Development Tools

December 17, 2007

Every developer has a set of tools, books and websites that they rely upon for help in their quest to build quality software.  I thought there might be some folks out there doing SolidWorks API programming/development that would appreciate finding out tools other developers are using.  Hence, this post.

Below is a partial list of some of the tools that I rely on.  I hope you find something that is useful to you.  You may also have some tools that you rely upon that might benefit the rest of us.  If so, then let us know with a comment.  I will be posting a list of books and websites that I use also.

  • Analysis
    • FxCop - This is one of the most useful tools out there for .NET development.  If you have ever wondered if you were designing/coding your .NET application in the “best” manner, then this tool is for you.  FxCop is a static code analysis tool that checks your .NET application for adherence to Microsoft’s best practices for .NET.  Implement the iDisposable interface incorrectly and FxCop will let you know about it.  It is hard to overstate the usefulness of this tool.  One word of warning though, it has a little C# bias (just like everything else Microsoft puts out for .NET) but it is still a great tool.
  • Regular Expressions
    • Espresso - Espresso is a regular expression editor/designer that greatly simplifies the process of creating the correct .NET regular expressions for text matching / replacing.  I don’t know what I ever did without this tool.  Note:  There is also an (unrelated) email client called Espresso.
  • XML
    • XMLNotepad - XMLNotepad is an open-source XML/XSL editor that is put by Microsoft (I swear it!).  An XML/XSL editor is a must have for anyone that spends much time working with XML and although there are many tools out there (e.g. Oxygen, etc…), XMLNotepad is my favorite due to its sheer simplicity.  You can also download the source code and make it work however you want.  I have a real job and therefore no time to screw off on open source projects so I just use the OOTB tool.  It has worked great for me.
  • Process Tools
    • Process Explorer - ProcessExplorer is a nifty little tool that will tell you what files, registry keys and other objects processes have open, which DLLs they have loaded, and more. This uniquely powerful utility will even show you who owns each process.
    • Process Monitor - ProcessMonitor allows you to monitor the file system, Registry, process, thread and DLL activity in real-time. It is also a very easy tool to use.  Check it out.
    • Handle - Handle is a basic, command-line utility will show you what files are open by which processes, and much more 
  • System Tools
    •  Autoruns - Autoruns is a utility that shows you what programs are configured to startup automatically when your system boots and you login. Autoruns also shows you the full list of Registry and file locations where applications can configure auto-start settings. 
  • Database Tools
    • SQLServer Express - If you need a database application for a website or client application that isn’t going to be hit by more than 10 clients simultaneously and want a free database then SQLServer Express is your man.  It is just like the pay version of SQLServer but with limits on database size and concurrent connections.  If you are a hobbyist developer or a developer for a small company then SQLServer Express is more than likely the way to go.  If you outgrow it, then it is very easy to upgrade to the regular SQLServer and for your code you will likely only have to change the connection string.  And did I mention it was free?

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Posted by Jeff Cope | Filed Under General 

Comments

One Response to “Development Tools”

  1. Barry on December 26th, 2007 1:41 pm

    thanks for the tools info, I am definately going to check it out!

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