4 ms·

Visual Studio Add-Ins (Poll Result)

25 points by johnastuntz 16y ago

mootothemax 16y ago
Part of me has always been kinda surprised that Microsoft haven't bought ReSharper from JetBrains and integrated it as a special add-in for the Ultimate branch of Visual Studio. Interesting reading nonetheless, the original post has some good comments: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mikeormond/archive/2010/09/03/msdn-flash-poll-7-visual-studio-add-ins.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mikeormond/archive/2010/09/03/msdn-f...
- AndrewDucker 16y ago
  Yeah, I am also astounded that the refactoring tools in VS haven't been massively beefed up.
  - bruceboughton 16y ago
    VS2010 is a step in that direction.
    - rodh257 16y ago
      yep, I remember seeing a few discussions around 'do I really need Resharper with Visual Studio 2010?' because they added a whole bunch of functionality that Resharper had. In fact it prompted this: http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/documentation/comparisonMatrix_R5.html http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/documentation/comparisonM...
      - AndrewDucker 16y ago
        Yeah, as that makes clear, Resharper is still staggeringly better.
yread 16y ago
I think that Resharper is too bloated and instable. I use only Metascroll (a continuation of Rockscroll) for a fancy scrollbar and highlighting of intersting stuff in source.
- thebigshane 16y ago
  Slight correction: MetalScroll, not MetaScroll link: http://code.google.com/p/metalscroll/ http://code.google.com/p/metalscroll/
- bruceboughton 16y ago
  There are an awful lot of people who swear by Resharper. If that's all you've replaced it with, it's likely you've not sampled all of the power it gives you. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
  - henrikschroder 16y ago
    When I used Visual Studio 2003, Resharper was necessary to get anything done. When I used Visual Studio 2005, Resharper added a bunch of nice features that made it more pleasant. Now, when I'm using Visual Studio 2008, I no longer use ReSharper, since most of the functionality is native. There are a few features I miss, but to me they didn't motivate the longer startup times and general sluggishness that Resharper unfortunately adds.
    - gokhan 16y ago
      How do you replace Navigate functionality of Resharper in native 2008? (in IntelliJ IDEA keyboard layout) Ctrl+N Go to Type Ctrl+Shift+N Go to File Ctrl+F12 Go to Member These three bindings alone can make any developer 2-3x productive in daily coding activities.
      - arethuza 16y ago
        Three times more productive?
rbanffy 16y ago
One plugin that would be really useful would be a source verifier that alerts you when your code won't run on, say, a given version of .NET or Mono.
- javery 16y ago
  MoMA kind of does that - http://www.mono-project.com/MoMA http://www.mono-project.com/MoMA
  - rbanffy 16y ago
    Cool. Now we need one for Xcode that warns when code won't compile/run on GNUStep
bfung 16y ago
I've been using visual studio quite awhile now, and am still appalled that there is not good integration with any source control system. Subversion is only 3%!? Shouldn't every coder use source control? TFS doesn't count when CVS, SVN, hg, and git are all free and widely spread. VSS doesn't count either =P The subversion plugins are ok at best. ReSharper adds a lot of features to VS that is standard in Eclipse and IntelliJ in the Java world, hence many people love ReSharper, esp transplants from the Java world.
- rodh257 16y ago
  visualSVN is good and AnkhSVN is a decent free one. I've never placed a massive priority on source control integration to the IDE though, TortoiseSVN does fine for me. What workflow do you use that requires it to be integrated into the IDE, or is it just a convenience thing?
- kylechafin 16y ago
  I've been using the VisualSVN plugin for the past few years and have found it to be really pleasant. It's $50, but it's been well worth it for me. http://visualsvn.com/ http://visualsvn.com/ Alternatively, it sounds like AnhkSVN has been making some great strides lately, but a bad experience with it several years back has kept me away from it. They're free, so they might be worth checking out as well. http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/ http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/
- city41 16y ago
  Visual Studio has built in hooks for adding in source control support. It's not really MS's fault that few take advantage of this. Whenever you create a solution one option is "add to source control", it's up to your current source control extension to take and run with it if you do check that box. In Tools > Options > Source Control, you can choose your source control plugin. With that said, I never use source control within Visual Studio. I always have good ol' bash running git off to the side. I much prefer my IDE not know nor try to do too much, it often ends up in disaster.
- henrikschroder 16y ago
  The problem is that version control system integration in VS itself is usually worse than the same integration in the regular filesystem explorer. If they only could get something that is on par with what Eclipse has I'd be very happy.

25 points by johnastuntz 16y ago

Part of me has always been kinda surprised that Microsoft haven't bought ReSharper from JetBrains and integrated it as a special add-in for the Ultimate branch of Visual Studio. Interesting reading nonetheless, the original post has some good comments: http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mikeormond/archive/2010/09/03/msdn-flash-poll-7-visual-studio-add-ins.aspx http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mikeormond/archive/2010/09/03/msdn-f...

AndrewDucker 16y ago
Yeah, I am also astounded that the refactoring tools in VS haven't been massively beefed up.
- bruceboughton 16y ago
  VS2010 is a step in that direction.
  - rodh257 16y ago
    yep, I remember seeing a few discussions around 'do I really need Resharper with Visual Studio 2010?' because they added a whole bunch of functionality that Resharper had. In fact it prompted this: http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/documentation/comparisonMatrix_R5.html http://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/documentation/comparisonM...
    - AndrewDucker 16y ago
      Yeah, as that makes clear, Resharper is still staggeringly better.

yread 16y ago

I think that Resharper is too bloated and instable. I use only Metascroll (a continuation of Rockscroll) for a fancy scrollbar and highlighting of intersting stuff in source.

thebigshane 16y ago
Slight correction: MetalScroll, not MetaScroll link: http://code.google.com/p/metalscroll/ http://code.google.com/p/metalscroll/
bruceboughton 16y ago
There are an awful lot of people who swear by Resharper. If that's all you've replaced it with, it's likely you've not sampled all of the power it gives you. Feel free to correct me if I am wrong.
- henrikschroder 16y ago
  When I used Visual Studio 2003, Resharper was necessary to get anything done. When I used Visual Studio 2005, Resharper added a bunch of nice features that made it more pleasant. Now, when I'm using Visual Studio 2008, I no longer use ReSharper, since most of the functionality is native. There are a few features I miss, but to me they didn't motivate the longer startup times and general sluggishness that Resharper unfortunately adds.
  - gokhan 16y ago
    How do you replace Navigate functionality of Resharper in native 2008? (in IntelliJ IDEA keyboard layout) Ctrl+N Go to Type Ctrl+Shift+N Go to File Ctrl+F12 Go to Member These three bindings alone can make any developer 2-3x productive in daily coding activities.
    - arethuza 16y ago
      Three times more productive?

rbanffy 16y ago

One plugin that would be really useful would be a source verifier that alerts you when your code won't run on, say, a given version of .NET or Mono.

javery 16y ago
MoMA kind of does that - http://www.mono-project.com/MoMA http://www.mono-project.com/MoMA
- rbanffy 16y ago
  Cool. Now we need one for Xcode that warns when code won't compile/run on GNUStep

bfung 16y ago

I've been using visual studio quite awhile now, and am still appalled that there is not good integration with any source control system. Subversion is only 3%!? Shouldn't every coder use source control? TFS doesn't count when CVS, SVN, hg, and git are all free and widely spread. VSS doesn't count either =P The subversion plugins are ok at best. ReSharper adds a lot of features to VS that is standard in Eclipse and IntelliJ in the Java world, hence many people love ReSharper, esp transplants from the Java world.

rodh257 16y ago
visualSVN is good and AnkhSVN is a decent free one. I've never placed a massive priority on source control integration to the IDE though, TortoiseSVN does fine for me. What workflow do you use that requires it to be integrated into the IDE, or is it just a convenience thing?
kylechafin 16y ago
I've been using the VisualSVN plugin for the past few years and have found it to be really pleasant. It's $50, but it's been well worth it for me. http://visualsvn.com/ http://visualsvn.com/ Alternatively, it sounds like AnhkSVN has been making some great strides lately, but a bad experience with it several years back has kept me away from it. They're free, so they might be worth checking out as well. http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/ http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/
city41 16y ago
Visual Studio has built in hooks for adding in source control support. It's not really MS's fault that few take advantage of this. Whenever you create a solution one option is "add to source control", it's up to your current source control extension to take and run with it if you do check that box. In Tools > Options > Source Control, you can choose your source control plugin. With that said, I never use source control within Visual Studio. I always have good ol' bash running git off to the side. I much prefer my IDE not know nor try to do too much, it often ends up in disaster.
henrikschroder 16y ago
The problem is that version control system integration in VS itself is usually worse than the same integration in the regular filesystem explorer. If they only could get something that is on par with what Eclipse has I'd be very happy.