Recommended add-ons/plugins for Microsoft Visual Studio

Question

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

PVS-Studio Static Code Analyzer for C, C++ and C#: http://www.viva64.com/en/pvs-studio/ — , Nov 12 '16 at 17:24
Better remove. This is not actual. (> 5 yr and non constructive and not all exist any more) — Erik, Dec 08 '18 at 23:10

score 139 · Accepted Answer · edited May 07 '16 at 01:32

139

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.

edited May 07 '16 at 01:32

MeLikeyCode

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answered Sep 16 '08 at 18:17

David Negron

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The RedGreen plugin for DXCore is an alternative (obviously not as powerful) for TD.NET which provides a more intuitive (R#-like!) UI (nowhere near as powerful or complete, but does the job) – Ruben Bartelink May 19 '09 at 10:57
i think you should add "visual assist" to this answer.. – ufukgun Jul 24 '09 at 08:13
I can't believe you don't have reshareper in there !! – Hannoun Yassir Oct 14 '09 at 22:54
@Yassir great point. I recently switched from CodeRush to ReSharper. I'm totally digging how it helps with TDD (Test Driven Development) and refactoring. – David Negron Oct 16 '09 at 09:29
The reason I would consider Resharper is for great TDD support. It's painfully slow for everything else. – Sergey Akopov Jan 03 '11 at 17:30
And an analysis performance addon free on visual studio ? If this exist... – Mehdi Bugnard Mar 19 '13 at 16:03
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@MehdiBugnard are you referring to performance profiler's like JetBrains dotTrace http://www.jetbrains.com/profiler RedGate ANTS Performance Profiler http://www.red-gate.com/products/dotnet-development/ants-performance-profiler Telerik JustTrace http://www.telerik.com/products/memory-performance-profiler.aspx – David Negron Mar 21 '13 at 19:20
In case answer is not edited, Check AddIn Sorted by rating https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/site/search?sortBy=Ratings – Abhinav Galodha Jul 23 '15 at 02:29
Can I request the free tag to be specified? Whether it's free for personal use or free for commercial. – Zikato Feb 05 '18 at 08:34
You should check out this new extension(it is free) and maybe update your list [Netverest Tools on VS marketplace](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=Netverest.NetverestTools) for data querying and db insight. More info on [www.Netverest.com](http://Netverest.com/Tools) – Lukasz Cokot Jul 21 '18 at 10:28
"GhostDoc - (FREE) Simple code commenting tool" --- Not Free – David Jun 12 '19 at 10:36

score 98 · Answer 2 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:05

98

Not free, but ReSharper is definitely one recommendation.

answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:05

Michael Stum

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I like ReSharper but MAN does it take a dump on my visual studios performance. – mmcdole Oct 01 '08 at 21:40
Simucal: try putting your solutions on a RAM disk. Much better, escecially full-solution analysis. – Dmitri Nesteruk Dec 09 '08 at 17:40
5

I only saw performance going down with file over 2.5k lines. Otherwise it's fine... and 2.5k line is too much so it's a "features" that tell me that it must be in multiple file ;) – Patrick Desjardins Dec 09 '08 at 18:08
5

This tool is literally useless on larger projects. Performance degrades instantly. – Sergey Akopov Jan 03 '11 at 17:08
useless, literally performance pig – cd491415 Jul 11 '18 at 16:12

score 52 · Answer 3 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:26

52

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.

answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:26

graham.reeds

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I wrote a free tool which implements VAssistX's "open in workspace" and "header flip" features: http://www.humbug.net/vsxtool/ Even works with Visual Studio Express editions which didn't allow plugins. – Sam Mar 08 '16 at 08:44
If you could add the refactoring tools then that would be awesome:-) – graham.reeds Mar 08 '16 at 08:49
Haha unfortunately that was beyond the scope of what I wanted.. it would be awesome though. – Sam Mar 08 '16 at 22:49

score 35 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:26

35

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

answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:26

Brad Tutterow

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Open containing folder and using statements are already in VS2008 if I'm not mistaking – Boris Callens Jun 09 '09 at 11:09
Automatic Reorganized and Sorting using statements also comes with VS2008. The command name is Edit.RemoveAndSort – Andre Pena Jan 26 '10 at 03:31
@Andre PowerCommands will also do it when saving files, or do all files in a solution. I'm not sure the command will do it. – Rangoric May 12 '10 at 14:44
Open Containing Folder *for files* is not there even in VS2015 (let alone VS2008). – dotNET Jan 19 '16 at 16:00

Adam Lassek · Answer 5 · 2010-10-18T21:44:47.407

25

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.

edited Oct 18 '10 at 21:44

answered Aug 18 '08 at 19:01

Adam Lassek

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RockScroll is fantastic, barring all of the IDE crashes it introduces. :) – Gabriel Isenberg Oct 01 '08 at 21:21
I've never experienced that, but then again its probably not been well tested. – Adam Lassek Oct 01 '08 at 21:25
Never crashed on me either. I'd love to see this updated. – nportelli Oct 23 '08 at 12:57
Crashed on me, like, a million times. Way too unstable IMHO. – Dmitri Nesteruk Dec 09 '08 at 17:42
Yeah, same here too. Many crashes. To bad it isn't open-source. – LeonZandman Mar 13 '09 at 22:17
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Try MetalScroll!! It's better than Rockscroll : http://blog.andrei.rinea.ro/post/Improving-your-Visual-Studio-experience-MetaScroll.aspx – Andrei Rînea Oct 18 '10 at 19:16

score 20 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:00

20

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...

answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:00

Brian G Swanson

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Perhaps I'm missing something, but DXCore isn't free. – Sergey Akopov Jan 03 '11 at 17:12

score 18 · Answer 7 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:31

Resharper
Resharper MbUnit Test Runner Add-On
SQL Prompt for Database Projects (works inside your SQL Management Studio as well)
Ankh SVN 2.0+ for free SVN support (v1.x pales in comparison)
TeamCity plug-in to monitor your builds, personal builds, and bug tracking

score 15 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 21:22

15

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.

answered Aug 05 '08 at 21:22

Ray

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GhostDoc would get my vote if this question were "most-hated add-ons/plugins". I'd rather have no documentation than mindless documentation of the sort GhostDoc produces. – Ryan Lundy Oct 09 '09 at 20:52
It's not supposed to be the end of your documentation. It's just a starting point. I agree, just having the ghost doc documentation is pointless. – Ray Oct 11 '09 at 20:05
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But if you're *not* supposed to leave what GhostDoc produces, then what's the point? If you hit /// in VS, you automatically get the template for everything in your method/property/whatever. The only thing you don't get is the mindless GhostDoc-produced comments. – Ryan Lundy Oct 13 '09 at 02:34
"GhostDoc is a free" -- No requires registration and is now nagware – David Jun 12 '19 at 10:37

score 14 · Answer 9 · answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:30

14

+1 Visual Assist.

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

answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:30

Andrew Grant

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And you get nice refactoring options and a much nicer syntax highlighting too. – fmuecke Oct 02 '09 at 08:55

score 14 · Answer 10 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:09

14

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.

answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:09

Chris Farmer

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Personally I find the AnkhSVN free open-source plugin for Visual Studio to be perfectly adequate; I combine it with the VisualSVN Server. It might be worth comparing the two to see if VisualSVN adds enough value to justify the price. – Hydrargyrum Dec 08 '14 at 01:25

score 12 · Answer 11 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 18:53

12

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

answered Sep 16 '08 at 18:53

Wavel

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It's not a plugin or addin for VS.. nevertheless it's a very good program. – Anheledir Sep 16 '08 at 18:59
but it has a plugin on http://code.google.com/p/linqpadvisualizer/ :) – Robert Ivanc Dec 05 '10 at 01:28

score 11 · Answer 12 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 18:25

11

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

answered Sep 16 '08 at 18:25

Thomas Koschel

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Pat · Answer 13 · 2008-08-05T20:23:36.720

9

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.

edited Aug 05 '08 at 20:23

answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:05

Pat

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score 9 · Answer 14 · edited Sep 06 '10 at 04:28

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!

score 8 · Answer 15 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 20:04

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.

score 8 · Answer 16 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 08:13

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.

score 7 · Answer 17 · answered Dec 09 '08 at 18:15

7

ViEmu

vi/vim support inside VS

answered Dec 09 '08 at 18:15

Glennular

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Before finding this, I was forced to alt-tab between Vim and VS, as I couldn't be without the power of vi. ViEmu was a lifesaver! – Dan Mar 18 '10 at 14:47
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[VsVim](https://visualstudiogallery.msdn.microsoft.com/59ca71b3-a4a3-46ca-8fe1-0e90e3f79329/) is also a great vim "emulator" for VS, and it's open source. – jurgenb Oct 29 '15 at 15:52
VSVim has gotten much better since 2008, it is a good free alternative – Glennular Nov 02 '15 at 20:50

Steve Gury · Answer 18 · 2008-08-31T12:43:51.537

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+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.

edited Aug 31 '08 at 12:43

answered Aug 31 '08 at 11:38

Steve Gury

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score 5 · Answer 19 · edited Feb 15 '16 at 11:47

5

Try MetalScroll!! It's better than Rockscroll

edited Feb 15 '16 at 11:47

Chris

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answered Oct 18 '10 at 19:17

Andrei Rînea

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I use MetalScroll too. It's really quite amazing how such a simple concept can help sooooo much. WIth just a glance you instinctively know where you are in a file, something akin to a mental map of your neighborhood. – Allbite Oct 19 '10 at 02:31
[OFF] Metal (almost)always better than Rock \m/ [ON] – Feralheart Mar 12 '17 at 17:33

score 5 · Answer 20 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 12:54

5

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.

answered Sep 09 '08 at 12:54

Paulius

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score 5 · Answer 21 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:45

5

Consolas font Free font from MS designed for reading code.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:45

Seth Morris

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That font was used designed for reading code? Funnily enough, I find it the best font for programming/Visual Studio. Thanks for the knowledge. – GurdeepS May 14 '09 at 22:48

score 4 · Answer 22 · answered Aug 05 '08 at 21:55

4

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.

answered Aug 05 '08 at 21:55

Ishmaeel

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score 4 · Answer 23 · answered Aug 28 '08 at 17:19

4

MZTools is great too.

answered Aug 28 '08 at 17:19

Scott Dorman

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score 4 · Answer 24 · answered Sep 06 '08 at 05:44

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+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 ;)

answered Sep 06 '08 at 05:44

moobaa

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score 4 · Answer 25 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 12:09

Microsoft StyleCop provides code style checking for C#, we use it all the time and love it (free)
Axialis IconWorkshop has a Visual Studio add-in which is now free for VS2008 users.
Resharper Yes another vote, because I can't upvote everyone who suggests it :)
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.

score 4 · Answer 26 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:44

4

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

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:44

Michael Burr

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score 4 · Answer 27 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:00

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/

Jason Williams · Answer 28 · 2011-05-01T22:26:09.600

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)

Rodney Schuler · Answer 29 · 2009-02-23T16:11:01.430

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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?"

edited Feb 23 '09 at 16:11

answered Oct 02 '08 at 18:53

Rodney Schuler

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score 3 · Answer 30 · edited Jan 15 '15 at 16:04

3

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.

edited Jan 15 '15 at 16:04

Luke Girvin

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answered Sep 15 '08 at 11:33

Joel in Gö

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NDepend is not free. The only free thing about it is the 14-day trial period. – Luminous Feb 02 '15 at 17:52
true, not free anymore, but easily worth the price. – Joel in Gö Feb 03 '15 at 16:19

score 2 · Answer 31 · answered May 04 '12 at 21:14

2

JustDecompile from telerik. Now that Reflector is no longer free. Its a necessity when digging through supplied libraries.

answered May 04 '12 at 21:14

BozoJoe

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score 2 · Answer 32 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

2

We've covered this on this question: What is your favorite Visual Studio add-in/setting?

edited May 23 '17 at 12:26

Community

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answered Sep 21 '08 at 23:28

sontek

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score 2 · Answer 33 · answered Apr 15 '10 at 13:57

I found Code Rocket to be very useful - http://www.getcoderocket.com/

From their website: "Code Rocket is an innovative tool that reveals the inner workings of C#, ... and C/C++ code, for Visual Studio... It makes documentation a seamlessly integrated part of the software development process, plugging directly into your development IDE with minimal overheads, delivering powerful benefits from day one."

score 2 · Answer 34 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 18:51

2

A lot of the mentioned Addins are used by me on a regular basis. Here are just a few I I estimate, too:

All three are free and highly recommended (by me).

answered Sep 16 '08 at 18:51

Anheledir

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score 2 · Answer 35 · edited Jul 27 '22 at 14:03

2

I 2nd VisualAssist, been using it since V6, can't live without it...

I see no one has mentiond CoolCommands: Link

Great set of time savers...

edited Jul 27 '22 at 14:03

Glorfindel

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answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:20

Scott Dillman

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score 2 · Answer 36 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:44

2

definetly +1 for VisualAssistX (cannot work without it anymore & it's worth all the money) and +1 for VisualSVN

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:44

t0mt0m72

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score 2 · Answer 37 · answered Sep 18 '08 at 16:20

2

Visual Assist: you cannot live without it!

answered Sep 18 '08 at 16:20

ugasoft

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score 1 · Answer 38 · answered Sep 07 '09 at 03:46

1

My favorite would be the one I work on - Goanna. :)

http://www.redlizards.com/

C/C++ static analysis - it helps find bugs.

answered Sep 07 '09 at 03:46

David Crawshaw

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score 1 · Answer 39 · answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:12

1

I like ReSharper, too! It's affordable if you're a student or otherwise connected to an university.

For interaction with SVN I'll prefer AnkhSVN.

.. and of course for connecting to TeamFoundation Server there's the Visual Studio Team Explorer

answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:12

Gerhard Dinhof

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score 1 · Answer 40 · answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:20

Dispatch for FTP is what Copy Web Site should have been.

This just came out but I like it a lot: Mindscape File Explorer

VisualSVN is excellent for SVN integration. Much better than Ankh (have not tried Ankh 2+ though)

SonicFileFinder for looking up files or classes quickly. Supports searching just the upper case parts of a camel-cased type name

Web Deployment Projects by Microsoft for precompiling web site projects

score 1 · Answer 41 · answered Dec 17 '09 at 14:20

Here a few I didn't find (or spot) mentioned:

ASPXEditHelper (a must have for ASP.NET devs)
MouseGestures
CodeKeep
KNOCKS
Git Extensions

Someone mentioned SQL Prompt so I'll add SQL Assistant (similar price, but does a lot more)

Very few people mentioned DPack which is free and absolutely awesome.

Also, really get ReSharper or something similar (it will pay many times over). Bare VS just does not "compare" ;-)

Enjoy your coding!

score 1 · Answer 42 · answered Dec 17 '09 at 14:29

Build Version Increment (GPL) gives you (nearly) everything you need for controlling the version of your assemblies.

Some Features (copied from the site):

Different auto increment styles can be set per major, minor, build or revision number.
Supports C#, VB.NET and C++.NET projects.
Not required to be installed by all project members. Configuration is shared via properties in the solution and project files. Developers who don't have the addin won't feel a thing.
Automatically checks out required files if under source control.
Can be configured per solution and/or per project.
Can be configured to update only on certain configuration builds (debug, release, any or custom)
Can update assembly attributes in an external source file instead of the default AssemblyInfo.

score 1 · Answer 43 · answered Aug 25 '08 at 12:28

1

I use a lot the Fogbguz plug in but well you need to use Fogbugz first !!!

answered Aug 25 '08 at 12:28

Jedi Master Spooky

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score 1 · Answer 44 · edited Jul 24 '22 at 14:03

1

I just found this rather large list of addins:

http://geekswithblogs.net/brians/archive/2008/05/12/122087.aspx

edited Jul 24 '22 at 14:03

Glorfindel

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answered Aug 28 '08 at 18:15

Gern Blanston

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score 1 · Answer 45 · answered Dec 02 '08 at 11:06

1

Here is my list:

Microsoft StyleCop (code analysis)
JetBrains dotTrace (application profiling)
Typemock Isolator (mocking in unit tests)
Roland Weigelt's GhostDoc (code documentation)

answered Dec 02 '08 at 11:06

Enrico Campidoglio

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score 1 · Answer 46 · answered Dec 09 '08 at 17:53

For C# development I use:

ReSharper, heavily customized and with a couple dozen custom actions I wrote (not to mention weird but wonderful Live Templates)
GhostDoc - very useful for postprocessing of generated code
Source Code Outliner
P/factor (a set of internally developed code gen tools for VS) - see example here
CodeGenUtils - another internal dev for code generation, available on CodePlex
SharpWizard - a VS add-in for rapid prototyping. Supports advanced generation of interface support, operators, patterns, metadata.
Dependency Analyser - a really nifty tool (another internal dev.) for identifying dependencies between CLR properties. Useful for autogenerating change notifications based on dependency graphs.

In addition to these, I also have a couple of DSL graphical designers for the particularly difficult scenarios - for example, I have a DSL for complex multithreaded operations that are implemented using Pulse & Wait.

score 1 · Answer 47 · answered Sep 04 '08 at 11:45

1

+1 for VisualSVN being better than AnkhSVN, having tried both, and +1 for the FogBugz Add-in.

answered Sep 04 '08 at 11:45

mpdaly

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Lukas Šalkauskas · Answer 48 · 2008-09-09T12:02:40.687

1

Ghost Docs

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.

edited Sep 09 '08 at 12:02

answered Sep 09 '08 at 11:57

Lukas Šalkauskas

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score 1 · Answer 49 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

1

KingsTools is also a nice collection of macros containing:

Run Doxygen
Insert Doxygen comments
Build Solution stats
Dependency Graph
Inheritance Graph
Swap .h<->.cpp
Colorize
} End of
region/#endregion for c++
Search the web

edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Community

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answered Sep 09 '08 at 12:20

score 1 · Answer 50 · answered Apr 07 '09 at 22:32

1

I don't fancy the Visual Studio bookmarks so I use DPACK to get the same kind of bookmarks as the Delph IDE provides.

http://www.usysware.com/dpack/

answered Apr 07 '09 at 22:32

Martin Liesén

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score 1 · Answer 51 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:51

Guidance Explorer

Guidance packages integrate into VS as Snippets, projects, and project templates. They provide a way to collect and reuse patterns, code, and How To answers. You can create guidance for your team and you can download the guidance packages coming out of the Patterns and Practices group at MS.

score 1 · Answer 52 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:55

1

Definitely Resharper.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:55

Craig Fisher

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score 1 · Answer 53 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:58

1

Not really an addon inside VS, but one every VS use needs: Code Preview Handler Provides a preview handler with syntax highlighting for source files. The handler works in the Explorer preview pane and in the preview tab for attachments in Outlook.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:58

Seth Morris

37
3

score 1 · Answer 54 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:01

1

Source Monitor code analysis tool

Direct download link

answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:01

Seth Morris

37
3

Do you mean this Source Monitory? http://www.campwoodsw.com/sourcemonitor.html – torial Apr 14 '09 at 17:10

score 1 · Answer 55 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:07

1

Resharper. It's the best productivity tool for any software engineer! TestDriven.Net is pretty good too. and GhostDoc.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:07

Dean Poulin

1,168
1
9
22

score 1 · Answer 56 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:16

1

VLINQ LINQPad is essential, but for quick stuff inside VS, VLINQ is great.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:16

Seth Morris

37
3

score 1 · Answer 57 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:18

1

Source Code Outliner Nice alternate view of your source files. It's the outliner from the code pane, but without all the code getting in the way of the structure.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:18

Seth Morris

37
3

score 1 · Answer 58 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 10:31

1

Refactor! Pro - Commercial. Free version available.
GhostDoc - Free
Comment Reflower - Free
Versioning Controlled Build - Free

answered Sep 17 '08 at 10:31

Kramii

8,379
4
32
38

"GhostDoc - Free" No It isnt its Nagware and requires registration and submital of info for marketing – David Jun 12 '19 at 10:38
Fair point. In fairness, earlier versions were more "free" than the latest version. IIRC they even published the source code at one time. – Kramii Jun 14 '19 at 09:06

score 1 · Answer 59 · answered Sep 18 '08 at 16:17

1

If vi/vim editing is your thang:

ViEmu for Visual Studio

If you want color-coded control-flow syntax-highlighting and graphical outlines:

Codekana

I'm the developer of these commercial tools.

answered Sep 18 '08 at 16:17

jonbho

215
1
7

score 0 · Answer 60 · answered Sep 20 '08 at 19:13

0

I know this is not a VS add-in but SSMS one anyway could be useful for anyone working with MSSQL.

Just for the case you wanna see more like this one check this post. Actually from ssmstoolspack creator.

answered Sep 20 '08 at 19:13

score 0 · Answer 61 · answered Aug 18 '08 at 18:59

Resharper (Agree it sucks you have to pay extra to get this, but well work the money)
GhostDoc (Takes away any excuse for not having comments in your code)
PowerCommands for VS 2008 (Forgot I even had this installed because it just adds a the little things that should have been there all along)

score 0 · Answer 62 · answered Mar 22 '10 at 14:16

0

Quick Open File is a plugin that, coming from an Eclipse background, I can't live without

http://kutny.net/vsopen/

No more digging through the solution explorer trying to find files

answered Mar 22 '10 at 14:16

Phil Hale

3,453
2
36
50

score 0 · Answer 63 · answered Dec 09 '08 at 17:38

While Visual SVN costs $50 or so, I strongly prefer it over AnkhSVN (which I last tried about a year ago - it may have improved since).

It's one of the easiest to sell to your boss if funding is an issue. (Thankfully we don't have to scratch and claw to get good tools where I work.)

score 0 · Answer 64 · answered Jan 04 '09 at 10:40

0

one that I wrote http://www.codeplex.com/lazy

answered Jan 04 '09 at 10:40

Pablo Retyk

5,690
6
44
59

score 0 · Answer 65 · answered Sep 09 '08 at 12:25

0

In addition to the refactoring and source control tools listed here, AQTime is a great windows profiler. It can run as a plugin or stand-alone and it works with .NET and native code.

answered Sep 09 '08 at 12:25

Luther Baker

7,236
13
46
64

score 0 · Answer 66 · answered Sep 12 '08 at 10:12

0

XPathmania is a good little tool for writing and testing XPath queries.

answered Sep 12 '08 at 10:12

David

14,047
24
80
101

Seth Morris · Answer 67 · 2008-09-16T20:22:08.117

0

A better Addin Manager

edited Sep 16 '08 at 20:22

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:36

Seth Morris

37
3

Seth Morris · Answer 68 · 2008-09-16T20:22:27.557

0

Project MRU editor

edited Sep 16 '08 at 20:22

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:37

Seth Morris

37
3

Seth Morris · Answer 69 · 2008-09-16T20:21:33.393

0

CodePlotter and CodePlotter Remixed

edited Sep 16 '08 at 20:21

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:39

Seth Morris

37
3

score 0 · Answer 70 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:43

Code Style Enforcer Lets you define a .NET code style (with some degree of flexibility) and underlines violations. Has context-menu options to change the code to match the style. Requires DXCore, which is linked from the Code Style Enforcer page. Both are free.

Seth Morris · Answer 71 · 2008-09-16T20:20:45.907

0

PInvoke.NET addon Menu to search for pre-written P/Invoke code. Much easier than working out the marshalling code yourself, especially when there are nasty unions and alignment requirements.

edited Sep 16 '08 at 20:20

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:54

Seth Morris

37
3

score 0 · Answer 72 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:54

0

If you are looking for a better code editor, vim comes with VisVim, a plugin to replace the VS code editor with vim.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 19:54

baudtack

29,062
9
53
61

score 0 · Answer 73 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:20

0

VS Command Shell Command shell in the Output pane. Far from perfect, but often very, very useful. Faster and easier to get to than a separate cmd and has easier copy/paste support.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:20

Seth Morris

37
3

score 0 · Answer 74 · answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:23

0

Spell Checker for comments is a godsend. GhostDoc is great for making well documented APIs.

answered Sep 16 '08 at 20:23

Rick Minerich

3,078
19
29

score 0 · Answer 75 · answered Sep 17 '08 at 08:48

0

TracExplorer is cool for integrating Trac with VS.

answered Sep 17 '08 at 08:48

Mladen Mihajlovic

6,095
7
40
55

score 0 · Answer 76 · answered May 18 '09 at 03:57

0

DevExtra - but I'm biased cause I wrote it :)

http://www.toptensoftware.com/devextra/

It's a bit old now (has its origins in VC6) and mostly oriented towards C++ developers but its free and I still use it every day.

answered May 18 '09 at 03:57

Brad Robinson

44,114
19
59
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score 0 · Answer 77 · answered Sep 18 '08 at 16:24

It's not a Visual Studio add in, but it is a tool that I couldn't use Visual Studio without it...

ClipX - it's works with the normal clipboard, but saves the entries to a searchable list, you can use copy and paste as ususal, but you can hit CTRL+SHIFT+V and the list pops up. It works with images, text, etc. It even persists after you reboot your computer.

Recommended add-ons/plugins for Microsoft Visual Studio

77 Answers77

region/#endregion for c++

Linked