to the Command Line with PowerShell 

       23.10 Getting the Most out of PowerShell with PowerShell IDE 

       23.11 Managing and Switching Tasks with TaskSwitchXP 

       23.12 Keeping Data in Sync with SyncToy 

       23.13 Resolving Locking Problems with Unlocker 

       23.14 Bringing POSIX Emulation to Windows with Cygwin 

       23.15 For More Information 
Part VIII. Appendix
Common Tasks in Visual Studio 
Index