Happy New Year! Last year was... interesting to say the least.
Hopefully 2021 will be somewhat better but it seems more and
more likely that we've dug our own graves and care not a whit.
With that morbid thought out of the way, here we are with
another edition of Tools We Use. While I still haven't got the
blog redirects switched on for the new platform, I
recently upgraded that through various iterations of .NET Core,
finishing with .NET 5. I also created several smaller .NET Core
websites (that were also upgraded to .NET 5). On the
non-development side, I finally unshackled myself from having to
use Microsoft or Google's calendaring solutions, by self hosting
my own CalDAV instance. Own your own data!
Looking ahead, this year I will be migrating our exception
manager from a Web API / React hybrid to Blazor, along with
giving our products other than WebCopy some long overdue TLC.
And finally getting on with writing a game.
My slow progress at migrating from SVN to Git also continues as
I refactor the mono repository to make it easier to split up
using a migration tool.
Operating Systems
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Windows 10 (Virtualized) | Testing VM (32bit and 64bit) |
| Windows 10 Professional | Development environment |
| Windows 7 (Virtualized) | Testing VM (32bit) |
| Windows Home Server 2011 | File server, SVN server, Git server, backup host, CI server. I've been thinking of replacing this with a Linux server |
| Windows Vista (Virtualized) | Testing VM (32bit) |
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| DB Browser for SQLite | GUI for working with SQLite databases |
| dnSpy | Speedy .NET assembly debugger and editor |
| EditorConfig | Useful for OSS projects to avoid space-vs-tab wars or to configure code style rules. No need for an extension now as built into Visual Studio |
| NDepend | Static code analysis. I run this mostly as part of CI pipelines |
| Postman | Client for testing REST services |
| Visual Studio 2019 | Although I use Visual Studio Code more and more, Visual Studio 2019 remains my IDE of choice |
| Visual Studio Code | Wonderful editor, once you install enough extensions to configure it "your way". I use it for most non-.NET tasks, such as PHP or editing markdown. Workspaces that can include multiple folders are incredibly useful |
Visual Studio Extensions
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| CodeMaid | Code formatting and organising. Lets be fair to ReSharper, there's nothing else available which does a better job, but CodeMaid is an acceptable substitute |
| Cyotek Add Projects | A simple extension for easily adding multiple projects to your solutions. Although I use it far less now that most of my projects are packages, it is still useful |
| File Nesting | Allows you to easily nest (or un-nest) files, great for TypeScript or T4 templates |
| Open Command Line | Easily open command prompts, PowerShell prompts, or other tools to your project / solution directories |
| OzCode | An exceptional debugging aid. Things like exception predication, condition visualisation, reveal, and a data tip that doesn't suck really should be part of the core Visual Studio experience |
| Roslynator | C# code analyzers, refactoring and fixes. I use this to replace some of the more critical functionality I previously enjoyed in ReSharper |
| T4Editor | I use this as a replacement for the ReSharper ForTea extension and I'm quite happy with it - it does a great job of showing me the T4 specific aspects of my templates |
| Visual Studio Spell Checker | After I found one too many spelling errors in comments and GUI text |
| VSColorOutput | Add colour coding to Visual Studio's Output window |
Installation and Deployment
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Inno Setup | Installer with a wealth of features |
| Inno Script Studio | IDE for working with Inno Setup scripts. Hadn't been updated for years but development seems to have picked up again |
| Inno Setup Unpacker | Unpacks installations created with Inno Setup. I use this as part of the CI process to perform dependency checking |
Analytics
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Matomo | I use this web based analytics software to gain anonymous insights into cyotek.com usage |
| Unnamed Analytics | After dropping Luminitix, I replaced the data collection with a home grown solution, although I've yet to write a front end to look at the data effectively |
Profiling
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| dotTrace | Although I prefer the ANTS profiler, dotTrace is a very usable profiler and given it is included in my ReSharper Ultimate subscription, it's a no-brainer to use |
| dotMemory | As with dotTrace it is probably time to explore alternatives if I let the ReSharper subscription lapse (yet another reason why perpetual licenses are better than the modern trend of renting software) |
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Atomineer Pro Documentation | Automatically generate XML comment documentation in your source code (Visual Studio extension) |
| HelpWrite | The first application offered by Ariad in the mists of time, now reincarnated and producing no-frills documentation from simple markdown and YAML |
| Notepad++ | My go to plain text editor |
Continuous Integration
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Jenkins | Continuous integration that is easy to install, doesn't need a database server and has a rich plugin ecosystem, even for .NET developers. I use this to build, test and deploy all our products and libraries |
Testing
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| NCrunch | (Visual Studio Extension) Frequently updated automated parallel continuous testing tool (there's a mouthful). Works with NUnit, MSTest, SpecFlow and a variety of other test systems. This is by far the best continuous testing tool on the market |
| NUnit | Our test framework of choice, for no particular reason other than it was the first one we tried after getting fed up of MSTest's limitations |
| SpecFlow | (Visual Studio Extension) I only used this for one project (my implementation of The Ray Tracer Challenge) and after I a while I really found this way of implementing tests a bit of a game changer. However, I feel that I would quickly loose my sanity if I had to write all these specifications up front and so this is still sitting in my "todo" pile to look into further |
Graphics
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Affinity Designer | ++New for 2020++ Vector editing software. I thought this would replace Inkscape but it doesn't even pretend to support open formats, open an SVG file and you can only save to a proprietary format |
| Affinity Photo | ++New for 2020++ Photo editing software. I thought I would use this to complement Paint.NET but not impressed with how it tries to force you to use its proprietary format |
| AngelCode BMFont | Utility for creating bitmap fonts. We also have a library for working with BMFont files in C# |
| Axialis IconWorkshop | Very nice icon editor, I have been using this for untold years now since Microangelo was abandoned. However, it itself hasn't seen any updates for some years now |
| Cyotek GIF Animator | GIF animation creator that was shaping up nicely, although it is another application I really want to spend more time improving |
| Cyotek Spriter | Sprite / image map generation software that is still in sore need of optimisation and TLC |
| Greenshot | ++New for 2020++ Screenshot capturing utility. Another wheel I almost reinvented but this is nice software that fits the bill. Release hasn't been updated for years even though the source repository is rife with activity |
| Inkscape | Vector graphics editing software. I've been using this on and off for years but forgot to include it on this list before now |
| Paint.NET | Brilliant bitmap editor with extensive plugins |
Virtualization
Version Control
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Git for Windows | ++New for 2020++ Git client, tools and GUI for use on Windows |
| Gitea | Self-hosting for Git repositories. An impressive piece of software |
| GitHub Desktop | Easy to use Git client that masks some of the more complicated functionality. Despite the name works with any Git repository |
| GitHub | Git hosting for our public repositories |
| GitKraken | ++New for 2020++ ~~Git client. I tried to use this, but I point blank refuse to rent software anymore and current exceptions will be phased out~~ |
| SourceTree | ++New for 2020++ Git client. Far more powerful than GitHub Desktop yet nowhere near as easy to use |
| TortoiseSVN | Windows Explorer integration for SVN |
| VisualSVN Server | Subversion Server for Windows |
| VisualSVN | ~~(Visual Studio Extension) Subversion support for Visual Studio. Unlike AnhkSVN, VisualSVN uses TortoiseSVN under the hood, meaning that Explorer and Visual Studio are always in the same state no matter where I commit from, something which used to frustrate me no end with AnhkSVN. Stopped using as I slowly transition to Git~~ |
File and Directory
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| FileZilla | Simple FTP client that has served my needs for years now |
| grepWin | Another excellent tool for swiftly searching for files containing specific strings or expressions |
| HxD | Another program I've used on and off for years but omitted from this list. Useful hex editor |
| WinMerge | Excellent file and directory comparison utility |
Backups
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| CrashPlan | CrashPlan creates an online backup of the different offline backups that CopyTools does. If you've ever lost a hard-disk before with critical data on it that's nowhere else, you'll have backups squirrelled away everywhere too! A big part of the reason why I haven't upgraded our micro server to either a newer version of Windows or replaced with a Linux box |
| Cyotek CopyTools | We use this for offline backups of source code, assets and resources, documents, actually pretty much anything we generate; including backing up the backups! |
Security
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Bitwarden | Password manager with a variety of clients. Syncs data |
| Dan Pollock's Hosts File | A hosts file blocks your computer from connecting to many thousands of dubious internet hosts and is continuously updated. A pain to update, but useful if you don't have access to something better |
| KeePass | Offline password manager |
| Let's Encrypt | Short term SSL certificates for free. If you (or your host) are able to automate the process, this is an exceptional way to get basic SSL for your sites |
| ~~Comodo~~ Sectigo | Code signing certificates, and domain SSL if a particular host doesn't support Let's Encrypt |
| Virus Total | Analyze files for malware. It is a helpful tool, except for when you find that one given engine will flag all your submissions as malicious and then when that finally clears up another one decides to join in the "fun" instead |
Issue Tracking
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Mantis Bug Tracker | Open source issue tracker |
| MantisSharp | I use our MantisSharp library to add integration between various applications and our MantisBT instance, notable for raising new issues from our automated error monitor, and for creating road-maps on cyotek.com product pages although as usual I haven't had much time to maintain it |
Help Desk
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Maian Support | Basic help desk. Much easier than trying to keep track of emails |
Web Browsers, Email, Calendering
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Baïkal | ++New for 2020++ Self hosted CalDAV (calendar) and CardDAV (tasks) server |
| DAVx5 | ++New for 2020++ Two way sync for CalDAV data. I use this on my Android (RIP Windows Phone) phone to sync my calendar with my Baïkal instance |
| DuckDuckGo | The search engine that doesn't track you - I can't remember when I made the switch to DuckDuckGo as it was several years ago, but it does a great job and I rarely have to fall back to "another" search engine |
| Firefox | Last bastion from a Chromium world. I switched to this as my primary browser in 2018 as my own protest against Chrome's dominance (and don't get me started on Microsoft's recent ill advised capitulation) |
| MailStore Home | ++New for 2020++ Email archiving. Also I tend to find its search interface quicker and more compact than the one in Thunderbird |
| Microsoft Edge | I liked the Trident based Edge just fine. But at least with this Chromium version I don't need to ever install Chrome again |
| Thunderbird | Email client that also supports CalDAV and CardDAV. A bit rough around the edges but preferable to Outlook and lets me store emails in maildir format |
Other
| Tool | Description |
|---|
| Calibre | Ebook management. Although I still prefer paper books, I don't buy them as often as I did. I tend to read on e-ink devices and Calibre makes it simple to update these |
| Ditto | Clipboard manager. Another extremely useful piece of software that I have used for many, many years |
| f.lux | I've been using this utterly fantastic software for years. It adapts your monitor to the time of day, removing blue light as evening approaches and helps reduce eye strain when coding at night |
| Kodi | I've used this for years now to watch video on various generations of Raspberry Pi. I found the Films and TV (or Movies and TV) application that ships with Windows 10 to be absolute rubbish and was very glad when Kodi became available on the Microsoft Store |
| RavenDB | Still not using this for much as I can't seem to effectively query the data from Raven Studio, and at heart I still think NoSQL is a fad. Transitioned some data back to SQL Server, the rest to follow |
| Rufus | I use this utility for writing ISO images to USB, useful for setting up new physical machines in an age where CD drives are fairly obsolete |
| Win32 Disk Imager | Useful for burning ISO images to SD cards which I do for Raspberry Pi distributions. I used to use this for USB as well but now I prefer Rufus for that |
What tools do you find useful? I'd love to know... maybe I'll
find a new gem myself!
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