Clone Detective for Visual Studio

http://www.codeplex.com/CloneDetectiveVS

Clone Detective is a Visual Studio integration that allows you to analyze C# projects for source code that is duplicated somewhere else. Having duplicates can easily lead to inconsistencies and often is an indicator for poorly factored code.

Continuous LINQ- create continuous self-updating result sets

http://www.codeplex.com/clinq

Continuous LINQ is a .NET Framework 3.5 extension that builds on the LINQ query syntax to create continuous, self-updating result sets.
In traditional LINQ queries, you write your query and get stale results. With Continuous LINQ,

you write a query and the results of that query are continuously updated as changes are made to the source collection or items within the source collection.

CLINQ has tremendous value in GUI development and is especially useful in binding to filtered streams of data such as financial or other network message data. 

LINQ to SQL Debug Visualizer

http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2007/07/31/linq-to-sql-debug-visualizer.aspx

One of the nice development features that LINQ to SQL supports is the ability to use a "debug visualizer" to hover over a LINQ expression while in the VS 2008 debugger and inspect the raw SQL that the ORM will ultimately execute at runtime when evaluating the LINQ query expression.

For example, assume we write the below LINQ query expression code against a set of data model classes:

Huagati DBML/EDMX Tools-Linq to SQL ADO.NET Entity Framework

http://www.huagati.com/dbmltools/

Do you want to be able to automatically update your Linq to SQL classes to reflect your database schema after making schema changes?  You don't need to look for the "refresh" button anymore – it is available now as an add-in for Visual Studio!

Huagati DBML/EDMX Tools is an add-in for Visual Studio that adds functionality to the Linq2SQL/DBML diagram designer in Visual Studio 2008, and to the ADO.NET Entity Framework designer in Visual Studio 2008 SP1. It adds menu options for synchronizing Linq2SQL designer diagrams with the underlying database, and for renaming Linq-to-SQL (DBML) and EF (EDMX) classes and properties to use .net naming conventions.

MbUnit-Generative Unit Test Framework NET

http://www.mbunit.com/

This is the home of the Generative Unit Test Framework for the .NET Framework.  MbUnit provides advanced unit testing support with advanced fixtures to enable developers and testers to test all aspects of their software.  MbUnit has just released version 2.4 and has a dedicated development team working on MbUnit

Axialis IconWorkshop Lite for VS 2008

http://www.axialis.com/download/iwlite.html

Axialis Software, in association with Microsoft Corporation, presents Axialis IconWorkshop Lite for Visual Studio 2008:

    * 100% Free for Visual Studio 2008 users;
    * Make icons for Windows up to 256×256 PNG-compressed icons for Windows Vista™ and include them in your software projects;
    * Use an advanced icon editor with various tools, filters and effects;
    * Work efficiently using a Plug-in for Visual Studio 2008;
    * Create icons from images or ready-to-use image objects;
    * Use a fully integrated workspace with librarian, built-in file explorer with thumbnail preview, image viewer and more…
 

ScrewTurn Wiki-c# dot net wiki engine

http://www.screwturn.eu/Wiki.ashx

ScrewTurn Wiki is a performant and simple Wiki engine, written in C# and based on the ASP.NET 2.0 platform.Its main features are described below.
    * Free and open-source
    * No need for a database (but SQL Server and MySQL are supported with Plugins)
    * No need to touch IIS or ASP.NET configuration (works in ASP.NET Medium Trust environment)
    * High performance and scalability on every hardware configuration, thanks to a smart and configurable content caching system
    * Low bandwidth usage, thanks to the (configurable) usage of custom ViewState Compression and HTTP Compression
    * Simple deployment, administration and usage
    * Small footprint
    * Theming available entirely through CSS files (CSS Media Types are fully supported)
    * Automatic page backups (performing a rollback is as easy as a mouse click)
    * Simple user accounting system (with Administrators and Users and a built-in admin account)
    * Useful features such as Page-level coarse-grained authorization, the possibility to make the Wiki completely public (no registration needed to edit pages) or Private (anonymous access is not allowed)
    * Page Categorization and Discussion
    * Page Transclusion and Snippets
    * Plugins support (see documentation)
    * Protection against dangerous files, scripts and spammers (Captcha control on registration)
    * Multilanguage interface (English, Italian, French, Spanish, German, Brazilian Portuguese and Russian)
    * RSS 2.0 notifications for every page as well as for the whole Wiki and for Page Discussions

SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP

http://www.microsoft.com/

Download the SQL Server 2005 Driver for PHP, a PHP 5 extension that allows for the reading and writing of SQL Server data from within PHP scripts.

IntellisSense for Expression Blend

http://blogs.telerik.com/StefanDobrev/Posts/08-08-04/IntelliSense_for_Expression_Blend.aspx

Expression Blend has been out in the wild for quite some time. However one of the most annoying thing was the lack of autocompletion (aka IntelliSense). Most of devs/designers out there were constantly switching from Blend to VS and backwards to do their stuff. The great free tool Kaxaml is at great help as well.
The solution

Using the Blend 2.5 add-ins architecture I have created an add-in that adds IntelliSense in Blend. I have reused the code from Kaxaml and adapted it work within Blend. Take a look:

psake -build automation tool written in PowerShell

http://www.jameskovacs.com/blog/IntroducingPsake.aspx

psake is a build automation tool written in PowerShell. It avoids the angle-bracket tax associated with executable XML by leveraging the PowerShell syntax in your build scripts. psake has a syntax inspired by rake (aka make in Ruby) and bake (aka make in Boo), but is easier to script because it leverages your existent command-line knowledge.

psake is pronounced sake – as in Japanese rice wine. It does NOT rhyme with make, bake, or rake.

psake is a proof-of-concept still in the early stages of development. It consists of a single file, psake.ps1, which contains all the logic for creating a graph of dependent tasks and executing them in the correct order. You can download it from Google Code using Subversion or TortoiseSVN:

svn checkout http://psake.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/ psake-read-only

EasyDiagram.NET 1.3 BETA

http://www.EasyDiagram.net

A custom composite control using pure AJAX and Javascript to provide real-time diagram and flowcharting to your asp.net 2.0 pages. Unlike most commercial products that I've seen, EasyDiagram.NET offers a smooth real-time redrawing of node hierarchy.

EasyDiagram.NET can be imported into your toolbox for use on your webforms. The component is 100% C# and implements ICallBackEventHandler for AJAX processing.

Finally, with the beta release of EasyDiagram.NET, the control should be usable with minimal effort. I understand that more documentation is needed, and it is forthcoming.

Query Express-query tool for MSDE and SQL Express

http://www.albahari.com/queryexpress.html

Query Express is a simple Query Analyzer look-alike, but being small and free it can be run where the SQL Server client tools are not installed or licensed. This makes it especially useful as a query tool for MSDE and SQL Express. It also connects to Oracle and other OLE-DB compliant databases.Query Express requires no installation and is packaged as a single 100KB executable. This is more than 300 times smaller than SQL Server Management Studio!Query Express Screenshot. Query Express is ideal for those not yet ready for the LINQ Challenge.Query Express has a fully permissive free license with no conditions attached. Full source code is included, which you can use in commercial software. Compatible with the .NET Framework versions 1.1, 2.0 and above—no additional downloads are required if you have Windows XP SP2 or Windows Vista.

VisualSVN Server-subversion server

http://www.visualsvn.com/server/

VisualSVN Server is a package that contains everything you need to install, configure and manage Subversion server for your team on Windows platform. It includes Subversion, Apache and a management console.

You can use any Subversion client to connect to VisualSVN Server or a web browser to quickly browse though repositories. Also you may find VisualSVN useful to integrate Subversion into Visual Studio.

VisualSVN Server is less than 6MB in size and can be downloaded and installed in a couple of minutes with just few clicks.

Features
User friendly management console

    * Create, import and remove repositories
    * Dashboard showing overview status of Subversion server
    * Manage Subversion security policy
    * Start, stop and restart service
    * Repository browser
    * Manage users and groups
    * Edit Subversion hooks

And last, but not least – VisualSVN Server is completely free! 

AnkhSVN-Subversion SourceControl Provider for Visual Studio

http://ankhsvn.open.collab.net/

AnkhSVN is a Subversion SourceControl Provider for Visual Studio. The software allows you to perform the most common version control operations directly from inside the Microsoft Visual Studio IDE. With AnkhSVN you no longer need to leave your IDE to perform tasks like viewing the status of your source code, updating your Subversion working copy and committing changes. You can even browse your repository and you can plug-in your favorite diff tool.

Microsoft Source Code Analyzer for SQL Injection

http://www.microsoft.com/

Community Technology Preview (July 2008)
Microsoft Source Code Analyzer for SQL Injection is a static code analysis tool for finding SQL Injection vulnerabilities in ASP code. Customers can run the tool on their ASP source code to help identify code paths that are vulnerable to SQL Injection attacks.

LINQPad is a fantastic freeware application that lets you interactively query SQL databases using LINQ (Language Integrated Query).

In this brave new world where LINQ will become more popular an will be broadly adopted by the .NET community it will become very important to become fluent with your use of LINQ. One way to accomplish this is by replacing your use of  SQL Management Studio for interactively querying SQL databases with LINQPad.

According the the LINQPad website you can "Kiss goodbye to SQL Management Studio !".  Does LINQPad replace SQL Management Studio for interactively querying SQL databases? 

Until I found Matt Perdeck's LINQ to CSV library an easy to use library to read and write CSV and tab delimited files with LINQ queries,  I would have said LINQPad is not ready.

In my opinion there are only two reasons not to use LINQPad and both problems are solved by LINQtoCSV.

1. LINQPad lacks the ability to export query results to a csv file.
2. LINQPad's output is limited to 1000 Records.\

Here's how to configure LINQPad to use LINQtoCSV.

Step 1: Download LINQtoCSV and copy to the folder of you choice.

Step 2: Add "LINQtoCSV.dll" Assembly Reference to Tab called "Additional References"  (Query >> Advanced Properties) or (F4)

Step 3: Add "LINQtoCSV" Namespace Reference to Tab called "Additional Namespace Imports"

Step 4: Press the Set as default for new queries button and close the window.

Step 5: Set Query Type to C# Statement(s)

Step 6: Add standard LINQtoCSV code to your Query.

About This Website

Welcome to FantasticFreeware.com's .NET Blog .  This Blog is dedicated to Fantastic .NET Framework Freeware Applications and Technology.  The .NET technologies that you will find here are C#, VB.NET, ASP.NET, .NET 2.0, 3.0, & 3.5 Frameworks, LINQ, WCF, WPF, Silverlight just to name a few.

Subscribe to the FantasticFreeware.com .Net Blog RSS feed here:

FantasticFreeware – is my personal Library of every freeware program that I have found useful.

I have cataloged over 2700+ of only the best hand picked freeware programs since 2003.  To make the list it must be a true freeware application. No demos, trial, shareware, and etc. I continually add to the collection and add about half dozen new freeware applications every week.  The current size of my personal catalog is 50GB and growing. The programs a categorized by major groupings. (Disk, Internet, Security, Development, and etc)

Snippet Compiler- write, compile and NET run code

http://www.sliver.com/dotnet/SnippetCompiler/

Snippet Compiler is a Windows-based  applications. You can use it to write, compile and run code. Snippet Compiler now has support. NET Framework 3.5,

Kaxaml is a lightweight XAML editor

http://www.kaxaml.com/

Kaxaml is a lightweight XAML editor that gives you a "split view" so you can see both your XAML and your rendered content (kind of like XamlPad but without the gigabyte of SDK). Kaxaml is a hobby and was created to be shared, so it's free! Feel free to download and try it out. If you don't like it, it cleans up nicely.

If you're having problems with the installer or if you're just a do-it-yourself kind of individual, you can download the files you need as a zip.

Requirements

Kaxaml is built using WPF. To use it, you need to have the .NET Framework version 3.0 installed on your machine. If you're running Vista, you already have it. If you're running Windows XP, you can get it here. Sorry, Kaxaml doesn't work on a mac or on earlier versions of Windows.

NArrange is a .NET code beautifier

http://narrange.sourceforge.net/

NArrange is a .NET code beautifier that automatically organizes code members and elements within .NET classes.
Why Use NArrange?

There are several reasons you may want to consider using NArrange for your .NET software project:

    * Reduces the amount of time developers spend arranging members within code files. With NArrange, you don't need to worry about where you place a new member definition in a class… just type away and run NArrange prior to compilation. After formatting, the new member will be automatically moved to the appropriate location in the source file.
    * Helps enforce coding style standards
    * When used as part of check-in procedures, NArrange can help reduce source code repository conflicts.
    * NArrange can automatically group similar code members into predefined region blocks, if supported by the language (C# and VB).
    * Reduces the amount of time spent searching for specific members in a code file. Through standard arrangement of source code files, every member of the team will know exactly where in a file to look for private fields, constructors, etc.
    * Flexibility – NArrange allows you to configure how members are organized (grouping, sorting, regions, etc.)
    * Sort Usings

Skater .NET Obfuscator Freeware Light Edition

http://www.rustemsoft.com/SkaterLight.htm

RustemSoft presents Freeware Light Edition of well-known Skater .NET Obfuscator, an obfuscation tool for .NET code protection. The Light Edition is the Free version of Skater .NET Obfuscator. You may use Skater .NET Obfuscator Light Edition, free of charge, to protect your .NET applications for both personal and commercial purposes.Skater .NET Obfuscator implements all known software protection techniques and obfuscation algorithms.If you would like periodically obfuscate your .NET products the Skater .NET Obfuscator is for you.    Download freeware now!RustemSoft is using the Skater for internal needs securing all RustemSoft .NET executables and assemblies. Its command-line version running in batch mode is much useful for your scheduled products updates. You have to assign settings for an assembly in GUI version first. Then the batch obfuscate task will use the settings.

SharpDevelop-IDE for C#.NET Framework

http://community.sharpdevelop.net/blogs/mattward/articles/FeatureTour.aspx  

SharpDevelop is an Integrated Development Environment (IDE) for .NET Framework applications. It supports the development of applications written in C#, Visual Basic.NET and Boo. It is open source and written in C#. It provides all of the features required from a modern Windows IDE, such as code completion, project templates, an integrated debugger and a forms designer. It has good compatibility with Visual Studio Express and Visual Studio 2005 by using the same project and solution file format.

Here is a quick tour showing you the main features of SharpDevelop.

    * Creating Windows Applications
    * Visually Designing Forms
    * Code Completion
    * Code Generation
    * Refactoring
    * XML Comments
    * Code Navigation
    * Debugging
    * Converting Code between Languages
    * Unit Testing
    * Code Coverage
    * Editing XML
    * Targeting Different Frameworks
    * Creating Boo Applications

CLR Profiler-performance profile Windows applications

http://www.microsoft.com/  

The CLR Profiler is a free application that allows you to profile Windows applications, ASP.NET applications or services. You can download the CLR profiler from here. Once you have downloaded it, you can extract it and run the CLRProfiler.exe. When you run the CLR profiler your code will appear to execute slower than usual since your code will be instrumented to analyze the performance. 

StyleCop-Microsoft Source Analysis for C#

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/sourceanalysis

Source Analysis, also known as StyleCop, analyzes C# source code to enforce a set of best practice style and consistency rules.

StyleCop for ReSharper

http://www.codeplex.com/StyleCopForReSharper

2008-07-19 – Has Issues with Visual Studio 2008

NHibernate- NET Framework data access layer

http://www.hibernate.org/343.html 

NHibernate is a port of Hibernate Core for Java to the .NET Framework. It handles persisting plain .NET objects to and from an underlying relational database. Given an XML description of your entities and relationships, NHibernate automatically generates SQL for loading and storing the objects. Optionally, you can describe your mapping metadata with attributes in your source code.

NHibernate supports transparent persistence, your object classes don't have to follow a restrictive programming model. Persistent classes do not need to implement any interface or inherit from a special base class. This makes it possible to design the business logic using plain .NET (CLR) objects and object-oriented idiom.

Originally being a port of Hibernate 2.1, the NHibernate API is very similar to that of Hibernate. All Hibernate knowledge and existing Hibernate documentation is therefore directly applicable to NHibernate. Take a look at the available NHibernate Documentation.

Vlinq-Visual Linq-query builder for Linq to Sql

http://code.msdn.microsoft.com/vlinq

Visual LINQ Query Builder is an add-in to Visual Studio 2008 Designer that helps you visually build LINQ to SQL queries. Functionally it provides the same experience as, for instance the Microsoft Access Query Builder, but in the LINQ domain. The entire UI of this add-in uses Windows Presentation Foundation. The goal of this tool is to help users become more familiar with the LINQ syntax. The tool may also demonstrate to users how to create their own Visual Studio 2008 add-in using Windows Presentation Foundation.

This academic project was developed by two students during an internship at Microsoft France, under the supervision of one of our Developer Evangelists. The project was in full collaboration with the STB International CPE team in Redmond.