Free Online Course Authoring Tool from Microsoft Learning LCDS 2.5!

The Microsoft Learning Content Development System (LCDS) is a free tool that enables the Microsoft Learning community to create high-quality, interactive, online courses. The LCDS allows anyone in the Microsoft Learning community to publish e-learning courses by completing the easy-to-use LCDS forms that seamlessly generate highly customized content, interactive activities, quizzes, games, assessments, animations, demos, and other multimedia.

http://jpda.me/aiZnNw

Timesnapper!

I have been using this for the last few days and really love it.
http://www.timesnapper.com/

12 Absolutely and Insanely Essential Utilities For Programmers

This is a great article by Microsoft's Jess Liberty on some great unitlites every developer should have;
http://jpda.me/a04r4K

#1 ReSharper or CodeRush
#2 Fiddler and FireBug #3 Tortoise SVN
#4 TimeSnapper
#5 Instant VB….
#6 ExamDiff Pro
#7 AutoHotKey #8 Clipx
#9 Snip It Pro
#10 Evernote
#11 Mozy
#12 Mikago
#13 HTTrack

Free Useful web Tools for Developers

The following links are some great free tools

1.  Convert Files

Easily convert different file formats. You can convert images, download YouTube video and much more with this web tool.

http://www.convertfiles.com/

2.  Joongel

Are you a power searcher? Then this tool this for you. You simultaneously search different search engines in different categories. It can be very useful if you are doing an online research.

http://www.joongel.com/

3.  Quick Thumnail

Simply create thumbnails in different sizes right from your browser. You can upload an image from your computer or web directory and choose sizes of the thumbnails you want.

http://quickthumbnail.com/

4.  ScreenCastle

Free screen cast application very light weight.

http://screencastle.com/

5.  DevCheatSheet

Google for hours for cheat sheet you saw last week. You can find it in DevCheatSheets.com

http://devcheatsheet.com/

Class Designer PowerToys for Visual Studio 2010 is Released

Class Designer PowerToys for Visual Studio 2010 is released today! It provides a bunch of enhancements to Visual Studio 2010 Class Designe.
It has many cool features like pan/zoom window, floating properties window, fast navigation, etc. You could find the detailed feature list in its help document which is available on the desktop after the Class Designer PowerToys is installed.
Besides the binary, the source code is also available. You could extend the PowerToys easily.
This set of add-ins augments existing functionality in the Visual Studio Class Designer and the Distributed Systems Designers. It now supports Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio 2008 and Visual Studio 2010. The Design Tools Enhancements add-in provides a common set of features that can be used by both the Class Designer and the Distributed System Designers, such as pan/zoom window and rich formatting commands. The Class Designer Enhancements add-in provides additional functionality for the Visual Studio Class Designer, such as HTML export and nested type creation commands. This download includes all necessary source code and a Visual Studio project template for creating your own add-ins for the Visual Studiodesigners. The Class Designer is a developer productivity tool available in Visual Studio Standard Edition and above, which allows developers to easily visualize, design, refactor, and document their code. The Distributed System Designers enable software architects, operations managers, and developers to visually design service-oriented solutions and validate them at design time against their operational environments. The Distributed System Designers are a core component of Visual Studio Team Edition for Software Architects and the Visual Studio Team System.
http://modeling.codeplex.com/releases/view/49473

WCF Peer to Peer

I am working on a project that requires a modified peer to peer design and found the following links very helpful;

Peer To Peer Programming with WCF and .Net 3.5 by Amit Bahree and Chris Peiris

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc297274.aspx

Here are some great webcasts on Channel9 regarding the topic;

Peer to Peer Series Part 1: Intro to PNRP

Peer to Peer Series Part 2: Registering Names with PNRP API

Peer to Peer Series Part 3: Resolving Names Synchronously with the PNRP API

Peer to Peer Series Part 4: Resolving Peer Names Asynchronously

Peer to Peer Series Part 5: Direct Connect Peers via WCF

Peer to Peer Series Part 6: Introduction to PeerChannel

Peer to Peer Series Part 7: PeerChannel Basics

Peer to Peer Series: Sample WPF PNRP Application

Clipx, Great clipboard history tool!

http://bluemars.org/clipx/

Visual Studio 2010 Pro Power Tools Released!

Microsoft released this package that is a set of extensions to Visual Studio Professional (and above) which improves developer productivity.


http://bit.ly/alyr2C

Revision Notes

10.0.10608.1630

Fixed issue where Visual Studio may crash on startup on computers where proxies required user entered credentials.

Visual Studio 2010 Productivity Power Tools



A set of extensions to Visual Studio Professional (and above) which improves developer productivity.



Document Well 2010 Plus (More Info)

One of the key pieces of feedback that we have received over several versions of Visual Studio is that users want to be able to customize the behaviour of their document tabs. From the ordering of tabs to the position of the close buttons, user can now configure dozens of different options for their tabs. Go to Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Document Tab Well to configure these options as you prefer:

Tab Well UI

Scrollable tabs

Maintain spatial consistency of the documents that are included in the document well.

Vertical tabs

Document tabs are shown vertically, allowing you to fit more tabs than are normally visible when shown horizontally.

Pinned tabs

Allows you to pin tabs to keep them always visible and available.

Show close button in tab well

Similar to Visual Studio 2008, will show a close button in the document well that will close the active tab.

Tab Behavior

Remove tabs by usage order (LRU)

When a new tab is inserted and existing tabs don't fit in the document well, instead of removing the tab at the end of the well it will remove the least recently used tab. This ensures that frequently used tabs are readily available.

Show pinned tabs in a separate row/column

Pinning tabs can quickly cause you to run out of space for regular tabs. The option allows you to always show pinned tabs in a separate row (or column, if displayed vertically) from regular tabs.

Sorting

Sort tabs by project

Tabs will be sorted by the project they belong to, thus keeping them always together in the document tab well.

Sort tabs alphabetically

Tabs will be sorted alphabetically. When Sort By Project is turned on, tabs will be sorted first by project and then alphabetically.

Sort tab well dropdown alphabetically

The drop down menu at the right end of the document well is sorted alphabetically. This option allows ordering as the tabs are laid out in the document well.

Tab UI

Color tabs according to their project or according to regular expressions

This option permits tabs to be colored according to the project they belong to. This is particularly useful when sorting tabs by project, as it allows you to immediately identify different groups of project documents.

You can also configure regular expressions and assign a color to each one. If the name of a tab matches the configured regular expression, it will be colored with the assigned color.

Miscellaneous options that modify tab UI

Show document/toolwindow icon in tab

Show close button in tab

Modify dirty indicator style

This option allows you to select from a set of different dirty indicators that you might prefer over the asterisk.

Modify minimum and maximum tab size

Allows you to modify minimum and maximum tab size. Try setting minimum and maximum sizes to the same value, and you will have evenly spaced tabs.

Searchable Add Reference Dialog

The new Add Reference dialog makes it faster and easier for you to find the reference that you are looking for and add it to your VB, C# or F# project. From the Solution Explorer, simply right click on the References node, select the Add Reference command to see the updated Add Reference Dialog.

Highlight Current Line

As the resolution of monitors increases, it’s becoming more difficult to find the caret in the code editor. The highlight current line extension makes it easy to find the caret by highlighting the line that the caret is on in the editor. You can even configure the default colour by changing the setting for “Current Line (Extension)” and “Current Line Inactive (Extension)” in Tools Options Fonts & Colors.

HTML Copy (More Info)

This extension provides support for the HTML Clipboard format when copying code from the editor. This means that you’ll no longer have to go fix up the formatting of your code when you paste it into a TFS bug form or any other HTML based control.

Triple Click

It’s never been easier to select a line of code from the mouse by simple triple-clicking anywhere on the line.

Fix Mixed Tabs

Some developers prefer tabs, others prefer spaces, and nobody likes mixing tabs & spaces. This extension promotes developer harmony by warning as they are open or save a file that has a mixture of tabs & spaces. The information bar also provides an easy way to fix the file to suit your preference.

Ctrl + Click Go To Definition

This extension gives the editor a web browser by adding clickable hyperlinks to symbols in your code as you hold down the Ctrl key.

Align Assignments

This extension is useful for making your code a little more readable by aligning the assignments when you type Ctrl+Alt+]

Please note: This may conflict with your formatting settings. E.g. in C# you will need to disable: Tools->Options->Text Editor->C#->Formatting->Spacing->"Ignore spaces in declaration statements"

Colorized Parameter Help

This extension improves consistency with the editor by applying syntax highlighting to the contents of the Parameter Help window for C# &VB.

Move Line Up/Down Commands

This extension maps the Alt+Up Arrow & Alt+Down Arrow keys such that they will move the current line of code or the selected lines up and down through the editor.

Column Guides

Since Visual Studio 2002, there has been a not so secret registry key which allowed user to draw a vertical line in the code editor. This is very useful to remind developers that their full line of code or comments may not fit one a single screen. Thanks to this extension this feature has returned with UI configure it. Simply place the cursor at the appropriate column and select Add Guideline from the context menu 

PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010

This is a must have for the VB.net 2010 developer!

http://bit.ly/9SOxFl

PowerCommands 10.0


PowerCommands 10.0 is a set of useful extensions for the Visual Studio 2010 adding additional functionality to various areas of the IDE. Visit the VSX Developer Center at http://msdn.com/vsx for more information about extending Visual Studio.

Below is a list of the commands included in PowerCommands for Visual Studio 2010 version 10.0.

Enable/Disable PowerCommands in Options dialog

This feature allows you to select which commands to enable in the Visual Studio IDE. Point to the Tools menu, then click Options. Expand the PowerCommands options, then click Commands. Check the commands you would like to enable.

Note: All power commands are initially defaulted Enabled.

Format document on save / Remove and Sort Usings on save

The Format document on save option formats the tabs, spaces, and so on of the document being saved. It is equivalent to pointing to the Edit menu, clicking Advanced, and then clicking Format Document. The Remove and sort usings option removes unused using statements and sorts the remaining using statements in the document being saved.

Note: The Remove and sort usings option is only available for C# documents.

Note: Format document on save and Remove and sort usings both are initially defaulted OFF.

Clear All Panes

This command clears all output panes. It can be executed from the button on the toolbar of the Output window.


Copy Path

This command copies the full path of the currently selected item to the clipboard. It can be executed by right-clicking one of these nodes in the Solution Explorer:

The solution node; A project node; Any project item node; Any folder.


Email CodeSnippet

To email the lines of text you select in the code editor, right-click anywhere in the editor and then click Email CodeSnippet.


Insert Guid Attribute

This command adds a Guid attribute to a selected class. From the code editor, right-click anywhere within the class definition, then click Insert Guid Attribute.


Show All Files

This command shows the hidden files in all projects displayed in the Solution Explorer when the solution node is selected. It enhances the Show All Files button, which normally shows only the hidden files in the selected project node.


Undo Close

This command reopens a closed document , returning the cursor to its last position. To reopen the most recently closed document, point to the Edit menu, then click Undo Close. Alternately, you can use the CtrlShiftZ shortcut.

To reopen any other recently closed document, point to the View menu, click Other Windows, and then click Undo Close Window. The Undo Close window appears, typically next to the Output window. Double-click any document in the list to reopen it.


Collapse Projects

This command collapses a project or projects in the Solution Explorer starting from the root selected node. Collapsing a project can increase the readability of the solution. This command can be executed from three different places: solution, solution folders and project nodes respectively.


Copy Class

This command copies a selected class entire content to the clipboard, renaming the class. This command is normally followed by a Paste Class command, which renames the class to avoid a compilation error. It can be executed from a single project item or a project item with dependent sub items.


Paste Class

This command pastes a class entire content from the clipboard, renaming the class to avoid a compilation error. This command is normally preceded by a Copy Class command. It can be executed from a project or folder node.


Copy References

This command copies a reference or set of references to the clipboard. It can be executed from the references node, a single reference node or set of reference nodes.


Paste References

This command pastes a reference or set of references from the clipboard. It can be executed from different places depending on the type of project. For CSharp projects it can be executed from the references node. For Visual Basic and Website projects it can be executed from the project node.


Copy As Project Reference

This command copies a project as a project reference to the clipboard. It can be executed from a project node.


Edit Project File

This command opens the MSBuild project file for a selected project inside Visual Studio. It combines the existing Unload Project and Edit Project commands.


Open Containing Folder

This command opens a Windows Explorer window pointing to the physical path of a selected item. It can be executed from a project item node


Open Command Prompt

This command opens a Visual Studio command prompt pointing to the physical path of a selected item. It can be executed from four different places: solution, project, folder and project item nodes respectively.


Unload Projects

This command unloads all projects in a solution. This can be useful in MSBuild scenarios when multiple projects are being edited. This command can be executed from the solution node.


Reload Projects

This command reloads all unloaded projects in a solution. It can be executed from the solution node.


Remove and Sort Usings

This command removes and sort using statements for all classes given a project. It is useful, for example, in removing or organizing the using statements generated by a wizard. This command can be executed from a solution node or a single project node.


Extract Constant

This command creates a constant definition statement for a selected text. Extracting a constant effectively names a literal value, which can improve readability. This command can be executed from the code editor by right-clicking selected text.


Clear Recent File List

This command clears the Visual Studio recent file list. The Clear Recent File List command brings up a Clear File dialog which allows any or all recent files to be selected.


Clear Recent Project List

This command clears the Visual Studio recent project list. The Clear Recent Project List command brings up a Clear File dialog which allows any or all recent projects to be selected.


Transform Templates

This command executes a custom tool with associated text templates items. It can be executed from a DSL project node or a DSL folder node.


Close All

This command closes all documents. It can be executed from a document tab.

Microsoft Releases Expression Studio 4

Today Microsoft released Expression Studio 4.

MSDN subscribers can download from MSDN now!

Link to press release: http://bit.ly/a831TZ
Link to express website with links to trial versions: http://bit.ly/a3EYGV

ILMerge v2.10.0526 Released

Mike Barnett who leads the ILMerge group at Microsoft just released an updated version of ILMerge which is a great tool for merging multiple dot net assemblies into a single assembly.

Link to ILMerge Site http://bit.ly/do1LJe

Link to download http://bit.ly/nXpWJ

Remote Desktop Manager

This is a great tool if you connect to a lot of remote workstations/servers with and without VPN’s.  This stores all your connections to RDP/VM and handles the VPN connections Microsoft, Cisco and others for you!


Remote Desktop Manager is a small application used to manage all your remote connections and virtual machines. Add, edit, delete, shared, organize and find your remote connection quickly. Compatible with Microsoft Remote Desktop, Terminal Services, VNC, LogMeIn, Team Viewer, Ftp, SSH, Telnet, Dameware, X Window, VMware, Virtual PC, PC Anywhere, Hyper-V, Citrix, Radmin, Microsoft Remote Assistance, Sun Virtual Box and more.


http://remotedesktopmanager.com/

Windows Sysinternals

The Sysinternals web site was created in 1996 by Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell to host their advanced system utilities and technical information. Microsoft acquired Sysinternals in July, 2006. Whether you’re an IT Pro or a developer, you’ll find Sysinternals utilities to help you manage, troubleshoot and diagnose your Windows systems and applications. If you have a question about a tool or how to use them, please visit the Sysinternals Forum for answers and help from other users and our moderators.

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/default.aspx

PortableApps.com

Great website that offers portable versions of applications you can run from a thumb drive.

http://portableapps.com/

CodePaste.net – Share your Code!

What is CodePaste.NET?

CodePaste.NET is a public site for pasting snippets of code and linking to them from social network sites. Post and link, post and link! Think of it like a linkable scratch pad for code snippets that provide syntax color highlighting, basic tagging and descriptions. Once posted you can link to the snippet from social network sites like Twitter and FaceBook or instant message and chat applications like Skype or Messenger.

Creating snippets is fast and easy: Simply paste your code into a textbox, add a title, choose a code syntax for the code and paste it. Done! The link is immediately available online for linking - simply pick up the Url from the address bar or use the Tweet this Snippet button to link away.

You can subscribe to various snippet lists via RSS feeds. There's a main, recent snippets feed , but you can also subscribe to a user's feed or feeds for certain keywords by utilizing the Format dropdown from most list pages to select a RSS Feed output.

It's Free

This site is open to all and free to use. Simply post a code snippet and pick up the resulting link to paste into your social network client. CodePaste.NET urls are short so they don't take up a lot of space in your Twitter tweets. Snippets can be posted anonymously or you can optionally create a user account using OpenId to keep track of your previous snippets and some basic stats. Anonymous snippets are removed after 10 days, so if you want permanent snippets please sign-in.

Please use this site for good, not evil.

MSBuildShellExtension – Build .Net projects from Windows Explorer!

MSBuildShellExtension lets you build .NET projects without ever opening Visual Studio or the command prompt. MSBuild targets can be executed from your favorite file system tool like Windows Explorer or Total Commander. The possibility to extend MSBuildShellExtension with your own targets and editors, makes it a very flexible and useful tool for all .NET developers.

http://msbuildshellex.codeplex.com/

Vb to C# or C# to VB Coder Converter

Here are a few sites that will convert VB and c# code back and forth. 

http://converter.telerik.com/

http://www.developerfusion.com/tools/convert/csharp-to-vb/

http://www.carlosag.net/Tools/CodeTranslator/

Credit to Scott Hansleman’ss blog for these links.

Have to have utilities and software

This is a great link to “Scott Hanselman’s 2009 Ultimate Developer and power users tool list for Windows”. 

http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ScottHanselmans2009UltimateDeveloperAndPowerUsersToolListForWindows.aspx

Silverlight Spy

Silverlight Spy provides detailed runtime inspection of any Silverlight application. Use the built-in browser to navigate to a web page.

Silverlight Spy automatically detects the applications embedded in the page and provides various inspection view panes. Explore the XAP package, Isolated Storage, monitor performance, browse the UI visual and logical tree, examine objects, execute code in the DLR shell and more.

http://firstfloorsoftware.com/silverlightspy

GhostDOC

Simplify your XML Comments!

GhostDoc is a free Visual Studio extension that automatically generates XML documentation comments for methods and properties based on their type, parameters, name, and other contextual information.

When generating documentation for class derived from a base class or for interface implementation (e.g. .NET Framework or your custom framework), GhostDoc will use the documentation that Microsoft or the framework vendor has already written for the base class or interface.

It supports VS2005, VS2008 and VS2010!

http://submain.com/products/ghostdoc.aspx