Most Useful 20+ Visual Studio Add-ins

This is the list of the Visual Studio Add-ins, most of which are open source or free. I hope this list will help you to code more faster and effective. If there is not your favorite add-in in the below list, do not hesitate to add it as a comment.

• TestDriven.NET - makes it easy to run unit tests with a single click, anywhere in your Visual Studio solutions. It supports all versions of Microsoft Visual Studio .NET and it integrates with the best .NET development tools including NCover, NCoverExplorer, Reflector, TypeMock, dotTrace, NUnit, MbUnit, ZaneBug, MSBee & Team System.
• AnkhSVN - is a Visual Studio .NET addin for the Subversion version control system. It allows you to perform the most common version control operations directly from inside the VS.NET IDE. Not all the functionality provided by SVN is (yet) supported, but the majority of operations that support the daily workflow are implemented.
• C# Refactory - performs a large number of refactorings, allowing you to re-shape your c-sharp code as needs arise. Refactoring is an essential part of the extreme programming development approach. C# refactory enables you to automate many refactorings thus increasing the reliability and speed with which you can refactor your c-sharp code.
• 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.
• SharpTools is an extensible add-in to the Microsoft Visual Studio.NET development environment, and a software development kit (SDK) supporting the rapid development of further extensions which will run within SharpTools.
• Google Plugin - Search Google from Visual Studio .NET
• Resource Refactoring Tool - provides developers an easy way to extract hard coded strings from the code to resource files.
• BIDS Helper - A set of VS.Net add-ins that extend and enhance the functionality of the SQL Server BI Development Studio.
• Power Toys for Visual Studio - are small tools that provide aid to developer pain-points or assist in diagnosing development-related issues. In addition to providing support, the power toys are released as Microsoft Shared Source to provide sample code to real-world solutions and allow for collaborative-development.
• Koders IDE - enable software developers to perform Koders searches directly from within the Eclipse or Visual Studio development environments by extending the reach of the Koders.com open source code index to the desktop.
• Codekeep - Once you've downloaded and installed a CodeKeep add-in, you can manage your code snippets and search for other code snippets without ever having to leave Visual Studio.
• CodeShare - Add-in is a Visual Studio.NET plugin for sharing code snippets in an enterprise. It provides menu options within the IDE to contribute and find code snippets from a central repository.
• RSS Blog Reader - open source add-in and a full-featured RSS / Blog aggregator which integrates into the familiar dockable panes of the Visual Studio.NET IDE.
  
• csUnit is a free and open source unit testing tool for the .NET Framework. csUnit works with all .NET languages including C#, Visual Basic .NET, J#, and managed C++. It comes with a choice of command line, graphical user interface, and an addin for Visual Studio.
  
• Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio .NET - The Oracle Developer Tools for Visual Studio .NET (ODT) is a tightly integrated Add-in for Microsoft Visual Studio. Features are generate SQL scripts for Oracle schema, generate ASP.NET web applications with very little coding required, drag and drop and automatically generate .NET code, seamlessly step from your .NET code into your PL/SQL stored procedure code and back out again, etc...
• WSCF - A Free Visual Studio Add-In and Command Line Tool for ImprovedSchema-Based Contract-First Web Services Design and Programming
• ZipStudio - provides a means of zipping up complete or partial Visual Studio solutions and projects and associated files, directly from in Visual Studio itself.
• MySQL Developer Tools is a powerful add-in designed to simplify the MySQL database application development process. It integrates into Visual Studio and Delphi, making all database development and administration tasks available from your favorite IDE. It provides an easier way to explore and maintain existing databases, design compound SQL statements, query and manipulate data in different ways.
• Comment Reflower - is an Add-in for Visual Studio 2003 and 2005 to reflow the text in comments in source files to have even word wrapping. It does more than simply just wrapping all text in comment blocks.
• VSCmdShell - provides users with a shell window inside the Visual Studio IDE that can be used for Visual Studio commands as well. Current version allows user to use either Windows Command Shell (cmd.exe) or Windows PowerShell.
• IBM Database Add-ins - development Add-In and managed provider for the Microsoft .NET platform includes RAD features, DB2 database project, scripting wizards, and CLR stored procedures to simplify building DB2 applications using Visual Studio .NET.
  
• VSdocman is a tool for commenting and the quick automatic generation of class documentation from your C# and VB .NET source code files. It is ideal tool for you if you create .NET component, control, application, smart device or web site (ASP .NET) projects
  
• CopySourceAsHtml - An add-in for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 that allows you to copy source code, syntax highlighting, and line numbers as HTML. CSAH uses Visual Studio's syntax highlighting and font and color settings automatically.
• Codexchange - is an Visual Studio.NET add-in providing you with instant integrated access to an online repository of ready to use .NET code snippets
• ADO.NET Express - is an add-in for Visual Studio 2003 that automates common tasks of writing repetitive data access code. ADO.NET Express generates class methods for calling stored procedures and executing common types of SQL statements.
• VSTypeFinderAddin - for Visual Studio 2005 provides the possibility to search for all classes, structs, enums and delegates in a solution.
• AopDotNetAddIn - is a Visual Studio AddIn that provides the aspect oriented capabilities to the .Net languages (C#,VB.Net,J#), this AddIn was developed as a graduation project
• Reflector is the class browser, explorer, analyzer and documentation viewer for .NET. Reflector allows to easily view, navigate, search, decompile and analyze .NET assemblies in C#, Visual Basic and IL.

[Updated 25/07/2007]

• DPack– Free collection of VS .NET 2003 and 2005 tools. Brings tools designed for greatly increase developer’s productivity, automate repetitive processes and expand upon some of VS features.
• Regionerate (pronounced ri-jeh-neh-rate) is a new open-source tool for developers and team leaders that allows you to automatically apply layout rules on C# code.
• Consolas is intended for use in programming environments and other circumstances where a monospaced font is specified. All characters have the same width, like old typewriters, making it a good choice for personal and business correspondence. Optimizing the font specifically for ClearType allowed a design with proportions closer to normal text than traditional monospaced fonts like Courier. This allows for more comfortable reading of extended text on-screen.
• Project MRU Cleaner Add-In
• Explore In Windows Add-In for Visual Studio 2005

Resources and Articles on Visual Studio Add-in

• Creating Visual Studio .NET Add-Ins
• Bring Windows Desktop Search Into Visual Studio With Our Cool Add-In
• Creating a tool window add-in with Visual Studio 2005
• Addin Manager for VS 2002-2005
• A Custom Action for Deploying Visual Studio 2005 Add-in
• Tutorial : Creating Visual Studio Add-Ins
• Line Counter - Writing a Visual Studio 2005 Add-In
• A Visual Studio Add-In That Converts C# Code To Visual Basic
• Powertoys WebLog
• More Freeware SharpTools Plug-ins
• Visual Studio Add-in: Use Vista Search directly from Visual Studiot
• List of Microsoft Visual Studio Add-ins
• 
  

See Also;

1. J2EE vs ASP.NET vs PHP
2. ASP.NET AJAX Resources, Samples, Articles, Tutorials
3. What is Microsoft Silverlight? Silverlight Resources, Articles and Tutorials
   
4. SQL Injection Resources
5. Prevent robots from submitting data
   
6. Programming Handbooks and Cheatsheets

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