Recommended add-ons/plugins for Microsoft Visual Studio [closed]

StackOverflow https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2767

  •  08-06-2019
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Question

Can anyone recommend any good add-ons/plugins for Microsoft Visual Studio? Freebies are preferred, but if it is worth the cost then that's fine.

Was it helpful?

Solution

SmartPaster - (FREE) Copy/Paste code generator for strings

AnkhSvn - (FREE) SVN Source Control Integration for VS.NET

VisualSVN Server - (FREE) Source Control

ReSharper - IDE enhancement that helps with refactoring and productivity

CodeRush - Code gen macros on steroids

Refactor - Code refactoring aid

CodeMaid (FREE) - Code cleanup, organization and complexity analysis

CodeSmith - Code Generator

GhostDoc - (FREE) Simple code commenting tool

DXCore (FREE) and its many awesome plugins: DxCore Community Plugins, CR_Documentor, CodeStyleEnforcer, RedGreen

TestDriven.Net - (FREE/PAY) Unit Testing Aid

Reflector - (PAY) Feature rich .Net Disassembler Reflector AddIn's

Web Deployment Projects - Provides additional functionality to build and deploy Web sites and Web applications (source).

StudioTools - (FREE) Navigation assistant, code metrics tool, incremental search, file explorer in visual studio and tear off editor windows. Moved from old site (archive.org) to new site and discontinued.

OTHER TIPS

Not free, but ReSharper is definitely one recommendation.

Whole Tomato's Visual Assist X. I absolutely swear by it. I would like to see a better plug in for Lint than Visual Lint by Riverblade, but since that will eventually be moved onto the build server I don't mind running it every couple of days manually.

PowerCommands is a Microsoft-created plugin that offers a variety of new features that one would think probably should have been in Visual Studio in the first place.

These include

  • Copying/Pasting project references!
  • "Open Containing Folder" to jump straight to the hard-drive location of a file or project
  • Automatic reorganizig and sorting of using statements
  • "Open Command Prompt Here" to open a command prompt in any of your project folders.
  • Collapse Projects

RockScroll is awesome, and free.

Addendum

As @Andrei points out, MetalScroll is a better alternative. It's Open Source, and corrects some annoying things about RS.

I'm a big fan of CodeRush and Refactor! Pro by DevExpress. I've been using them for a number of years, and without a doubt it makes me a faster developer. Also, both are built on a free framework called DXCore that allows you to develop your own plug-ins for Visual Studio, and the sky is the limit there...

I find Ghost Doc to be very useful.

GhostDoc is a free add-in for Visual Studio that automatically generates XML documentation comments for C#. Either by using existing documentation inherited from base classes or implemented interfaces, or by deducing comments from name and type of e.g. methods, properties or parameters.

If you use SVN for source control, definitely get VisualSVN. It enables TortoiseSVN interactions from within the Visual Studio IDE.

I also echo the Resharper comment. Retail price is a little steep, but if you're a student or otherwise educationally affiliated, it's actually pretty cheap.

+1 Visual Assist.

It's unfortunate that you need a plugin to get really good intellisense but it's definitely worth paying for.

LinqPad is great for testing linq to objects/xml/sql. Free download.

What about IncrediBuild? This is a nice distributed build system with visual studio integration.

Clipboard Manager

Maintains your clipboard data through removal of lines, a few other nice items but that one alone makes me happy.

Regionerate

While some have problems with regions I think if you use them, this tool is for you. Automatically region'izes your code into appropriate region blocks. Fully configurable for custom items etc.

VSCommands 2010

from the website: Latest version supports:

  • Manage Reference Paths
  • Prevent accidental Drag & Drop in Solution Explorer
  • Prevent accidental linked file delete
  • Apply Fix (automatically fix build errors/warnings)
  • Open PowerShell
  • Show Assembly Details
  • Create Code Contract
  • Cancel Build when first project fails
  • Debug Output - custom formatting
  • Build Output - custom formatting
  • Search Output - custom formatting
  • Configure WPF Rendering
  • Configure Fusion Logs
  • Configure IE for debugging
  • Locate Source File
  • Thumbnails in IDE Navigator
  • Extended support for xaml, aspx, css, js and html files
  • Disable Ctrl + Mouse Wheel Zoom
  • Zoom to Mouse Pointer
  • Configurability
  • Attach to local IIS
  • Copy Full Path
  • Build Startup Projects
  • Open Command Prompt
  • Search Online
  • Build Statistics
  • Group linked items
  • Copy/Paste Reference
  • Copy/Paste as Link
  • Collapse Solution
  • Group items directly from user interface (DependantUpon)
  • Open In Expression Blend
  • Locate in Solution
  • Edit Project File
  • Edit Solution File
  • Show All Files

and others, so try it now!

http://trolltech.com/products/qt/">Qt Cross-Platform Application Framework

Qt is a cross-platform application framework for desktop and embedded development. It includes an intuitive API and a rich C++ class library, integrated tools for GUI development and internationalization, and support for Java™ and C++ development

They have a plug-in for Visual Studio that costs a bit of money, but it is worth every penny.

I've been using Visual Assist X for nearly two years now, and I find it so useful I can honestly say that if my employer didn't provide it, I'd have to pay for it myself.
I also use Cool Commands and SlickEdit (the free version), whose File Explorer and Command Spy tools are quite useful.

+1 for Visual Assist And I will add VLH (Visual Local History) which provides a kind of local source control system. Every time you save a file, the plugin add a copy in the local repository.

ViEmu

vi/vim support inside VS

I found this site called Visual Studio Gallery - it has a lot of visual studio add-ins. I'm browsing it right now and I recommend everyone to visit it.

Consolas font Free font from MS designed for reading code.

Try MetalScroll!! It's better than Rockscroll

Sonic File Finder for when you have loads of files in your solutions and searching for them in the solution explorer becomes a pain in the wrist.

You might also find DPack interesting. Several tools and enhancements rolled into one neat package.

MZTools is great too.

+1 for CodeRush & Refactor Pro. I've been using CodeRush since its Delphi incarnations, and it's utterly wonderful. The mantra of "Code at the speed of thought" is very close to reality ;)

  1. Microsoft StyleCop provides code style checking for C#, we use it all the time and love it (free)
  2. Axialis IconWorkshop has a Visual Studio add-in which is now free for VS2008 users.
  3. Resharper Yes another vote, because I can't upvote everyone who suggests it :)
  4. Workspace Whiz for C++, I used to live by Workspace Whiz but haven't used it in VS2008 as I hadn't realised there was an update. Will have to give it a try again.

If you're doing C++ coding, hands down Visual Assist.

I love CopySourceAsToHTML as a cool little addin. It's great if you want to copy code blocks for blogging and the like while maintaining your syntax formatting.

I think this is still the url.. you have to do some manual work to set it up with 08. http://www.jtleigh.com/people/colin/software/CopySourceAsHtml/

For the laptop bound or for those with vi/vim key bindings burned into the brain I would recommend ViEmu.

If you have not tried editing with vi key bindings here is why you may want to try "Why, oh WHY, do those #?@! nutheads use vi?"

AtomineerUtils Pro Documentation - automatic DocXml/Doxygen/JavaDoc/Qt doc-comment generation/updating (similar to GhostDoc, but more powerful & flexible, and supports C#, C++, C++/CLI, C, Java and Visual Basic code).

The style of the generated comments is very configurable, and automatic re-formatting (such as whitespace control and word wrapping) can be optionally applied to keep the comments as readable as possible. It also has many helpers to allow users to read and convert most legacy doc-comments into any of the above formats.

(I'm the author, but I believe the above is an accurate and objective description. This add-in was free when this answer was first added, but to cover the costs of hosting, supporting, and continuing to improve the addin in monthly releases, it is now $10 with a 30-day free trial)

I'm always amazed that more people don't know about/use NDepend - it shows all dependencies at every level of your code, and will even draw pretty box and arrow pictures showing how confused your architecture really is :) Together with TestDriven.Net, I can't imagine working without it any more. Free/cheap.

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