VBCommenter PowerToy
Public project, developing an add-in to insert C# XML-type comments into VB Projects.
Project Start Date: 2002
Categories: VB.Net
Back in the day, I desperately wanted to use
C# xml-type comments
in VB.Net projects. I would use those XML comment files to generate IntelliSense in Visual Studio, and to
build help systems and documentation using NDoc.
Unfortunately, there was no built-in mechanism to achieve this in Visual Studio 2002.
I, like every other VB developer that heard about this feature in C#, was clamoring for this
feature to be released in Visual Studio 2003. When Micro$oft didn't do it, I was relatively upset.
Microsoft had released a very basic XML comment editor application, complete with source
code called XMLDocumentationTool, in their
Visual Basic .NET Code Samples: Master Set of 101 Samples
. There was a little solace there. Unfortunately, you had to edit the comments AFTER your assembly
was built, and there was no tie-in to the source code. Just an XML file that gets packaged with
your assembly. With C#, the comments were directly in the code and the XML comments file gets created
whenever the project is built. It is my beloef that this tool was intended to be a launching platform for
VB developers to come up with their own solution.
I decided to take them up on that. I started this project as a Visual Studio Add-In, extending the functionality
and capability of the Micro$oft tool. I started learning about developing Add-Ins. I learned how to create dockable windows,
and get CodeElements from the cursor. I learned how to create Add-In Menus.
The only thing my Add-In suffered from, was a lack of organization. I couldn't quite coalesce exactly what I wanted to do
with the Add-In. I never quite got to the point where my Add-In was a viable solution to anything.
There was hope. I happened to come across the
VBCommenter PowerToy.
The VBCommenter PowerToy was a community-built
Add-In to Visual Studio, endorsed by Microsoft, which did everything I was ultimately trying to achieve; comments/source integration and
XML comments file creation at build-time. I downloaded the project from GotDotNet and had been using it ever since.
I joined the community to make some tweaks and enhancements. The next thing I knew, The project had grown
under some of my designs. I was adding requested enhancements left and right. I left my stamp on this project
for sure.
Well, it would seem that Micro$oft finally listened to what developers had been screaming for. With the release
of Visual Studio 2005, XML comments were finally integrated into VB source code without any Add-Ins. Thank you M$,
we had only been asking you for only a few years.
This also means that development on the VBCommenter PowerToy would come to a screeching halt. With VS 2005,
there really wasn't a need to develop this Add-In any further. Couple that with GotDotNet being discontinued,
and the project falls by the wayside. Oh well, it was some great development work.
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