My Toolbox

Here are some the applications that make up my Toolbox:

Research and Development Tools

  • Lutz Roeder’s Reflector (Now Red Gate’s, but still free)
    Could not live without it! Reverse engineer any assembly. The ultimate documentation…
  • Microsoft Visual Studio
  • Resharper
    C# productivity and refactoring plugin for Visual Studio.

Web application development

  • Firebug – Firefox add-on
    Firebug integrates with Firefox to put a wealth of web development tools. You can edit, debug, and monitor CSS, HTML, and JavaScript live in any web page.
  • Pixel Perfect
    a Firebug extension that allows you to easily overlay a web composition (an image) on top of the developed HTML to see if you CSS is correct.
  • IE Developer Toolbar
    Like Firebug but for IE.
  • Fiddler
    Tool to enable debugging of the raw http-traffic between your browser and server.
  • IETester 
    IETester is a free WebBrowser that allows you to have the rendering and javascript engines of IE8 beta 2, IE7 IE 6 and IE5.5 on Vista and XP, as well as the installed IE in the same process. Many people still use IE6 and you would want to verify easily that you site looks good in both versions.

Testing

  • NUnit
  • VMware Workstation
  • Log4View
    Capture UDP log messages from EPiServer and other log4net sources.
  • Browsershots
    Browsershots makes screenshots of your web design in different browsers. It is a free open-source online service created by Johann C. Rocholl. When you submit your web address, it will be added to the job queue. A number of distributed computers will open your website in their browser. Then they will make screenshots and upload them to the central server here.

Editors

  • NotePad++
    I have used many different text editors over time but this one is my current favourite.
  • Regular Expression Workbench
  • Microsoft OneNote
  • SnagIt and Camtasia
    Nice tool for screen capture.

File & Network

  • FileZilla
    A clean FTP-client but we also use FileZilla  Server for as ftp-server instead of IIS poor implementation.
  • Unlocker
    Tells you what process that blocks you from deleting a file or folder. And it can also force a deletion! Nice.

Monitoring

  • WebSitePulse.com

Sourcecode Change and Configuration Managment (ALM)

  • Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
    I like the process integration with work items but you must be a rocket scientist to install it administer it. I have former Borland colleagues working on the dev team that ensures me that the 2010 version will be easier to install and have better SharePoint integration, etc.
  • TFS Power Tools
    I think that each client must have power tools installed installed since several vital functions are missing in the explorer release. How could you live without functions as tree-compare and Annotate (=blame)?
  • Scrum for Team System, Scrum Dashboard and TFS Web Access 
    Good process templates and tools to support the development process.
  • Subversion and TortoiseSVN
    Free and not the same hassel to install. This is what I use when I’m not at work.

Utilities

  • XP Pro IIS Admin
  • WireShark
    Wireshark is a network protocol analyzer for Unix and Windows. Excelent for protocol level analysis when things over the network does not behave.
  • Asterisk Key
    Forgot a password? But it is there – hidden under asterisk in the password box. This tool extract the secrets for you!
  • TreeSize (Free)
    Every hard disk is too small if you just wait long enough. TreeSize Free tells you where precious space has gone to.
  • LDAP Browser
    Excelent directory browsing tool to help you see the details. A must have if you want to see the real data return by you LDAP Server.

Guidelines